Time poems

 / page 740 of 792 /
star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

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.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Time I Like Best

© Roger McGough

The time I like best is 6am
when the snow is 6 inches deep
which I'm yet to discover
'cause I'm under the covers
fast, fast asleep.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Goodbat Nightman

© Roger McGough

God bless all policemen
and fighters of crime,
May thieves go to jail
for a very long time.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Carrowmore

© George William Russell

IT’S a lonely road through bogland to the lake at Carrowmore,
And a sleeper there lies dreaming where the water laps the shore;
Though the moth-wings of the twilight in their purples are unfurled,
Yet his sleep is filled with music by the masters of the world.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Twilight of Earth

© George William Russell

Oh, while the glory sinks within
Let us not wait on earth behind,
But follow where it flies, and win
The glow again, and we may find
Beyond the Gateways of the Day
Dominion and ancestral sway.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

A New Theme

© George William Russell

I FAIN would leave the tender songs
I sang to you of old,
Thinking the oft-sung beauty wrongs
The magic never told.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Iron Age

© George William Russell

The morning stars were heard to sing
When man towered golden in the prime.
One equal memory let us bring
Before we face our night in time.
Grant us one only evening star,
The iron age’s avatar.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Sung on a By-way

© George William Russell

WHAT of all the will to do?
It has vanished long ago,
For a dream-shaft pierced it through
From the Unknown Archer’s bow.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Grey Eros

© George William Russell

WE are desert leagues apart;
Time is misty ages now
Since the warmth of heart to heart
Chased the shadows from my brow.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Memory of Earth

© George William Russell

IN the wet dusk silver sweet,
Down the violet scented ways,
As I moved with quiet feet
I was met by mighty days.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Seer

© George William Russell

OH, if my spirit may foretell
Or earlier impart,
It is because I always dwell
With morning in my heart.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Fountain of Shadowy Beauty

© George William Russell

I WOULD I could weave in
The colour, the wonder,
The song I conceive in
My heart while I ponder,

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Three Counsellors

© George William Russell

IT was the fairy of the place,
Moving within a little light,
Who touched with dim and shadowy grace
The conflict at its fever height.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

A Call

© George William Russell

DUSK its ash-grey blossoms sheds on violet skies,
Over twilight mountains where the heart songs rise,
Rise and fall and fade away from earth to air.
Earth renews the music sweeter. Oh, come there.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

A Midnight Meditation

© George William Russell

HOW often have I said,
“We may not grieve for the immortal dead.”
And now, poor blenchèd heart,
Thy ruddy hues all tremulous depart.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Hour of the King

© George William Russell

WHO would think this quiet breather
From the world had taken flight?
Yet within the form we see there
Wakes the Golden King to-night.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Transformations

© George William Russell

WHAT miracle was it that made this grey Rathgar
Seem holy earth, a leaping-place from star to star?
I know I strode along grey streets disconsolate,
Seeing nowhere a glimmer of the Glittering Gate,

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

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.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Voice of the Waters

© George William Russell

WHERE the Greyhound River windeth through a loneliness so deep,
Scarce a wild fowl shakes the quiet that the purple boglands keep,
Only God exults in silence over fields no man may reap.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Babylon

© George William Russell

THE BLUE dusk ran between the streets: my love was winged within my mind,
It left to-day and yesterday and thrice a thousand years behind.
To-day was past and dead for me, for from to-day my feet had run
Through thrice a thousand years to walk the ways of ancient Babylon.