Truth poems
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Belphegor Addressed To Miss De Chammelay
© Jean de La Fontaine
NO hope of gaining such a charming fair,
Too soon, perhaps, I ceded to despair;
Your friend, was all I ventured to be thought,
Though in your net I more than half was caught.
Most willingly your lover I'd have been;
But time it is our story should be seen.
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 Archers bow.
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.
The Spirit of the Gay
© George William Russell
WITH the glamour of the Gay
How you made our hearts to flame;
Gave each life some airy aim:
Ever round you seemed to play
Sunlight from some inner day.
Om
© George William Russell
FAINT grew the yellow buds of light
Far flickering beyond the snows,
As leaning oer the shadowy white
Morn glimmered like a pale primrose.
On Behalf of Some Irishmen not Followers of Tradition
© George William Russell
THEY call us aliens, we are told,
Because our wayward visions stray
From that dim banner they unfold,
The dreams of worn-out yesterday.
The Golden Age
© George William Russell
WHEN the morning breaks above us
And the wild sweet stars have fled,
By the faery hands that love us
Wakened you and I will tread
Natural Magic
© George William Russell
WE air tired who follow after
Phantasy and truth that flies:
You with only look and laughter
Stain our hearts with richest dyes.
Truth
© George William Russell
THE HERO first thought it
To him twas a deed:
To those who retaught it,
A chain on their speed.
The Man to the Angel
© George William Russell
I HAVE wept a million tears:
Pure and proud one, where are thine,
What the gain though all thy years
In unbroken beauty shine?
Light and Dark
© George William Russell
NOT the soul thats whitest
Wakens love the sweetest:
When the heart is lightest
Oft the charm is fleetest.
Self-Discipline
© George William Russell
WHEN the soul sought refuge in the place of rest,
Overborne by strife and pain beyond control,
From some secret hollow, whisper soft-confessed,
Came the legend of the soul.
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.
Christmas
© John Betjeman
The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.
The Guardian Angel Of The Little Utopia
© Jorie Graham
restless irritations
for? A bit dizzy from the altitude of everlastingness,
the tireless altitudes of the created place,
in which to make a life -- a liberty -- the hollow, fetishized, and starry
Holy Sonnet VIII: If Faithful Souls Be Alike Glorified
© John Donne
If faithful souls be alike glorified
As angels, then my fathers soul doth see,
And adds this even to full felicity,
That valiantly I hells wide mouth o'erstride:
Holy Sonnet XVIII: Show me, dear Christ, thy Spouse, so bright and clear
© John Donne
Show me, dear Christ, thy Spouse, so bright and clear.
What! is it She, which on the other shore
Goes richly painted? or which, robbed and tore,
Laments and mourns in Germany and here?
The Dream
© John Donne
Dear love, for nothing less than thee
Would I have broke this happy dream;
It was a theme
For reason, much too strong for phantasy:
A Pastoral Dialogue (Melibæus, Alcippe, Asteria, Licida, Alcimedon, and Amira. )
© Anne Killigrew
Melibæus. WElcome fair Nymphs, most welcome to this shade,
Distemp'ring Heats do now the Plains invade:
But you may sit, from Sun securely here,
If you an old mans company not fear.
