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 […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Aftermath. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Aftermath I learnt to write to you in happier days, And every letter was a piece I chipped From off my heart, a fragment newly clipped From the mosaic of life; its blues and grays, Its throbbing reds, I gave to earn your […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Diya. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Diya Look, Dear, how bright the moonlight is to-night! See where it casts the shadow of that tree Far out upon the grass. And every gust Of light night wind comes laden with the scent Of opening flowers which never bloom by day: Night-scented […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. The Fruit Garden Path. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) The Fruit Garden Path The path runs straight between the flowering rows, A moonlit path, hemmed in by beds of bloom, Where phlox and marigolds dispute for room With tall, red dahlias and the briar rose. ’T is reckless prodigality which throws Into […]

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

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) In a Garden Gushing from the mouths of stone men To spread at ease under the sky In granite-lipped basins, Where iris dabble their feet And rustle to a passing wind, The water fills the garden with its rushing, In the midst of […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Mirage. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Mirage How is it that, being gone, you fill my days, And all the long nights are made glad by thee? No loneliness is this, nor misery, But great content that these should be the ways Whereby the Fancy, dreaming as she strays, […]

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

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) The Shadow Paul Jannes was working very late, For this watch must be done by eight To-morrow or the Cardinal Would certainly be vexed. Of all His customers the old prelate Was the most important, for his state Descended to his watches and […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. March Evening. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) March Evening Blue through the window burns the twilight; Heavy, through trees, blows the warm south wind. Glistening, against the chill, gray sky light, Wet, black branches are barred and entwined. Sodden and spongy, the scarce-green grass plot Dents into pools where a […]

English Poetry. John Dryden. Life a Cheat. Джон Драйден.

John Dryden (Джон Драйден) Life a Cheat When I consider life, ’tis all a cheat; Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit; Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay: To-morrow’s falser than the former day; Lies worse; and while it says, we shall be blessed With some […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Crowned. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Crowned You came to me bearing bright roses, Red like the wine of your heart; You twisted them into a garland To set me aside from the mart. Red roses to crown me your lover, And I walked aureoled and apart. Enslaved and […]

English Poetry. Amy Lowell. Climbing. Эми Лоуэлл.

Amy Lowell (Эми Лоуэлл) Climbing High up in the apple tree climbing I go, With the sky above me, the earth below. Each branch is the step of a wonderful stair Which leads to the town I see shining up there. Climbing, climbing, higher and higher, The […]