The Keys of Morning by Walter de la Mare
The Keys of Morning by Walter de la Mare While at her bedroom window once, Learning her task for school, Little Louisa lonely sat In the morning clear and cool, She slanted her small bead-brown eyes Across the empty street, And saw Death softly watching her In the sunshine pale and sweet. His was a […]
The Fool Rings His Bells by Walter de la Mare
The Fool Rings His Bells by Walter de la Mare Come, Death, I’d have a word with thee; And thou, poor Innocency; And Love — a lad with broken wing; Apnd Pity, too; The Fool shall sing to you, As Fools will sing. Ay, music hath small sense, And a tune’s soon told, And Earth […]
Tartary by Walter de la Mare
Tartary by Walter de la Mare If I were Lord of Tartary, Myself, and me alone, My bed should be of ivory, Of beaten gold my throne; And in my court should peacocks flaunt, And in my forests tigers haunt, And in my pools great fishes slant Their fins athwart the sun. If I were […]
Sunk Lyonesse by Walter de la Mare
Sunk Lyonesse by Walter de la Mare In sea-cold Lyonesse, When the Sabbath eve shafts down On the roofs, walls, belfries Of the foundered town, The Nereids pluck their lyres Where the green translucency beats, And with motionless eyes at gaze Make ministrely in the streets. And the ocean water stirs In salt-worn casement and […]
Some One by Walter de la Mare
Some One by Walter de la Mare Some one came knocking At my wee, small door; Someone came knocking; I’m sure-sure-sure; I listened, I opened, I looked to left and right, But nought there was a stirring In the still dark night; Only the busy beetle Tap-tapping in the wall, Only from the forest The […]
Silver by Walter de la Mare
Silver by Walter de la Mare Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver sleeps […]
Old Susan by Walter de la Mare
Old Susan by Walter de la Mare When Susan’s work was done, she’d sit With one fat guttering candle lit, And window opened wide to win The sweet night air to enter in; There, with a thumb to keep her place She’d read, with stern and wrinkled face. Her mild eyes gliding very slow Across […]
Off the Ground by Walter de la Mare
Off the Ground by Walter de la Mare Three jolly Farmers Once bet a pound Each dance the others would Off the ground. Out of their coats They slipped right soon, And neat and nicesome Put each his shoon. One–Two–Three! And away they go, Not too fast, And not too slow; Out from the elm-tree’s […]
November by Walter de la Mare
November by Walter de la Mare There is wind where the rose was, Cold rain where sweet grass was, And clouds like sheep Stream o’er the steep Grey skies where the lark was. Nought warm where your hand was, Nought gold where your hair was, But phantom, forlorn, Beneath the thorn, Your ghost where your […]
Music by Walter de la Mare
Music by Walter de la Mare When music sounds, gone is the earth I know, And all her lovely things even lovelier grow; Her flowers in vision flame, her forest trees Lift burdened branches, stilled with ecstasies. When music sounds, out of the water rise Naiads whose beauty dims my waking eyes, Rapt in strange […]
Miss Loo by Walter de la Mare
Miss Loo by Walter de la Mare When thin-strewn memory I look through, I see most clearly poor Miss Loo, Her tabby cat, her cage of birds, Her nose, her hair — her muffled words, And how she’d open her green eyes, As if in some immense surprise, Whenever as we sat at tea, She […]
Melmillo by Walter de la Mare
Melmillo by Walter de la Mare Three and thirty birds there stood In an elder in a wood; Called Melmillo — flew off three, Leaving thirty in the tree; Called Melmillo — nine now gone, And the boughs held twenty-one; Called Melmillo — and eighteen Left but three to nod and preen; Called Melmillo — […]
How Sleep the Brave by Walter de la Mare
How Sleep the Brave by Walter de la Mare Nay, nay, sweet England, do not grieve! Not one of these poor men who died But did within his soul believe That death for thee was glorified. Ever they watched it hovering near That mystery ‘yond thought to plumb, Perchance sometimes in loathèd fear They heard […]
Good-bye by Walter de la Mare
Good-bye by Walter de la Mare The last of last words spoken is, Good-bye – The last dismantled flower in the weed-grown hedge, The last thin rumour of a feeble bell far ringing, The last blind rat to spurn the mildewed rye. A hardening darkness glasses the haunted eye, Shines into nothing the watcher’s burnt-out […]
Full Moon by Walter de la Mare
Full Moon by Walter de la Mare One night as Dick lay half asleep, Into his drowsy eyes A great still light began to creep From out the silent skies. It was the lovely moon’s, for when He raised his dreamy head, Her surge of silver filled the pane And streamed across his bed. So, […]
Fare Well by Walter de la Mare
Fare Well by Walter de la Mare When I lie where shades of darkness Shall no more assail mine eyes, Nor the rain make lamentation When the wind sighs; How will fare the world whose wonder Was the very proof of me? Memory fades, must the remembered Perishing be? Oh, when this my dust surrenders […]
Bones by Walter de la Mare
Bones by Walter de la Mare Said Mr. Smith, “I really cannot Tell you, Dr. Jones— The most peculiar pain I’m in— I think it’s in my bones.” Said Dr. Jones, “Oh, Mr. Smith, That’s nothing. Without doubt We have a simple cure for that; It is to take them out.” He laid forthwith poor […]
At Ease by Walter de la Mare
At Ease by Walter de la Mare Most wounds can Time repair; But some are mortal — these: For a broken heart there is no balm, No cure for a heart at ease — At ease, but cold as stone, Though the intellect spin on, And the feat and practiced face may show Nought of […]
Alone by Walter de la Mare
Alone by Walter de la Mare The abode of the nightingale is bare, Flowered frost congeals in the gelid air, The fox howls from his frozen lair: Alas, my loved one is gone, I am alone: It is winter. Once the pink cast a winy smell, The wild bee hung in the hyacinth bell, Light […]
All That’s Past by Walter de la Mare
All That’s Past by Walter de la Mare Very old are the woods; And the buds that break Out of the brier’s boughs, When March winds wake, So old with their beauty are– Oh, no man knows Through what wild centuries Roves back the rose. Very old are the brooks; And the rills that rise […]
Alexander by Walter de la Mare
Alexander by Walter de la Mare It was the Great Alexander, Capped with a golden helm, Sate in the ages, in his floating ship, In a dead calm. Voices of sea-maids singing Wandered across the deep: The sailors labouring on their oars Rowed as in sleep. All the high pomp of Asia, Charmed by that […]
A Song of Enchantment by Walter de la Mare
A Song of Enchantment by Walter de la Mare A song of Enchantment I sang me there, In a green-green wood, by waters fair, Just as the words came up to me I sang it under the wild wood tree. Widdershins turned I, singing it low, Watching the wild birds come and go; No cloud […]
Nicholas Nye by Walter de la Mare
Nicholas Nye by Walter de la Mare Thistle and darnell and dock grew there, And a bush, in the corner, of may, On the orchard wall I used to sprawl In the blazing heat of the day; Half asleep and half awake, While the birds went twittering by, And nobody there my lone to share […]
Napoleon by Walter de la Mare
Napoleon by Walter de la Mare ‘What is the world, O soldiers? It is I: I, this incessant snow, This northern sky; Soldiers, this solitude Through which we go Is I.’ ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository […]
Arabia by Walter de la Mare
Arabia by Walter de la Mare Far are the shades of Arabia, Where the Princes ride at noon, ‘Mid the verdurous vales and thickets, Under the ghost of the moon; And so dark is that vaulted purple Flowers in the forest rise And toss into blossom ‘gainst the phantom stars Pale in the noonday skies. […]
An Epitaph by Walter de la Mare
An Epitaph by Walter de la Mare Here lies a most beautiful lady, Light of step and heart was she; I think she was the most beautiful lady That ever was in the West Country. But beauty vanishes, beauty passes; However rare — rare it be; And when I crumble,who will remember This lady of […]
Bound Home to Mount Song by Wang Wei
The limpid river, past its bushes Running slowly as my chariot, Becomes a fellow voyager Returning home with the evening birds. A ruined city-wall overtops an old ferry, Autumn sunset floods the peaks. …Far away, beside Mount Song, I shall close my door and be at peace. ————— The End And that’s the End of […]
Answering Vice-Prefect Zhang by Wang Wei
As the years go by, give me but peace, Freedom from ten thousand matters. I ask myself and always answer: What can be better than coming home? A wind from the pine-trees blows my sash, And my lute is bright with the mountain moon. You ask me about good and evil fortune?…. Hark, on the […]
At the Lake Pavilion by Wang Wei
Small barge go to meet honoured guest Leisurely lake on come At railing face cup alcohol On all sides lotus bloom On a skiff I meet an honoured guest, Slowly, slowly, it comes across the lake. Facing at the railing, we drink a cup of wine, On all sides, lotus flowers are in bloom. ————— […]
Duckweed Pond by Wang Wei
Spring pond deep and wide Time for the vessel’s return Slow the duckweed flows together Willows draw them apart again ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry. Poetry Monster — the multilingual library of poetic […]
Bamboo Adobe by Wang Wei
I sit along in the dark bamboo grove, Playing the zither and whistling long. In this deep wood no one would know – Only the bright moon comes to shine. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of […]
Deer Enclosure by Wang Wei
Empty hill not see person Yet hear person voice sound Return scene enter deep forest Duplicate light green moss on Hills are empty, no man is seen, Yet the sound of people’s voices is heard. Light is cast into the deep forest, And shines again on green moss. ————— The End And that’s the End […]
Farewell to Hsin Chien at Hibiscus Pavilion by Wang Wei
A cold rain mingled with the river at evening, when I entered Wu; In the clear dawn I bid you farewell, lonely as Ch’u Mountain. My kinsfolk in Loyang, should they ask about me, Tell them: “My heart is a piece of ice in a jade cup!” ————— The End And that’s the End of […]
Farewell by Wang Wei
Down horse drink gentleman alcohol Ask gentleman what place go Gentleman say not achieve wish Return lie south mountain near Still go nothing more ask White cloud not exhaust time Dismounting, I offer my friend a cup of wine, I ask what place he is headed to. He says he has not achieved his aims, […]
For P’ei Ti by Wang Wei
We’ve not seen each other for a long time now. Each day above the stream I see us arm in arm. Memory. Painful goodbyes. If it feels like this now, What did it feel like then? ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry […]
From the Mountain by Wang Wei
Here there are others like me Sitting alone in meditation. Look out here from the city. All you will see is White Clouds. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry. Poetry Monster — the multilingual […]
For Mêng Hao-jan by Wang Wei
Never to see that true friend again. Han River gleams wide to the east. I might ask where his island’s found. River and hills. Empty is his place. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry. […]
Fine Apricot Lodge by Wang Wei
Fine apricot cut for roofbeam Fragrant cogongrass tie for eaves Not know ridgepole in cloud Go make people among rain Fine apricot was cut for the roofbeam, Fragrant cogongrass tied for the eaves. I know not when the cloud from this house Will go to make rain among the people. ————— The End And that’s […]
Fields and Gardens by the River Qi by Wang Wei
I dwell apart by the River Qi, Where the Eastern wilds stretch far without hills. The sun darkens beyond the mulberry trees; The river glistens through the villages. Shepherd boys depart, gazing back to their hamlets; Hunting dogs return following their men. When a man’s at peace, what business does he have? I shut fast […]
Farewell (II) by Wang Wei
Hill at mutual escort stop Day dusk shut wood door Spring grass next year green Prince offspring return not return We bid each other farewell beside the hill, As day meets dusk, I close the wooden gate. Next year, in spring, there will be green grass again, But will my honoured friend return? ————— The […]