-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Birds and poetry (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter christineredgate
- Start date
Good poem, Glaciermint, thanks for posting it.
I notice (again thanks to Colin) that we only have one poem from the fine American poet Elizabeth Bishop. Here is another written in 1965 when she lived in Brazil. Dedicated to her friend Robert Lowell, its theme is the defencelessness of the inhabitants of terra firma to nasty things dropping out of the sky, even those who, like the armadillo, would seem to be better protected than the rest.
The Armadillo
for Robert Lowell
This is the time of year
when almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,
rising toward a saint
still honored in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.
Once up against the sky it's hard
to tell them from the stars --
planets, that is -- the tinted ones:
Venus going down, or Mars,
or the pale green one. With a wind,
they flare and falter, wobble and toss;
but if it's still they steer between
the kite sticks of the Southern Cross,
receding, dwindling, solemnly
and steadily forsaking us,
or, in the downdraft from a peak,
suddenly turning dangerous.
Last night another big one fell.
It splattered like an egg of fire
against the cliff behind the house.
The flame ran down. We saw the pair
of owls who nest there flying up
and up, their whirling black-and-white
stained bright pink underneath, until
they shrieked up out of sight.
The ancient owls' nest must have burned.
Hastily, all alone,
a glistening armadillo left the scene,
rose-flecked, head down, tail down,
and then a baby rabbit jumped out,
short-eared, to our surprise.
So soft! -- a handful of intangible ash
with fixed, ignited eyes.
Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry!
O falling fire and piercing cry
and panic, and a weak mailed fist
clenched ignorant against the sky!
Elizabeth Bishop
Andrew
I notice (again thanks to Colin) that we only have one poem from the fine American poet Elizabeth Bishop. Here is another written in 1965 when she lived in Brazil. Dedicated to her friend Robert Lowell, its theme is the defencelessness of the inhabitants of terra firma to nasty things dropping out of the sky, even those who, like the armadillo, would seem to be better protected than the rest.
The Armadillo
for Robert Lowell
This is the time of year
when almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,
rising toward a saint
still honored in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.
Once up against the sky it's hard
to tell them from the stars --
planets, that is -- the tinted ones:
Venus going down, or Mars,
or the pale green one. With a wind,
they flare and falter, wobble and toss;
but if it's still they steer between
the kite sticks of the Southern Cross,
receding, dwindling, solemnly
and steadily forsaking us,
or, in the downdraft from a peak,
suddenly turning dangerous.
Last night another big one fell.
It splattered like an egg of fire
against the cliff behind the house.
The flame ran down. We saw the pair
of owls who nest there flying up
and up, their whirling black-and-white
stained bright pink underneath, until
they shrieked up out of sight.
The ancient owls' nest must have burned.
Hastily, all alone,
a glistening armadillo left the scene,
rose-flecked, head down, tail down,
and then a baby rabbit jumped out,
short-eared, to our surprise.
So soft! -- a handful of intangible ash
with fixed, ignited eyes.
Too pretty, dreamlike mimicry!
O falling fire and piercing cry
and panic, and a weak mailed fist
clenched ignorant against the sky!
Elizabeth Bishop
Andrew
christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
Thanks,Andrew,very interesting poem.
glaciermint
Well-known member
I notice that this thread seems to have a hard core of devotees. The blackbird poem I posted yesterday appears to have been well received so I dug out my notebook for some more which I will post over the next few days where I think they are pertinent to this thread.
They are of mixed poetical merit, though in my opinion mainly very good, the poet unlikely to be well known, but perhaps deserving of a wider audience and there will perhaps be a few ‘new birds’ also.
What the poems all have in common is that they appealed to me at the time I read them and rather like a painting on a wall, to me that’s what counts.
Today I am posting some thoughts on the southward migration of the green sandpiper from its Arctic breeding grounds by Margaret Caunt
Green Sandpiper
Summer is closing down its long light evenings.
Days grow short and ice snarls up the feeding
grounds. There can be no more wading
in the shadows with rippling reflections.
The sandpiper grows restive. A chill wind
ruffles her plumage, grows knives, turns
angry, assertive, shatters the smooth snow-silence,
warns of winter. The wader must fly south.
It must be something of a comedown,
waking one morning in the icy dawn
to leave the magic of that vast aurora country
and set her sights on Welwyn Garden City.
They are of mixed poetical merit, though in my opinion mainly very good, the poet unlikely to be well known, but perhaps deserving of a wider audience and there will perhaps be a few ‘new birds’ also.
What the poems all have in common is that they appealed to me at the time I read them and rather like a painting on a wall, to me that’s what counts.
Today I am posting some thoughts on the southward migration of the green sandpiper from its Arctic breeding grounds by Margaret Caunt
Green Sandpiper
Summer is closing down its long light evenings.
Days grow short and ice snarls up the feeding
grounds. There can be no more wading
in the shadows with rippling reflections.
The sandpiper grows restive. A chill wind
ruffles her plumage, grows knives, turns
angry, assertive, shatters the smooth snow-silence,
warns of winter. The wader must fly south.
It must be something of a comedown,
waking one morning in the icy dawn
to leave the magic of that vast aurora country
and set her sights on Welwyn Garden City.
Thread Index Update
This is an index to all the poems posted here-in whole or in part.
It is valid up to # 1305 Page 53
The Number after the Poem is the first Posting in which it is quoted.
The Index does not include poems posted with no attribution, or poems written by the Poster.
If I have missed anything dear to someone's heart please let me know.
ADLER. RON
Untitled Poem 557
ALBANO. CHARLES
The Hawk 389
ANGELOU. MAYA
Caged Bird 5
ARMITAGE. SIMON
It Aint What You Do It's What It Does To You. 815
ARNOLD. MATHEW
Dover Beach 1060
AUDEN. WH
As I Walked Out One Evening 78
Funeral Blues ( Stop All the Clocks) 755
Say This City has Ten Million Souls 1244
Seascape 94
The More Loving One 1249
Their Lonely Betters 756
The Unknown Citizen 1225
BASHO. MATSUO
Lightening 434
Midfield 434
Moonlight Slanting 434
The sea darkens 440
Your song caresses 440
BEDOES. THOMAS LOVELL
Dream Pedlary 190
The Song that Wolfram Heard in Hell 189
BELLOC. HILLAIRE
The Vulture 102
BENT. ARTHUR CLEVELAND
High in the air they travel on. 777
BERRY. WENDELL
The Peace of Wild Things 196
The Wild Geese 200
BINYON. LAURENCE
For The Fallen( September 1914) 132
BISHOP. ELIZABETH
Sandpiper 812
The Armadillo 1302
BLAKE. WILLIAM
Auguries of Innocence 13
Jerusalem 1279
Proverbs of Hell 508
Reeds of Innocence 1268
The Argument 1273
The Garden of Love 36
The Human Abstract 800
The Tyger 1272
To Spring 1276
BLUNDEN. EDMUND
Forefathers 1087
Vlamertinghe-Passing the Chateau July 1917 1075
BRECHT. BERTOLD
Questions From A Worker Who Reads 187
BRESSNER. KAY
Clear blue sky above 984
BRIDGES. ROBERT
Flucatchers 26
BROOKE. RUPERT
A Fragment 655
Pine-Trees and the Sky : Evening 113
The Voice 164
BROOKS. GWENDOLYN
Speech to the Young 1108
The Bean Eaters 1109
We Real Cool 1111
BROWNING. ROBERT
Home-Thoughts From Abroad 30
Pippa's Song 1255
BRYANT. WILLIAM CULLEN
November 638
BUDBILL. DAVID
The Three Goals 1203
BURNS. ROBERT
Cauld Blows The Wind 384
Now Westlin Winds 396
Up in the Morning Early 1059
Yon banks and hills of bonnie Doon 384
BURROW. LUCY
Jacky Frost 626
BUXTON. JOHN
The Prisoner of the Singing Bird 1031
BYRON. GEORGE GORDON
Darkness 709
CAMERON WILSON. TP
Magpies In Picardy 1022
CANDOLE ALEC DE
When the Last Long Trek is Over 1015
CARROLL. LEWIS
Jaberwocky 696
CARVER. RAYMOND
This Morning 318
CAUNT. MARGARET
The Green Sandpiper 1305
CHESTERTON. GK
The Donkey 1117
CLARE. JOHN
Emonsail's Heath in Winter 209
I am! 6
Little Trotty Wagtail 2
Love Lies Beyond The Tomb 1286
Song 692
The Early Nightingale 16
The Landrail 16
The Nightingale's Nest 289
The Nuthatch 719
The Old Year 969
The Shepherd's Calender 688
The Skylark 701
The Yellowhammer 718
Written In Northampton County Asylum 693
CLARKE. GILLIAN
Miracle on Saint David's Day 125
My Box 1043
CLAYTON. DAVID
The Carpet Fights 138
CONNOR. TW
One of The Early Birds 53
COUSINS. DAVID
On Growing Older 1067
COWPER. WILIIAM
To The Nightingale 1220
CRANE. HART
My Grandmother's Love Letters 672
CRANE. STEPHEN
Little Birds of The Night 919
The Wayfarer 278
CRISFIELD. LEM WARD
A Hunter's Poem 760
cummings. e e
Poem 1 1028
Why must itself up every of a park 1026
DARYUSH. ELIZABETH
Children of Wealth 1148
I saw the daughter of the sun 1147
Still Life 1148
DAVIES. WH
A Greeting 1258
How sweet this morning air in Spring 25
Leisure 1260
No Master 544
The Kingfisher 25
DE LA MARE. WALTER
Before Dawn 273
King David was a Sorrowful man 267
The Listeners 270
DICKINSON. EMILY
A feather from the Whippoorwill 116
Hope is the thing with feathers 116
There's a certain Slant of Light 956
DONNE. JOHN
Song 218
DUFFY. CAROL ANNE
Before You Were Mine 1123
In Mrs. Tilscher's Class 885
EDWARDS. MARJORIE
Morning Beach 506
EDGAR. MARRIOT
The Lion and Albert 530
EDGE. GRAEME
Late Lament 1064
The Day Begins 1064
The Dream 1061
EISELEY. LOREN
The Cardinals 158
ELIOT. TS
Burnt Norton 1040
The Waste Land 157 & 1142
EZEKIEL. NISSIM
Night of the Scorpion 996
FARJEON. ELEANOR
Mrs. Peck Pigeon 1206
FERLINGHETTI. LAWRENCE
The Light of Birds 277
FIELD. EUGENE
The Dinkey Bird 694
FIELD. RACHEL
Something Told The Wild Geese 760
FORSTER. MARYANN
Flight of Swallows 303
FROST. ROBERT
A Minor Bird 112
A Prayer in Spring 1013
Dust of Snow 111
My November Guest 938
Never Again Would Bird Song Be The Same 1025
Nothing Gold Can Stay 1271
Range Finding 1042
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 114
The Flood 745
The Ovenbird 921
The Pasture 1275
The Road Not Taken 114
To The Thawing Wind 115
GALLIENNE. RICHARD
I Meant To Do My Work Today 282
GIBRAN. KAHLIL
The Dying Man and The Vulture 488
GILBERT & SULLIVAN
Tit Willow 23
GOETHE. JOHANN WOLFGANG
Heather Rose 494
GRAVES. ROBERT
To Robert Nicholls 472
HARDY. THOMAS
A Christmas Ghost Story 924
Beeny Cliff 959
Paying Calls 810
The Darkling Thrush 50
The Voice 644
The Yellowhammer 718
Transformations 1098
Weathers 1133
Where the Picnic Was 1105
HARRISON. TONY
Long Distance 889 & 894
HEANEY. SEAMUS
Anything Can Happen 862
A Shiver 770
Digging 563
Drifting Off 1057
Edward Thomas on The Laggans Road 1240
Follower 888
Planting The Alder 862
Punishment 1019
St. Kevin and the Blackbird 721
Serenades 1287
The Blackbird of Glanmore 1183
The Grabaulle Man 973
The Otter 1218
HECHT. ANTHONY
The Dover Bitch 1060
HEMANS. FELICIA
Casabianca 611
HEMMING. ANNE
Into my fever's flush 380
HEMMINGWAY. EARNEST
Along with Youth 478
HERRICK. ROBERT
Gather Ye Rosebuds 810
HODGSON. RALPH
The Great Auk's Ghost
HOPKINS. GERARD MANLEY
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame 882
Pied Beauty 576
The Windhover 55
HOSKINS. ML
At The Gate of the Year 968
HOUSMAN. AE
I Hoed and Trenched and Weeded 108
Loveliest of trees the cherry now 954
On Wenlock Edge The Wood's In Trouble 108
When smoke stood up from Ludlow 105
White in the moon the long road lies 954
XL 955
HUGHES. TED
A Childish Prank 71
Brambles 514
Hawk Roosting 65
Heptonstall Old Church 1044
Relic 686
The swallow of summer 395
Thistles 868
ISHERWOOD. CHRISTOPHER
The Common Cormorant ( or Shag) 368
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY
White Bird 1082
JAMES. ERIC ANDREW
Canary Canary 1185
JAMIE. KATHLEEN
The Dipper 733
The Tree House 876
JARMAN. MARK
Old Acquaintance 932
JEFFERS. ROBINSON
Hurt Hawks 565
JENKINS. LUCIEN
The Enclosure Acts 821
JONES. PETER
Buttercups 818
The Heron 818
JOYCE. JAMES
On the beach at Fontana 862
KEATS. JOHN
A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever 1179
Epistle to Charles Cowden Clarke 1176
La Belle Dame Sans Merci 18
Ode to a Grecian Urn 1078
Ode to a Nightingale 689
The Terror of Death 1192
To Ailsa Rock 1264
To One Who Has Been Long In The City 1192
KENDON. FRANK
And ladders leaning against damson trees 517
KENNELLY. BRIAN
The Distinct Impression 815
KHAYYAM. OMAR
Rubaiyat 346
KINGSLY. CHARLES
Young and Old 1127
KIPLING. RUDYARD
If 952
In Springtime 669
Seal Lullaby 740
The Way Through The Woods 740
KOLATKAR. ARUN
An Old Woman 989
KLINE. MALINDA
Watching Over Me 984
LAIRD. CHRISTA
Fall Birthday 777
LARKIN. PHILIP
Afternoons 738
Born Yesterday 860
Coming 96
Cut Grass 331
Days 331
Deceptions 855
Faith Healing 101
Maiden Name 887
MCMXIV 746
Myxomatosis 581
Next Please 868
Reasons for Attendance 860
Sunny Prestatyn 848
The Explosion 1042
The Trees 99
This be the verse 737
Water 331
LAWLESS. EMILY
Now the seagull spreads his wing 72
LAWRENCE. DH
Humming Bird 851
LEAR. EDWARD
Mr. And Mrs. Spikky Sparrow 367
The Scroobious Pip 359
The Hunting of The Snark 364
There was an Old Man with a beard 367
LEDWIDGE. FRANCIS
Lament for Thomas McDonagh 465
Soliloquy 1015
LEE. LAURIE
Town Owl 683
LEONARD. TOM
This is the Six O'Clock News 821
LINDSAY. VACHEL
The Leaden-Eyed 997
LOCKLEY
When Dotterel do first appear 688
LONGFELLOW. HENRY WADSWORTH
The Song of Hiawatha 484
LONNROT. ELIAS
The Kalevala 249 & 250
LYALL. SARAH
Pigeons 1187
LYYVUO. EERO
A Chaffinch to a Poet 234
Laulurastas ylistaa Illan Rankaa 230
McCARTNEY. PAUL
Blackbird 1104
McGONOGAL. WILLIAM
Death and burial of Lord Tennyson 964
The Tay Bridge Disaster 961
McGOUGH. ROGER
Bees Cannot Fly 212
Crow 167
Defying Gravity 169
Let me die a young man's death 790
Nooligan 175
40 Love 713
McKAY. CLAUDE
Birds of Prey 1144
Winter in The Country 1146
McKAY. DON
Close-up on a Sharp-shinned Hawk 569
McMILLAN. JAN
Five artistic ducks 528
In Winter Silence 528
MacCAIG. NORMAN
Fetching Cows 1119
Ringed plover by water's edge 1119
Summer Farm 1115
MACNIECE. LOUIS
Apple Blossom 1050
The Sunlight on The Garden 1288
Trains in The Distance 1299
MACRAE. JOHN
In Flanders Fields 659
MAC GIOLLA GHUNNA. CATHAL BUIDHE
The Yellow Bittern 455
MARLOW. CHRISTOPHER
The face that launched a thousand ships 1095
MEREDITH. GEORGE
He rises and begins to round 7
MERRITT DIXON LANIER
The Pelican 181
MILNE. AA
Oh the butterflies are flying 136
The Mirror 133
The Wrong House 133
MILTON. JOHN
Lycidas 327
Paradise Lost 825 & 830
MOORMAN. FW
Fieldfares 722
MUELLER. LISEL
Why I need Birds 1156
What the Dog Perhaps Hears 1157
MUIR. EDWIN
The Horses 1037
MULDOON. PAUL
Plovers 1036
NAGY. MARY
A Lesson from the Birds 1214
NASH. OGDEN
Crossing the Border 806
Spring is Sprung 178
The Ant 529
The Birds 701
The Cuckoo 182
The Duck 182
The Germ 882
The Grackle 179
The Ostrich 182
The Squab 182
The Wapiti 529
Up from the Egg 529
NERUDA. PABLO
Bird 783
Black Vulture 488
NEWBOLT. HENRY
Vitai Lampada 1010
NICHOLSON. NORMAN
Boo to a Goose 127
The Black Guillemot 1
The Cock's Nest 98
Weeds 299
NOYES. ALFRED
Shadows on the Down 677
The Highwayman 676
OLIVER. MARY
Heron Rises from the Dark Summer Pond 172
The Swan 791
OWEN. WILFRED
Anthem for Doomed Youth 123
Dulce et Decorum Est 654
Elegy in April and September 123
PANGYARIHAN. GILBERT
The Birds of Hong Kong 1160
PATTEN. BRIAN
In Tintagel Graveyard 176
Lockerbie 177
PAXTON. TOM
Whose Garden Was This 399
PEARSON. ENID
Frosty Morning 648
Owl 352
PLATH. SYLVIA
Blackberrying 67
Black Rook in Rainy Weather 73
Goatsucker 477
Spinster 486
POTTER. BEATRIX
Tommy Tittle mouse 719
PUGH. SHEENAGH
Sometimes 733
RAINE. KATHLEEN
Nameless Islets 558
ROETHKE. THEODORE
In a Dark Time 1964 280
ROSEN. MICHAEL
Going Through Old Photos 518
ROSENBURG. ISAAC
Break of Day in the Trenches 1004
Returning We Hear the Larks 124
ROSS. ALAN
Night Patrol 1138
ROSSETI. CHRISTINA
Remember 951
RYAN. KAY
Mockingbird 925
Paired Things 929
The Other Shoe 930
RYOKAN.
Spring flows gently 442
Wind and Snow 441
SASSOON. SIEGFRIED
Butterflies 842
Everyone Sang 1088
Have you forgotten yet ? 131
The Hero 758
Thrushes 121
SCOTT. PETER
A picture of Gesse 1257
SCOTT. WALTER
The Lady of The Lake 471
SERVICE. ROBERT
Birdwatcher 186
Grey Gull 191
SHAKESPEARE. WILLIAM
Sonnet No, 73 767
Winter 63
SHAW. GB
Wings 1155
SHELLEY. PERCY. BYSSHE
A widow bird sate mourning for her love 279
England in 1819 712
Ode to a Skylark 60
Ode to the West Wind 712
Song 708
SKELTON. JOHN
Merry Margaret as midsummer flower 376
The bittern with his bumpe 1081
SMITH. STEVIE
Not Waving but Drowning 743
SNOWY WHITE
Bird of Paradise 1097
SORLEY. CHARLES HAMILTON
Rooks 1073
STAFFORD. WILLIAM
At the Bomb Testing Site 931
The Well Rising 930
STALLWORTHY. JON
No Ordinary Sunday 656
SULLIVAN. REBECCA
There Lie Forgotten Men 668
TAGORE. RABINDRANATH
The Gift 806
TASHIJAN. FIONA LEE
Birds of Prey are all the same 504
That Reptile-Bird called Archaeopterix 504
TAYLOR. JOHN
There were rare birds I never saw before 72
TENNANT. EDWARD WYNDHAM
Home Thoughts in Laventie 1000
TENNYSON. ALFRED
Break, Break, Break 599
Cradle Song 265
I stood on a Tower in the West 965
Morte D'Arthur 346
Summer is Coming 235
The Brook 704
The Eagle 28
The Lady of Shallot 264
TYNEMAN. MAUREEN
Blackbird 1294
THE MOODY BLUES
The Swallow 1079
Voices in The Sky 1079
THOMAS. DYLAN
Do not go gentle in to that good night 1120
Poem in October 166
The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower 1125
The Hand That Signed The Paper 573
When All My Five and Country Senses See 573
THOMAS. EDWARD
Adelstrop 128
And You Helen 130
As the Team's Head-Brass 107
Fifty Faggots 905
Lights Out 1235
Lob 328
Rain 908
Sedge Warblers 171
She Dotes 978
Snow 1135
The Cherry Trees 1126
The Combe 884
The Dark Forest 1126
The Mill-Pond 897
The Word 1235
This is no case of petty right or wrong 902
THOMAS. RS
A Blackbird Singing 768
Lore 1086
Moorland 978
THOREAU. HENRY DAVID
Mist 472
TYNAN. KATHERIN
The End of the Day 532
TYREMAN. MAUREEN
Blackbird 1294
VERNEDE. RE
The Listening Post 1151
WAGONER. DAVID
Lost 780
WARDLE. SARAH
After Blake 1049
WATSON. STANLEY
Ah Bluejay 165
WHITMAN. WALT
O Me ! O Life! 82
The Dalliance of Eagles 91
To the Man-of-War Bird 92
Wood Odors 89
WILBUR. RICHARD
A Barred Owl 1224
WILCOX. EW
So many gods-so many creeds 275
WILSON. RAYMOND
Old Johnny Armstrong 159
WISE. BERTHA
Constant Velocity 312
WORDSWORTH. WILLIAM
Art thou the bird whom Man loves best 480
Tintern Abbey 479
Near Anio's Stream I spied a gentle Dove 193
Ode on Intimations of Immortality 942
The Excursion 478
The Green Linnet 62
The Prelude 538
The Solitary Reaper 1215
The Waggoner 478
YEATS. WB
At Algeciras 699
He Reproves The Curlew 1277
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven 32
Leda and the Swan 699
Sailing to Byzantium 699
The Fiddler of Dooney 1267
The Fisherman 1124
The Hawk 699
The Host Of The Air 1285
The Lake Isle of Innisfree 42
The Second Coming 27
The Song of Wandering Aengus 1129
The Tower 1280
The Two Trees 625
The White Birds 39
The Wild Swans at Coole 41
When you are old 39
YOSA. BUSSAN
Calligraphy of Geese 434
Dawn 434
Sparrow Singing 434
Sudden shower 440
The behaviour of the pigeon 434
YOUNG-LEE. LI
One Heart 976
TO POST #1305 Page 53
This is an index to all the poems posted here-in whole or in part.
It is valid up to # 1305 Page 53
The Number after the Poem is the first Posting in which it is quoted.
The Index does not include poems posted with no attribution, or poems written by the Poster.
If I have missed anything dear to someone's heart please let me know.
ADLER. RON
Untitled Poem 557
ALBANO. CHARLES
The Hawk 389
ANGELOU. MAYA
Caged Bird 5
ARMITAGE. SIMON
It Aint What You Do It's What It Does To You. 815
ARNOLD. MATHEW
Dover Beach 1060
AUDEN. WH
As I Walked Out One Evening 78
Funeral Blues ( Stop All the Clocks) 755
Say This City has Ten Million Souls 1244
Seascape 94
The More Loving One 1249
Their Lonely Betters 756
The Unknown Citizen 1225
BASHO. MATSUO
Lightening 434
Midfield 434
Moonlight Slanting 434
The sea darkens 440
Your song caresses 440
BEDOES. THOMAS LOVELL
Dream Pedlary 190
The Song that Wolfram Heard in Hell 189
BELLOC. HILLAIRE
The Vulture 102
BENT. ARTHUR CLEVELAND
High in the air they travel on. 777
BERRY. WENDELL
The Peace of Wild Things 196
The Wild Geese 200
BINYON. LAURENCE
For The Fallen( September 1914) 132
BISHOP. ELIZABETH
Sandpiper 812
The Armadillo 1302
BLAKE. WILLIAM
Auguries of Innocence 13
Jerusalem 1279
Proverbs of Hell 508
Reeds of Innocence 1268
The Argument 1273
The Garden of Love 36
The Human Abstract 800
The Tyger 1272
To Spring 1276
BLUNDEN. EDMUND
Forefathers 1087
Vlamertinghe-Passing the Chateau July 1917 1075
BRECHT. BERTOLD
Questions From A Worker Who Reads 187
BRESSNER. KAY
Clear blue sky above 984
BRIDGES. ROBERT
Flucatchers 26
BROOKE. RUPERT
A Fragment 655
Pine-Trees and the Sky : Evening 113
The Voice 164
BROOKS. GWENDOLYN
Speech to the Young 1108
The Bean Eaters 1109
We Real Cool 1111
BROWNING. ROBERT
Home-Thoughts From Abroad 30
Pippa's Song 1255
BRYANT. WILLIAM CULLEN
November 638
BUDBILL. DAVID
The Three Goals 1203
BURNS. ROBERT
Cauld Blows The Wind 384
Now Westlin Winds 396
Up in the Morning Early 1059
Yon banks and hills of bonnie Doon 384
BURROW. LUCY
Jacky Frost 626
BUXTON. JOHN
The Prisoner of the Singing Bird 1031
BYRON. GEORGE GORDON
Darkness 709
CAMERON WILSON. TP
Magpies In Picardy 1022
CANDOLE ALEC DE
When the Last Long Trek is Over 1015
CARROLL. LEWIS
Jaberwocky 696
CARVER. RAYMOND
This Morning 318
CAUNT. MARGARET
The Green Sandpiper 1305
CHESTERTON. GK
The Donkey 1117
CLARE. JOHN
Emonsail's Heath in Winter 209
I am! 6
Little Trotty Wagtail 2
Love Lies Beyond The Tomb 1286
Song 692
The Early Nightingale 16
The Landrail 16
The Nightingale's Nest 289
The Nuthatch 719
The Old Year 969
The Shepherd's Calender 688
The Skylark 701
The Yellowhammer 718
Written In Northampton County Asylum 693
CLARKE. GILLIAN
Miracle on Saint David's Day 125
My Box 1043
CLAYTON. DAVID
The Carpet Fights 138
CONNOR. TW
One of The Early Birds 53
COUSINS. DAVID
On Growing Older 1067
COWPER. WILIIAM
To The Nightingale 1220
CRANE. HART
My Grandmother's Love Letters 672
CRANE. STEPHEN
Little Birds of The Night 919
The Wayfarer 278
CRISFIELD. LEM WARD
A Hunter's Poem 760
cummings. e e
Poem 1 1028
Why must itself up every of a park 1026
DARYUSH. ELIZABETH
Children of Wealth 1148
I saw the daughter of the sun 1147
Still Life 1148
DAVIES. WH
A Greeting 1258
How sweet this morning air in Spring 25
Leisure 1260
No Master 544
The Kingfisher 25
DE LA MARE. WALTER
Before Dawn 273
King David was a Sorrowful man 267
The Listeners 270
DICKINSON. EMILY
A feather from the Whippoorwill 116
Hope is the thing with feathers 116
There's a certain Slant of Light 956
DONNE. JOHN
Song 218
DUFFY. CAROL ANNE
Before You Were Mine 1123
In Mrs. Tilscher's Class 885
EDWARDS. MARJORIE
Morning Beach 506
EDGAR. MARRIOT
The Lion and Albert 530
EDGE. GRAEME
Late Lament 1064
The Day Begins 1064
The Dream 1061
EISELEY. LOREN
The Cardinals 158
ELIOT. TS
Burnt Norton 1040
The Waste Land 157 & 1142
EZEKIEL. NISSIM
Night of the Scorpion 996
FARJEON. ELEANOR
Mrs. Peck Pigeon 1206
FERLINGHETTI. LAWRENCE
The Light of Birds 277
FIELD. EUGENE
The Dinkey Bird 694
FIELD. RACHEL
Something Told The Wild Geese 760
FORSTER. MARYANN
Flight of Swallows 303
FROST. ROBERT
A Minor Bird 112
A Prayer in Spring 1013
Dust of Snow 111
My November Guest 938
Never Again Would Bird Song Be The Same 1025
Nothing Gold Can Stay 1271
Range Finding 1042
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 114
The Flood 745
The Ovenbird 921
The Pasture 1275
The Road Not Taken 114
To The Thawing Wind 115
GALLIENNE. RICHARD
I Meant To Do My Work Today 282
GIBRAN. KAHLIL
The Dying Man and The Vulture 488
GILBERT & SULLIVAN
Tit Willow 23
GOETHE. JOHANN WOLFGANG
Heather Rose 494
GRAVES. ROBERT
To Robert Nicholls 472
HARDY. THOMAS
A Christmas Ghost Story 924
Beeny Cliff 959
Paying Calls 810
The Darkling Thrush 50
The Voice 644
The Yellowhammer 718
Transformations 1098
Weathers 1133
Where the Picnic Was 1105
HARRISON. TONY
Long Distance 889 & 894
HEANEY. SEAMUS
Anything Can Happen 862
A Shiver 770
Digging 563
Drifting Off 1057
Edward Thomas on The Laggans Road 1240
Follower 888
Planting The Alder 862
Punishment 1019
St. Kevin and the Blackbird 721
Serenades 1287
The Blackbird of Glanmore 1183
The Grabaulle Man 973
The Otter 1218
HECHT. ANTHONY
The Dover Bitch 1060
HEMANS. FELICIA
Casabianca 611
HEMMING. ANNE
Into my fever's flush 380
HEMMINGWAY. EARNEST
Along with Youth 478
HERRICK. ROBERT
Gather Ye Rosebuds 810
HODGSON. RALPH
The Great Auk's Ghost
HOPKINS. GERARD MANLEY
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame 882
Pied Beauty 576
The Windhover 55
HOSKINS. ML
At The Gate of the Year 968
HOUSMAN. AE
I Hoed and Trenched and Weeded 108
Loveliest of trees the cherry now 954
On Wenlock Edge The Wood's In Trouble 108
When smoke stood up from Ludlow 105
White in the moon the long road lies 954
XL 955
HUGHES. TED
A Childish Prank 71
Brambles 514
Hawk Roosting 65
Heptonstall Old Church 1044
Relic 686
The swallow of summer 395
Thistles 868
ISHERWOOD. CHRISTOPHER
The Common Cormorant ( or Shag) 368
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY
White Bird 1082
JAMES. ERIC ANDREW
Canary Canary 1185
JAMIE. KATHLEEN
The Dipper 733
The Tree House 876
JARMAN. MARK
Old Acquaintance 932
JEFFERS. ROBINSON
Hurt Hawks 565
JENKINS. LUCIEN
The Enclosure Acts 821
JONES. PETER
Buttercups 818
The Heron 818
JOYCE. JAMES
On the beach at Fontana 862
KEATS. JOHN
A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever 1179
Epistle to Charles Cowden Clarke 1176
La Belle Dame Sans Merci 18
Ode to a Grecian Urn 1078
Ode to a Nightingale 689
The Terror of Death 1192
To Ailsa Rock 1264
To One Who Has Been Long In The City 1192
KENDON. FRANK
And ladders leaning against damson trees 517
KENNELLY. BRIAN
The Distinct Impression 815
KHAYYAM. OMAR
Rubaiyat 346
KINGSLY. CHARLES
Young and Old 1127
KIPLING. RUDYARD
If 952
In Springtime 669
Seal Lullaby 740
The Way Through The Woods 740
KOLATKAR. ARUN
An Old Woman 989
KLINE. MALINDA
Watching Over Me 984
LAIRD. CHRISTA
Fall Birthday 777
LARKIN. PHILIP
Afternoons 738
Born Yesterday 860
Coming 96
Cut Grass 331
Days 331
Deceptions 855
Faith Healing 101
Maiden Name 887
MCMXIV 746
Myxomatosis 581
Next Please 868
Reasons for Attendance 860
Sunny Prestatyn 848
The Explosion 1042
The Trees 99
This be the verse 737
Water 331
LAWLESS. EMILY
Now the seagull spreads his wing 72
LAWRENCE. DH
Humming Bird 851
LEAR. EDWARD
Mr. And Mrs. Spikky Sparrow 367
The Scroobious Pip 359
The Hunting of The Snark 364
There was an Old Man with a beard 367
LEDWIDGE. FRANCIS
Lament for Thomas McDonagh 465
Soliloquy 1015
LEE. LAURIE
Town Owl 683
LEONARD. TOM
This is the Six O'Clock News 821
LINDSAY. VACHEL
The Leaden-Eyed 997
LOCKLEY
When Dotterel do first appear 688
LONGFELLOW. HENRY WADSWORTH
The Song of Hiawatha 484
LONNROT. ELIAS
The Kalevala 249 & 250
LYALL. SARAH
Pigeons 1187
LYYVUO. EERO
A Chaffinch to a Poet 234
Laulurastas ylistaa Illan Rankaa 230
McCARTNEY. PAUL
Blackbird 1104
McGONOGAL. WILLIAM
Death and burial of Lord Tennyson 964
The Tay Bridge Disaster 961
McGOUGH. ROGER
Bees Cannot Fly 212
Crow 167
Defying Gravity 169
Let me die a young man's death 790
Nooligan 175
40 Love 713
McKAY. CLAUDE
Birds of Prey 1144
Winter in The Country 1146
McKAY. DON
Close-up on a Sharp-shinned Hawk 569
McMILLAN. JAN
Five artistic ducks 528
In Winter Silence 528
MacCAIG. NORMAN
Fetching Cows 1119
Ringed plover by water's edge 1119
Summer Farm 1115
MACNIECE. LOUIS
Apple Blossom 1050
The Sunlight on The Garden 1288
Trains in The Distance 1299
MACRAE. JOHN
In Flanders Fields 659
MAC GIOLLA GHUNNA. CATHAL BUIDHE
The Yellow Bittern 455
MARLOW. CHRISTOPHER
The face that launched a thousand ships 1095
MEREDITH. GEORGE
He rises and begins to round 7
MERRITT DIXON LANIER
The Pelican 181
MILNE. AA
Oh the butterflies are flying 136
The Mirror 133
The Wrong House 133
MILTON. JOHN
Lycidas 327
Paradise Lost 825 & 830
MOORMAN. FW
Fieldfares 722
MUELLER. LISEL
Why I need Birds 1156
What the Dog Perhaps Hears 1157
MUIR. EDWIN
The Horses 1037
MULDOON. PAUL
Plovers 1036
NAGY. MARY
A Lesson from the Birds 1214
NASH. OGDEN
Crossing the Border 806
Spring is Sprung 178
The Ant 529
The Birds 701
The Cuckoo 182
The Duck 182
The Germ 882
The Grackle 179
The Ostrich 182
The Squab 182
The Wapiti 529
Up from the Egg 529
NERUDA. PABLO
Bird 783
Black Vulture 488
NEWBOLT. HENRY
Vitai Lampada 1010
NICHOLSON. NORMAN
Boo to a Goose 127
The Black Guillemot 1
The Cock's Nest 98
Weeds 299
NOYES. ALFRED
Shadows on the Down 677
The Highwayman 676
OLIVER. MARY
Heron Rises from the Dark Summer Pond 172
The Swan 791
OWEN. WILFRED
Anthem for Doomed Youth 123
Dulce et Decorum Est 654
Elegy in April and September 123
PANGYARIHAN. GILBERT
The Birds of Hong Kong 1160
PATTEN. BRIAN
In Tintagel Graveyard 176
Lockerbie 177
PAXTON. TOM
Whose Garden Was This 399
PEARSON. ENID
Frosty Morning 648
Owl 352
PLATH. SYLVIA
Blackberrying 67
Black Rook in Rainy Weather 73
Goatsucker 477
Spinster 486
POTTER. BEATRIX
Tommy Tittle mouse 719
PUGH. SHEENAGH
Sometimes 733
RAINE. KATHLEEN
Nameless Islets 558
ROETHKE. THEODORE
In a Dark Time 1964 280
ROSEN. MICHAEL
Going Through Old Photos 518
ROSENBURG. ISAAC
Break of Day in the Trenches 1004
Returning We Hear the Larks 124
ROSS. ALAN
Night Patrol 1138
ROSSETI. CHRISTINA
Remember 951
RYAN. KAY
Mockingbird 925
Paired Things 929
The Other Shoe 930
RYOKAN.
Spring flows gently 442
Wind and Snow 441
SASSOON. SIEGFRIED
Butterflies 842
Everyone Sang 1088
Have you forgotten yet ? 131
The Hero 758
Thrushes 121
SCOTT. PETER
A picture of Gesse 1257
SCOTT. WALTER
The Lady of The Lake 471
SERVICE. ROBERT
Birdwatcher 186
Grey Gull 191
SHAKESPEARE. WILLIAM
Sonnet No, 73 767
Winter 63
SHAW. GB
Wings 1155
SHELLEY. PERCY. BYSSHE
A widow bird sate mourning for her love 279
England in 1819 712
Ode to a Skylark 60
Ode to the West Wind 712
Song 708
SKELTON. JOHN
Merry Margaret as midsummer flower 376
The bittern with his bumpe 1081
SMITH. STEVIE
Not Waving but Drowning 743
SNOWY WHITE
Bird of Paradise 1097
SORLEY. CHARLES HAMILTON
Rooks 1073
STAFFORD. WILLIAM
At the Bomb Testing Site 931
The Well Rising 930
STALLWORTHY. JON
No Ordinary Sunday 656
SULLIVAN. REBECCA
There Lie Forgotten Men 668
TAGORE. RABINDRANATH
The Gift 806
TASHIJAN. FIONA LEE
Birds of Prey are all the same 504
That Reptile-Bird called Archaeopterix 504
TAYLOR. JOHN
There were rare birds I never saw before 72
TENNANT. EDWARD WYNDHAM
Home Thoughts in Laventie 1000
TENNYSON. ALFRED
Break, Break, Break 599
Cradle Song 265
I stood on a Tower in the West 965
Morte D'Arthur 346
Summer is Coming 235
The Brook 704
The Eagle 28
The Lady of Shallot 264
TYNEMAN. MAUREEN
Blackbird 1294
THE MOODY BLUES
The Swallow 1079
Voices in The Sky 1079
THOMAS. DYLAN
Do not go gentle in to that good night 1120
Poem in October 166
The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower 1125
The Hand That Signed The Paper 573
When All My Five and Country Senses See 573
THOMAS. EDWARD
Adelstrop 128
And You Helen 130
As the Team's Head-Brass 107
Fifty Faggots 905
Lights Out 1235
Lob 328
Rain 908
Sedge Warblers 171
She Dotes 978
Snow 1135
The Cherry Trees 1126
The Combe 884
The Dark Forest 1126
The Mill-Pond 897
The Word 1235
This is no case of petty right or wrong 902
THOMAS. RS
A Blackbird Singing 768
Lore 1086
Moorland 978
THOREAU. HENRY DAVID
Mist 472
TYNAN. KATHERIN
The End of the Day 532
TYREMAN. MAUREEN
Blackbird 1294
VERNEDE. RE
The Listening Post 1151
WAGONER. DAVID
Lost 780
WARDLE. SARAH
After Blake 1049
WATSON. STANLEY
Ah Bluejay 165
WHITMAN. WALT
O Me ! O Life! 82
The Dalliance of Eagles 91
To the Man-of-War Bird 92
Wood Odors 89
WILBUR. RICHARD
A Barred Owl 1224
WILCOX. EW
So many gods-so many creeds 275
WILSON. RAYMOND
Old Johnny Armstrong 159
WISE. BERTHA
Constant Velocity 312
WORDSWORTH. WILLIAM
Art thou the bird whom Man loves best 480
Tintern Abbey 479
Near Anio's Stream I spied a gentle Dove 193
Ode on Intimations of Immortality 942
The Excursion 478
The Green Linnet 62
The Prelude 538
The Solitary Reaper 1215
The Waggoner 478
YEATS. WB
At Algeciras 699
He Reproves The Curlew 1277
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven 32
Leda and the Swan 699
Sailing to Byzantium 699
The Fiddler of Dooney 1267
The Fisherman 1124
The Hawk 699
The Host Of The Air 1285
The Lake Isle of Innisfree 42
The Second Coming 27
The Song of Wandering Aengus 1129
The Tower 1280
The Two Trees 625
The White Birds 39
The Wild Swans at Coole 41
When you are old 39
YOSA. BUSSAN
Calligraphy of Geese 434
Dawn 434
Sparrow Singing 434
Sudden shower 440
The behaviour of the pigeon 434
YOUNG-LEE. LI
One Heart 976
TO POST #1305 Page 53
Last edited:
Colin,
Here is one by John Clare which as per your 'index' has not been posted before?
Glad to be back on this thread!
Merlin
Autumn Birds
The wild duck startles like a sudden thought,
And heron slow as if it might be caught.
The flopping crows on weary wings go by
And grey beard jackdaws noising as they fly.
The crowds of starnels whizz and hurry by,
And darken like a clod the evening sky.
The larks like thunder rise and suthy round,
Then drop and nestle in the stubble ground.
The wild swan hurries hight and noises loud
With white neck peering to the evening clowd.
The weary rooks to distant woods are gone.
With lengths of tail the magpie winnows on
To neighbouring tree, and leaves the distant crow
While small birds nestle in the edge below.
Here is one by John Clare which as per your 'index' has not been posted before?
Glad to be back on this thread!
Merlin
Autumn Birds
The wild duck startles like a sudden thought,
And heron slow as if it might be caught.
The flopping crows on weary wings go by
And grey beard jackdaws noising as they fly.
The crowds of starnels whizz and hurry by,
And darken like a clod the evening sky.
The larks like thunder rise and suthy round,
Then drop and nestle in the stubble ground.
The wild swan hurries hight and noises loud
With white neck peering to the evening clowd.
The weary rooks to distant woods are gone.
With lengths of tail the magpie winnows on
To neighbouring tree, and leaves the distant crow
While small birds nestle in the edge below.
christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
thanks,Merlin a lovely poem.Gosh,Colin,you have been busy.This index must have taken ages to compile.an excellent idea.Very good.
Hi Merlin, thanks for the John Clare poem – he certainly packed a few birds into that one!
Colin, thanks for the update - the index really is tremendously useful.
Here are two seasonal poems from Wordsworth:
Written in March
THE cock is crowing,
The stream is flowing,
The small birds twitter,
The lake doth glitter
The green field sleeps in the sun;
The oldest and youngest
Are at work with the strongest;
The cattle are grazing,
Their heads never raising;
There are forty feeding like one!
Like an army defeated
The snow hath retreated,
And now doth fare ill
On the top of the bare hill;
The plowboy is whooping- anon-anon:
There's joy in the mountains;
There's life in the fountains;
Small clouds are sailing,
Blue sky prevailing;
The rain is over and gone!
William Wordsworth
Lines Written in Early Spring
I HEARD a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:--
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
William Wordsworth
Andrew
Colin, thanks for the update - the index really is tremendously useful.
Here are two seasonal poems from Wordsworth:
Written in March
THE cock is crowing,
The stream is flowing,
The small birds twitter,
The lake doth glitter
The green field sleeps in the sun;
The oldest and youngest
Are at work with the strongest;
The cattle are grazing,
Their heads never raising;
There are forty feeding like one!
Like an army defeated
The snow hath retreated,
And now doth fare ill
On the top of the bare hill;
The plowboy is whooping- anon-anon:
There's joy in the mountains;
There's life in the fountains;
Small clouds are sailing,
Blue sky prevailing;
The rain is over and gone!
William Wordsworth
Lines Written in Early Spring
I HEARD a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:--
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
William Wordsworth
Andrew
It's another springlike day here today Andrew-lovely.
Your two Wordsworth are really interesting!-isn't poetry a personal thing?...
I don't like Written in March at all! It's not so much the words/theme-as the rhythm. As I say it I get two feet per line ( three in 5th & tenth lines)...and it's too short...it seems like a nursery rhyme somehow!
Lines Written in early Spring however sounds really good ( four beats in the line I think?)-and the words are lovely-it's odd isn't it?
Thanks for both Andrew.
Here's a slightly different approach to spring:-
The Enkindled Spring
This spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green,
Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes,
Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between
Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes.
I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration
Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze
Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration,
Faces of people streaming across my gaze.
And I, what fountain of fire am I among
This leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed
About like a shadow buffeted in the throng
Of flames, a shadow that’s gone astray, and is lost.
DH Lawrence
_____________________
Colin
Your two Wordsworth are really interesting!-isn't poetry a personal thing?...
I don't like Written in March at all! It's not so much the words/theme-as the rhythm. As I say it I get two feet per line ( three in 5th & tenth lines)...and it's too short...it seems like a nursery rhyme somehow!
Lines Written in early Spring however sounds really good ( four beats in the line I think?)-and the words are lovely-it's odd isn't it?
Thanks for both Andrew.
Here's a slightly different approach to spring:-
The Enkindled Spring
This spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green,
Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes,
Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between
Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes.
I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration
Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze
Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration,
Faces of people streaming across my gaze.
And I, what fountain of fire am I among
This leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed
About like a shadow buffeted in the throng
Of flames, a shadow that’s gone astray, and is lost.
DH Lawrence
_____________________
Colin
Last edited:
Nerine,
It's good to be back, (well perhaps I could have coped a little longer watching Wall Creepers, Eagle Owls and Accentors and drinking very small amounts of local wine???)
Andrew,
Two great poems from William Wordsworth,
Colin,
I liked the D.H. Lawrence poem.
Today is St. David's day, I thought of the Edward Thomas first then W.H.Davies and it went on from there; the choice is endless from so many great Welsh poets but I ended up with Dylan Thomas. It would be interesting to hear from our poem fraternity on this thread about their choice of Welsh poetry on St David's day??
best regards
Merlin
Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and
cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.
All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was
air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the
nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.
And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking
warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.
And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.
Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would
take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
It's good to be back, (well perhaps I could have coped a little longer watching Wall Creepers, Eagle Owls and Accentors and drinking very small amounts of local wine???)
Andrew,
Two great poems from William Wordsworth,
Colin,
I liked the D.H. Lawrence poem.
Today is St. David's day, I thought of the Edward Thomas first then W.H.Davies and it went on from there; the choice is endless from so many great Welsh poets but I ended up with Dylan Thomas. It would be interesting to hear from our poem fraternity on this thread about their choice of Welsh poetry on St David's day??
best regards
Merlin
Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and
cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.
All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was
air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the
nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.
And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking
warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.
And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.
Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would
take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
Colin
No, I don’t think ‘Written in March’ would rank as one of Wordsworth’s most profound poems! But it is a happy little lilt celebrating the birth of new life much like a lamb gambolling on a bright spring day!
I liked ‘The Enkindled Spring’. As you say, quite different.
Merlin
A very good choice for St David’s Day. What a great poem by Dylan Thomas. I have just been listening to him reading it on http://www.undermilkwood.net/poetry_fernhill.html. Wonderful!
Taking up your challenge, I have opted for one of the other Thomases, RS.
A Welsh Testament
All right, I was Welsh. Does it matter?
I spoke a tongue that was passed on
To me in the place I happened to be,
A place huddled between grey walls
Of cloud for at least half the year.
My word for heaven was not yours.
The word for hell had a sharp edge
Put on it by the hand of the wind
Honing, honing with a shrill sound
Day and night. Nothing that Glyn Dwr
Knew was armour against the rain's
Missiles. What was descent from him?
Even God had a Welsh name:
He spoke to him in the old language;
He was to have a peculiar care
For the Welsh people. History showed us
He was too big to be nailed to the wall
Of a stone chapel, yet still we crammed him
Between the boards of a black book.
Yet men sought us despite this.
My high cheek-bones, my length of skull
Drew them as to a rare portrait
By a dead master. I saw them stare
From their long cars, as I passed knee-deep
In ewes and wethers. I saw them stand
By the thorn hedges, watching me string
The far flocks on a shrill whistle.
And always there was their eyes; strong
Pressure on me: You are Welsh, they said;
Speak to us so; keep your fields free
Of the smell of petrol, the loud roar
Of hot tractors; we must have peace
And quietness.
Is a museum
Peace? I asked. Am I the keeper
Of the heart's relics, blowing the dust
In my own eyes? I am a man;
I never wanted the drab role
Life assigned me, an actor playing
To the past's audience upon a stage
Of earth and stone; the absurd label
Of birth, of race hanging askew
About my shoulders. I was in prison
Until you came; your voice was a key
Turning in the enormous lock
Of hopelessness. Did the door open
To let me out or yourselves in?
R S Thomas
Andrew
No, I don’t think ‘Written in March’ would rank as one of Wordsworth’s most profound poems! But it is a happy little lilt celebrating the birth of new life much like a lamb gambolling on a bright spring day!
I liked ‘The Enkindled Spring’. As you say, quite different.
Merlin
A very good choice for St David’s Day. What a great poem by Dylan Thomas. I have just been listening to him reading it on http://www.undermilkwood.net/poetry_fernhill.html. Wonderful!
Taking up your challenge, I have opted for one of the other Thomases, RS.
A Welsh Testament
All right, I was Welsh. Does it matter?
I spoke a tongue that was passed on
To me in the place I happened to be,
A place huddled between grey walls
Of cloud for at least half the year.
My word for heaven was not yours.
The word for hell had a sharp edge
Put on it by the hand of the wind
Honing, honing with a shrill sound
Day and night. Nothing that Glyn Dwr
Knew was armour against the rain's
Missiles. What was descent from him?
Even God had a Welsh name:
He spoke to him in the old language;
He was to have a peculiar care
For the Welsh people. History showed us
He was too big to be nailed to the wall
Of a stone chapel, yet still we crammed him
Between the boards of a black book.
Yet men sought us despite this.
My high cheek-bones, my length of skull
Drew them as to a rare portrait
By a dead master. I saw them stare
From their long cars, as I passed knee-deep
In ewes and wethers. I saw them stand
By the thorn hedges, watching me string
The far flocks on a shrill whistle.
And always there was their eyes; strong
Pressure on me: You are Welsh, they said;
Speak to us so; keep your fields free
Of the smell of petrol, the loud roar
Of hot tractors; we must have peace
And quietness.
Is a museum
Peace? I asked. Am I the keeper
Of the heart's relics, blowing the dust
In my own eyes? I am a man;
I never wanted the drab role
Life assigned me, an actor playing
To the past's audience upon a stage
Of earth and stone; the absurd label
Of birth, of race hanging askew
About my shoulders. I was in prison
Until you came; your voice was a key
Turning in the enormous lock
Of hopelessness. Did the door open
To let me out or yourselves in?
R S Thomas
Andrew
Nerine
Well-known member
Great poems by the Welsh poets. That Dylan Thomas one is magic! A fine poem by R.S. Thomas too. Good idea of yours, Merlin.
I've chosen W H Davies because his life as a poet-tramp intrigues me. I like some of his poems more than others. Anyway here's two:
I am the poet Davies, William
I am the poet Davies, William,
I sit without a blush or blink;
I am a man that lives to eat;
I am a man that lives to drink.
My face is large, my lips are thick,
My skin is coarse and black almost;
But the ugliest feature is my verse,
Which proves my soul is black and lost.
Thank heaven thou didst not marry me,
A poet full of blackest evil;
For how to manage my damned soul
Will puzzle many a flaming devil.
W. H. Davies
The Hermit
What moves that lonely man is not the boom
Of waves that break against the cliff so strong;
Nor roar of thunder, when that travelling voice
Is caught by rocks that carry far along.
'Tis not the groan of oak tree in its prime,
When lightning strikes its solid heart to dust;
Nor frozen pond when, melted by the sun,
It suddenly doth break its sparkling crust.
What moves that man is when the blind bat taps
His window when he sits alone at night;
Or when the small bird sounds like some great beast
Among the dead, dry leaves so frail and light.
Or when the moths on his night-pillow beat
Such heavy blows he fears they'll break his bones;
Or when a mouse inside the papered walls,
Comes like a tiger crunching through the stones.
W.H. Davies
Nerine
I've chosen W H Davies because his life as a poet-tramp intrigues me. I like some of his poems more than others. Anyway here's two:
I am the poet Davies, William
I am the poet Davies, William,
I sit without a blush or blink;
I am a man that lives to eat;
I am a man that lives to drink.
My face is large, my lips are thick,
My skin is coarse and black almost;
But the ugliest feature is my verse,
Which proves my soul is black and lost.
Thank heaven thou didst not marry me,
A poet full of blackest evil;
For how to manage my damned soul
Will puzzle many a flaming devil.
W. H. Davies
The Hermit
What moves that lonely man is not the boom
Of waves that break against the cliff so strong;
Nor roar of thunder, when that travelling voice
Is caught by rocks that carry far along.
'Tis not the groan of oak tree in its prime,
When lightning strikes its solid heart to dust;
Nor frozen pond when, melted by the sun,
It suddenly doth break its sparkling crust.
What moves that man is when the blind bat taps
His window when he sits alone at night;
Or when the small bird sounds like some great beast
Among the dead, dry leaves so frail and light.
Or when the moths on his night-pillow beat
Such heavy blows he fears they'll break his bones;
Or when a mouse inside the papered walls,
Comes like a tiger crunching through the stones.
W.H. Davies
Nerine
I had better opt for Edward Thomas then:-
But these things also
But these things also are Spring's -
On banks by the roadside the grass
Long-dead that is greyer now
Than all the Winter it was;
The shell of a little snail bleached
In the grass; chip of flint, and mite
Of chalk; and the small birds' dung
In splashes of purest white:
All the white things a man mistakes
For earliest violets
Who seeks through Winter's ruins
Something to pay Winter's debts,
While the North blows, and starling flocks
By chattering on and on
Keep their spirits up in the mist,
And Spring's here, Winter's not gone.
Edward Thomas
Those were wonderful poems from Welsh poets Merlin, Andrew & Nerine.
Dylan Thomas -expressing the joy of a country childhood- Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
RS Thomas fretting about his Welsh heritage-Did the door open
To let me out or yourselves in?
WH Davies describing a secret nightmare ( certainly my wife's!)-
Or when the moths on his night-pillow beat
Such heavy blows he fears they'll break his bones;
Wonderful....when is St. Patrick's Day?
Colin
But these things also
But these things also are Spring's -
On banks by the roadside the grass
Long-dead that is greyer now
Than all the Winter it was;
The shell of a little snail bleached
In the grass; chip of flint, and mite
Of chalk; and the small birds' dung
In splashes of purest white:
All the white things a man mistakes
For earliest violets
Who seeks through Winter's ruins
Something to pay Winter's debts,
While the North blows, and starling flocks
By chattering on and on
Keep their spirits up in the mist,
And Spring's here, Winter's not gone.
Edward Thomas
Those were wonderful poems from Welsh poets Merlin, Andrew & Nerine.
Dylan Thomas -expressing the joy of a country childhood- Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
RS Thomas fretting about his Welsh heritage-Did the door open
To let me out or yourselves in?
WH Davies describing a secret nightmare ( certainly my wife's!)-
Or when the moths on his night-pillow beat
Such heavy blows he fears they'll break his bones;
Wonderful....when is St. Patrick's Day?
Colin
Last edited:
Nerine said:
Yes-I think my wife might too-provided her head wasn't on the pillow at the time!
Been wanting to try this out-hope you don't mind.
Snowdrop
How strange, the scudding, brightening skies
their joyous message sent,
by you who are so shy, demure;
and veiled in diffidence.
Whilst others soar and sing and scream
in ecstasy profound;
you coyly whisper- spring - with gaze
cast to your cherished ground.
But yet - it seems perhaps just right:
that virgin year's brash haste,
is clothed in hood of vestal white
by consort pure and chaste.
For, seeking spring we must have care
to look where first it's found:
not in the raucous air, but thrust
from your beloved ground.
And when the green force has surged through;
and summer's pallet paints the land;
the pale veiled face you hid from view
is covered o'er by death's cold hand
_________________________
Colin
Similar threads
