52 Poems
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NON SUM QUALIS ERAM BONAE SUB REGNO CYNARAE Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine; And I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head: I have
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IN THE TIME OF THE TUMULT OF NATIONS We thought that the worst was behind us in the time of the tumult of nations. We planned and we saved for the future in the time of the tumult of nations. The crowds in the streets were uneasy in the time of the tumult of nations.
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THE HORSES Barely a twelvemonth after The seven days war that put the world to sleep, Late in the evening the strange horses came. By then we had made our covenant with silence, But in the first few days it was so still We listened to our breathing and were afraid. On the second day
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NAMING OF PARTS Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday, We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning, We shall have what to do after firing. But today, Today we have naming of parts. Japonica Glistens like coral in all the neighboring gardens, And today we have naming of parts. This is the lower sling swivel.
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NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he’s dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They said. Oh, no no
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MUSÉE DES BEAUX ARTS About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters: how well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children
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ADLESTROP Yes. I remember Adlestrop— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June. The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop—only the name And willows, willow-herb, and grass, And meadowsweet, and
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When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till
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AN OLD MAN'S WINTER NIGHT All out-of-doors looked darkly in at him Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars, That gathers on the pane in empty rooms. What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand. What kept him from remembering what it was That
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THE PROPHET(translated by Maurice Baring) With fainting soul athirst for Grace, I wandered in a desert place, And at the crossing of the ways I saw the sixfold Seraph blaze: He touched mine eyes with fingers light As sleep that cometh in the night: And like a frighted eagle’s eyes, They opened wide with prophecies.
Light On Dark Water 