English Poetry. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The Spur. Элла Уилкокс.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Элла Уилкокс) The Spur I asked the rock beside the road what joy existence lent. It answered, ‘For a million years my heart has been content.’ I asked the truffle-seeking swine, as rooting by he went, ‘What is the keynote of your life?’ He […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. The Basket. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) The Basket I The inkstand is full of ink, and the paper lies white and unspotted, in the round of light thrown by a candle. Puffs of darkness sweep into the corners, and keep rolling through the room behind his chair. The air […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. The Paper Windmill. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) The Paper Windmill The little boy pressed his face against the window-pane and looked out at the bright sunshiny morning. The cobble-stones of the square glistened like mica. In the trees, a breeze danced and pranced, and shook drops of sunlight like falling golden […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. In a Castle. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) In a Castle I Over the yawning chimney hangs the fog. Drip — hiss — drip — hiss – fall the raindrops on the oaken log which burns, and steams, and smokes the ceiling beams. Drip — hiss — the rain never stops. […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Spring Day. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Spring Day Bath The day is fresh-washed and fair, and there is a smell of tulips and narcissus in the air. The sunshine pours in at the bath-room window and bores through the water in the bath-tub in lathes and planes of greenish-white. It […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Before the Altar. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Before the Altar Before the Altar, bowed, he stands With empty hands; Upon it perfumed offerings burn Wreathing with smoke the sacrificial urn. Not one of all these has he given, No flame of his has leapt to Heaven Firesouled, vermilion-hearted, Forked, and darted, […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. A Petition. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) A Petition I pray to be the tool which to your hand Long use has shaped and moulded till it be Apt for your need, and, unconsideringly, You take it for its service. I demand To be forgotten in the woven strand Which […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. J–K. Huysmans. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) J–K. Huysmans A flickering glimmer through a window-pane, A dim red glare through mud bespattered glass, Cleaving a path between blown walls of sleet Across uneven pavements sunk in slime To scatter and then quench itself in mist. And struggling, slipping, often rudely […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. White and Green. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) White and Green Hey! My daffodil-crowned, Slim and without sandals! As the sudden spurt of flame upon darkness So my eyeballs are startled with you, Supple-limbed youth among the fruit-trees, Light runner through tasselled orchards. You are an almond flower unsheathed Leaping and […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Storm-Racked. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Storm-Racked How should I sing when buffeting salt waves And stung with bitter surges, in whose might I toss, a cockleshell? The dreadful night Marshals its undefeated dark and raves In brutal madness, reeling over graves Of vanquished men, long-sunken out of sight, […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Crepuscule du Matin. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Crepuscule du Matin All night I wrestled with a memory Which knocked insurgent at the gates of thought. The crumbled wreck of years behind has wrought Its disillusion; now I only cry For peace, for power to forget the lie Which hope too […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. The Red Lacquer Music-Stand. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) The Red Lacquer Music-Stand A music-stand of crimson lacquer, long since brought In some fast clipper-ship from China, quaintly wrought With bossed and carven flowers and fruits in blackening gold, The slender shaft all twined about and thickly scrolled With vine leaves and […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Frankincense and Myrrh. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Frankincense and Myrrh My heart is tuned to sorrow, and the strings Vibrate most readily to minor chords, Searching and sad; my mind is stuffed with words Which voice the passion and the ache of things: Illusions beating with their baffled wings Against […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Hora Stellatrix. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Hora Stellatrix The stars hang thick in the apple tree, The south wind smells of the pungent sea, Gold tulip cups are heavy with dew. The night’s for you, Sweetheart, for you! Starfire rains from the vaulted blue. Listen! The dancing of unseen […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Stravinsky’s Three Pieces. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Stravinsky’s Three Pieces First Movement Thin-voiced, nasal pipes Drawing sound out and out Until it is a screeching thread, Sharp and cutting, sharp and cutting, It hurts. Whee-e-e! Bump! Bump! Tong-ti-bump! There are drums here, Banging, And wooden shoes beating the round, grey […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. The Boston Athenaeum. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) The Boston Athenaeum Thou dear and well-loved haunt of happy hours, How often in some distant gallery, Gained by a little painful spiral stair, Far from the halls and corridors where throng The crowd of casual readers, have I passed Long, peaceful hours […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. From One Who Stays. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) From One Who Stays How empty seems the town now you are gone! A wilderness of sad streets, where gaunt walls Hide nothing to desire; sunshine falls Eery, distorted, as it long had shone On white, dead faces tombed in halls of stone. […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Miscast II. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Miscast II My heart is like a cleft pomegranate Bleeding crimson seeds And dripping them on the ground. My heart gapes because it is ripe and over-full, And its seeds are bursting from it. But how is this other than a torment to […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. The Cross-Roads. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) The Cross-Roads A bullet through his heart at dawn. On the table a letter signed with a woman’s name. A wind that goes howling round the house, and weeping as in shame. Cold November dawn peeping through the windows, cold […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Obligation. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Obligation Hold your apron wide That I may pour my gifts into it, So that scarcely shall your two arms hinder them From falling to the ground. I would pour them upon you And cover you, For greatly do I feel this need […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. The Starling. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) The Starling ”`I can’t get out’, said the starling.” Sterne’s `Sentimental Journey’. Forever the impenetrable wall Of self confines my poor rebellious soul, I never see the towering white clouds roll Before a sturdy wind, save through the small Barred […]