By The Fire

A poem by Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963)

We who are lovers sit by the fire,

Cradled warm ‘twixt thought and will,

Sit and drowse like sleeping dogs

In the equipoise of all desire,

Sit and listen to the still

Small hiss and whisper of green logs

That burn away, that burn away

With the sound of a far-off falling stream

Of threaded water blown to steam,

Grey ghost in the mountain world of grey.

Vapours blue as distance rise

Between the hissing logs that show

A glimpse of rosy heat below;

And candles watch with tireless eyes

While we sit drowsing here. I know,

Dimly, that there exists a world,

That there is time perhaps, and space

Other and wider than this place,

Where at the fireside drowsily curled

We hear the whisper and watch the flame

Burn blinkless and inscrutable.

And then I know those other names

That through my brain from cell to cell

Echo–reverberated shout

Of waiters mournful along corridors:

But nobody carries the orders out,

And the names (dear friends, your name and yours)

Evoke no sign. But here I sit

On the wide hearth, and there are you:

That is enough and only true.

The world and the friends that lived in it

Are shadows: you alone remain

Real in this drowsing room,

Full of the whispers of distant rain

And candles staring into the gloom.

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Poems in English 

• On Hermocratia (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On Flaxman’s Penelope by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On Flatteries (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On Female Inconstancy (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On Envy (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On Delia (Bid Adieu, My Sad Heart) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On An Ugly Fellow (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On An Old Woman (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On An Infant (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A True Friend (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Thief (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Spaniel, Called Beau, Killing A Young Bird by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Similar Character (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Plant Of Virgin’s-Bower, Designed To Cover A Garden-seat by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Mistake In His Translation Of Homer by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Miser (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Miser, 3 (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Miser, 2 (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Mischievous Bull, Which The Owner Him Sold At The Author’s Instance by William Cowper by William Cowper
• On A Good Man (From The Greek) by William Cowper by William Cowper

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