Smile poems
/ page 351 of 369 /
Neighbour Peter's Mare
© Jean de La Fontaine
MOST clearly Peter was a heavy lout,
Yet truly I could never have a doubt,
That rashly he would ne'er himself commit,
Though folly 'twere from him to look for wit,
Or aught expect by questioning to find
'Yond this to reason, he was not designed.
Joconde
© Jean de La Fontaine
THE king, surpris'd, expressed a wish to view
This brother, form'd by lines so very true;
We'll see, said he, if here his charms divine
Attract the heart of ev'ry nymph, like mine;
And should success attend our am'rous lord,
To you, my friend, full credit we'll accord.
Friar Philip's Geese
© Jean de La Fontaine
THE FAIR my pages safely may pursue,
And this apology they'll not refuse.
What recompense can I presume to make?
A tale I'll give, where female charms partake,
And prove resistless whatsoe'er assail:
Blessed BEAUTY, NATURE ever should prevail.
A Confidant Without Knowing It; Or The Stratagem
© Jean de La Fontaine
I NOW propose to give a fav'rite tale :--
The god of Love was never known to fail,
In finding stratagems, as I have read,
And many have I seen most nicely spread.
Momentary
© George William Russell
THE SWEETEST song was ever sung
May soothe you but a little while:
The gayest music ever rung
Shall yield you but a fleeting smile.
The Vesture of the Soul
© George William Russell
I PITIED one whose tattered dress
Was patched, and stained with dust and rain;
He smiled on me; I could not guess
The viewless spirits wide domain.
The Free
© George William Russell
THEY bathed in the fire-flooded fountains:
Life girdled them round and about:
They slept in the clefts of the mountains:
The stars called them forth with a shout.
The Child of Destiny
© George William Russell
THIS is the hero-heart of the enchanted isle,
Whom now the twilight children tenderly enfold,
Pat with their pearly palms and crown with elfin gold,
While in the mountains breast his brothers watch and smile.
Fantasy
© George William Russell
OVER all the dream-built margin, flushed with grey and hoary light,
Glint the bubble planets tossing in the dead black sea of night.
Immemorial face, how many faces look from out thy skies,
Now with ghostly eyes of wonder rimmed around with rainbow dyes:
The Parting of Ways
© George William Russell
THE SKIES from black to pearly grey
Had veered without a star or sun;
Only a burning opal ray
Fell on your brow when all was done.
The Earth
© George William Russell
THEY tell me that the earth is still the same
Although the Red Branch now is but a name,
That yonder peasant lifting up his eyes
Can see the marvel of the morning rise,
The wonder Deirdre gazed on when she came.
The Master Singer
© George William Russell
A LAUGHTER in the diamond air, a music in the trembling grass;
And one by one the words of light as joydrops through my being pass:
I am the sunlight in the heart, the silver moon-glow in the mind;
My laughter runs and ripples through the wavy tresses of the wind.
Alter Ego
© George William Russell
ALL the morn a spirit gay
Breathes within my heart a rhyme,
Tis but hide and seek we play
In and out the courts of time.
The Dream of the Children
© George William Russell
THE CHILDREN awoke in their dreaming
While earth lay dewy and still:
They followed the rill in its gleaming
To the heart-light of the hill.
Heroic Love
© George William Russell
WHEN our glowing dreams were dead,
Ruined our heroic piles,
Something in your dark eyes said:
Think no more of love or smiles.
A Memory
© George William Russell
YOU remember, dear, together
Two children, you and I,
Sat once in the autumn weather,
Watching the autumn sky.
Epilogue
© George William Russell
WELL, when all is said and done
Best within my narrow way,
May some angel of the sun
Muse memorial oer my clay:
The Hermit
© George William Russell
NOW the quietude of earth
Nestles deep my heart within;
Friendships new and strange have birth
Since I left the citys din.
The Symbol Seduces
© George William Russell
THERE in her old-world garden smiles
A symbol of the worlds desire,
Striving with quaint and lovely wiles
To bind to earth the soul of fire.
On a Portrait of a Deaf Man
© John Betjeman
The kind old face, the egg-shaped head,
The tie, discreetly loud,
The loosely fitting shooting clothes,
A closely fitting shroud.
