Tiber, Nile, And Thames THE head and hands of murdered Cicero, Above his seat high in the Forum hung, Drew jeers and burning tears. When on the rung Of a swift-mounted ladder, all aglow, Fluvia, Mark Antony’s shameless wife, with show Of foot firm-poised and gleaming arm upflung, Bade her shar... »
The House Of Life 97. A Superscription Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been; I am also call’d No-more, Too-late, Farewell; Unto thine ear I hold the dead-sea shell Cast up thy Life’s foam-fretted feet between; Unto thine eyes the glass where that is seen Which had Life’s for... »
Sonnets The Choice I Eat thou and drink; to-morrow thou shalt die. Surely the earth, that’s wise being very old, Needs not our help. Then loose me, love, and hold Thy sultry hair up from my face; that I May pour for thee this golden wine, brim-high, Till round the glass thy fingers glow like g... »
Sonnet Xliii Love And Hope Bless love and hope. Full many a withered year Whirled past us, eddying to its chill doomsday; And clasped together where the blown leaves lay We long have knelt and wept full many a tear. Yet lo! one hour at last, the Spring’s compeer, Flutes softly to us from some ... »
Sonnet Lxxix The Monochord Is it this sky’s vast vault or ocean’s sound That is Life’s self and draws my life from me, And by instinct ineffable decree Holds my breath quailing on the bitter bound? Nay, is it Life or Death, thus thunder-crown’d, That ‘mid the tide of al... »
Returning To Brussels Upon a Flemish road, when noon was deep, I passed a little consecrated shrine, Where, among simple pictures ranged in line, The blessed Mary holds her child asleep. To kneel here, shepherd-maidens leave their sheep When they feel grave because of the sunshine, And again kneel h... »
Lxxiii The Choice, Iii Think thou and act; to-morrow thou shalt die Outstretch’d in the sun’s warmth upon the shore, Thou say’st: “Man’s measur’d path is all gone o’er: Up all his years, steeply, with strain and sigh, Man clomb until he touch’d the tru... »
For Our Lady Of The Rocks By Leonardo Da Vinci Mother, is this the darkness of the end, The Shadow of Death? and is that outer sea Infinite imminent Eternity? And does the death-pang by man’s seed sustained In Time’s each instant cause thy face to bend Its silent prayer upon the Son, whi... »
At The Sun-Rise In 1848 God said, Let there be light; and there was light. Then heard we sounds as though the Earth did sing And the Earth’s angel cried upon the wing: We saw priests fall together and turn white: And covered in the dust from the sun’s sight, A king was spied, and yet ano... »
Xli Through Death To Love Like labour-laden moonclouds faint to flee From winds that sweep the winter-bitten wold,– Like multiform circumfluence manifold Of night’s flood-tide,–like terrors that agree Of hoarse-tongued fire and inarticulate sea,– Even such, within some glass ... »
The Stream’s Secret What thing unto mine ear Wouldst thou convey,–what secret thing, O wandering water ever whispering? Surely thy speech shall be of her. Thou water, O thou whispering wanderer, What message dost thou bring? Say, hath not Love leaned low This hour beside thy far well-hea... »
The Day-Dream THE thronged boughs of the shadowy sycamore Still bear young leaflets half the summer through; From when the robin ‘gainst the unhidden blue Perched dark, till now, deep in the leafy core, The embowered throstle’s urgent wood-notes soar Through summer silence. Still the lea... »
Sonnet Xxxi Her Gifts High grace, the dower of queens; and therewithal Some wood-born wonder’s sweet simplicity; A glance like water brimming with the sky Or hyacinth-light where forest-shadows fall; Such thrilling pallor of cheek as doth enthral The heart; a mouth whose passionate forms imply... »
Sonnet Xcvi Life The Beloved As thy friend’s face, with shadow of soul o’erspread, Somewhile unto thy sight perchance hath been Ghastly and strange, yet never so is seen In thought, but to all fortunate favour wed; As thy love’s death-bound features never dead To memory’s gla... »
Sonnet Lxi The Song-Throe By thine own tears thy song must tears beget, O Singer! Magic mirror thou hast none Except thy manifest heart; and save thine own Anguish or ardour, else no amulet. Cisterned in Pride, verse is the feathery jet Of soulless air-flung fountains; nay, more dry Than the Dead Se... »
Parody Of “uncle Ned” DERE was an old nigger, and him name was Uncle Tom, And him tale was rather slow; Me try to read de whole, but me only read some, Because me found it no go. Den hang up de auther Mrs. Stowe, And kick de volume wid your toe— And dere’s no more public for poor Uncle Tom, He... »
![Last Love [canzone] By Dante Gabriel Rossetti](http://rumibalkhi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/World-Poetry-09.jpg)
Last Love [canzone] Love hath a chamber all of imagery; And there is one dim nook, A little storied web wherein my heart From leaf to leaf is read as in a book. One part in the middle of the web begun and left unfinished; a face with ravelled threads falling over it and hiding it. Love says that the... »
English May WOULD God your health were as this month of May Should be, were this not England,—and your face Abroad, to give the gracious sunshine grace And laugh beneath the budding hawthorn-spray. But here the hedgerows pine from green to grey While yet May’s lyre is tuning, and her song Is w... »
An Altar-Flame EVEN as when utter summer makes the grain Bow heavily along through the whole land It seems to me whatever while I stand Where thou art standing; and upon my brain Thy presence weighs like a most awful strain Of music, heard in some cathedral fanned With the deep breath of prayer, whi... »
Woodspurge The wind flapped loose, the wind was still, Shaken out dead from tree and hill: I had walk’d on at the wind’s will,— I sat now, for the wind was still. Between my knees my forehead was,— My lips, drawn in, said not Alas! My hair was over in the grass, My naked ears heard the day pass. My ... »
The Lady’s Lament Never happy any more! Aye, turn the saying o’er and o’er, It says but what it said before, And heart and life are just as sore. The wet leaves blow aslant the floor In the rain through the open door. No, no more. Never happy any more! The eyes are weary and give o’... »
Stratton Water “O HAVE you seen the Stratton flood That’s great with rain to-day? It runs beneath your wall, Lord Sands, Full of the new-mown hay. “I led your hounds to Hutton bank To bathe at early morn: They got their bath by Borrowbrake Above the standing corn.” Out from the castle-stair Lo... »
Sonnet Xviii Genius In Beauty Beauty like hers is genius. Not the call Of Homer’s or of Dante’s heart sublime,— Not Michael’s hand furrowing the zones of time,— Is more with compassed mysteries musical; Nay, not in Spring’s or Summer’s sweet footfall More gathered gifts... »
Sonnet Lxxxvii Death’s Songsters When first that horse, within whose populous womb The birth was death, o’ershadowed Troy with fate, Her elders, dubious of its Grecian freight, Brought Helen there to sing the songs of home; She whispered, “Friends, I am alone; come, come!” Then, crouched... »
Sonnet Ci The One Hope When vain desire at last and vain regret Go hand in hand to death, and all is vain, What shall assuage the unforgotten pain And teach the unforgetful to forget? Shall Peace be still a sunk stream long unmet,— Or may the soul at once in a green plain Stoop through the spray of ... »
On Browning’s Sordello “SORDELLO’S story,” the Sphinx yawned and said, “Who would has heard.” Is that enough? Who could, ‘Twere not amiss to add, has understood: Who understood perhaps has profited. For my part I could tell a tale instead Of one who, dreaming of no likelihood Even that t... »
Height In Depth HE turned his face apart, and gave a sigh And a strange whimper—such a pitiful thing As haunts the heart for days. “Yes, Love can bring Unto a pass so low that it seems high: And, when we see a brave and strong man cry With a poor infant’s feeble sorrowing, It is a nobler passi... »
Czar Alexander The Second FROM him did forty million serfs, endow’d Each with six feet of death-due soil, receive Rich freeborn lifelong land, whereon to sheave Their country’s harvest. These to-day aloud Demand of Heaven a Father’s blood,—sore bow’d With tears and thrilled w... »
A New-Year’s Burden ALONG the grass sweet airs are blown Our way this day in Spring. Of all the songs that we have known Now which one shall we sing? Not that, my love, ah no!— Not this, my love? why, so!— Yet both were ours, but hours will come and go. The grove is all a pale frail mist, The new ye... »
To Thomas Woolner First Snow, February WOOLNER, to-night it snows for the first time. Our feet know well the path where in this snow Mine leave one track: how all the ways we know Are hoary in the long-unwonted rime! Grey as their ghosts which now in your new clime Must haunt you while those singing... »
The House Of Life 73. The Choice, Iii Think thou and act; to-morrow thou shalt die Outstretch’d in the sun’s warmth upon the shore, Thou say’st: “Man’s measur’d path is all gone o’er: Up all his years, steeply, with strain and sigh, Man clomb until he touch&... »
Sonnets Old And New Art I. ST. LUKE THE PAINTER Give honour unto Luke Evangelist; For he it was (the aged legends say) Who first taught Art to fold her hands and pray. Scarcely at once she dared to rend the mist Of devious symbols: but soon having wist How sky-breadth and field-silence and this day ... »
Sonnet Xli Through Death To Love Like labour-laden moonclouds faint to flee From winds that sweep the winter-bitten wold,— Like multiform circumfluence manifold Of night’s flood-tide,—like terrors that agree Of hoarse-tongued fire and inarticulate sea,— Even such, within some glass dimmed by o... »
Sonnet Lxx The Hill Summit This feast-day of the sun, his altar there In the broad west has blazed for vesper-song; And I have loitered in the vale too long And gaze now a belated worshipper. Yet may I not forget that I was ‘ware, So journeying, of his face at intervals Transfigured where the ... »
Raleigh’s Cell In The Tower HERE writ was the World’s History by his hand Whose steps knew all the earth; albeit his world In these few piteous paces then was furl’d. Here daily, hourly, have his proud feet spann’d This smaller speck than the receding land Had ever shown his ships;... »
Lxvi The Heart Of The Night From child to youth; from youth to arduous man; From lethargy to fever of the heart; From faithful life to dream-dower’d days apart; From trust to doubt; from doubt to brink of ban;– Thus much of change in one swift cycle ran Till now. Alas, the soul!–ho... »
For I A REMOTE sky, prolonged to the sea’s brim: One rock-point standing buffeted alone, Vexed at its base with a foul beast unknown, Hell-birth of geomaunt and teraphim: A knight, and a winged creature bearing him, Reared at the rock: a woman fettered there, Leaning into the hollow with loose... »
At The Station Of The Versailles Railway I WAITED for the train unto Versailles. I hung with bonnes and gamins on the bridge Watching the gravelled road where, ridge with ridge, Under black arches gleam the iron rails Clear in the darkness, till the darkness fails And they press on to light again—ag... »
Xix Lilent Noon Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass,– The finger-points look through like rosy blooms: Your eyes smile peace. The pasture gleams and glooms ‘Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass. All round our nest, far as the eye can pass, Are golden kingcup-fields with s... »
The Song Of The Bower SAY, is it day, is it dusk in thy bower, Thou whom I long for, who longest for me? Oh! be it light, be it night, ’tis Love’s hour, Love’s that is fettered as Love’s that is free. Free love has leaped to that innermost chamber, Oh! the last time, and the ... »
The Cloud Confines The day is dark and the night To him that would search their heart; No lips of cloud that will part Nor morning song in the light: Only, gazing alone, To him wild shadows are shown, Deep under deep unknown And height above unknown height. Still we say as we go,– “Stran... »
Sonnet Xxx Last Fire Love,through your spirit and mine what summer eve Now glows with glory of all things possess’d, Since this day’s sun of rapture filled the west And the light sweetened as the fire took leave? Awhile now softlier let your bosom heave, As in Love’s harbour, even ... »
Sonnet Xcv The Vase Of Life Around the vase of Life at your slow pace He has not crept, but turned it with his hands, And all its sides already understands. There, girt, one breathes alert for some great race; Whose road runs far by sands and fruitful space; Who laughs, yet through the jolly throng ... »
Sonnet Lv Stillborn Love The hour which might have been yet might not be, Which man’s and woman’s heart conceived and bore Yet whereof life was barren,—on what shore Bides it the breaking of Time’s weary sea? Bondchild of all consummate joys set free, It somewhere sighs and serves,... »
Pandora (For A Picture) WHAT of the end, Pandora? Was it thine, The deed that set these fiery pinions free? Ah! wherefore did the Olympian consistory In its own likeness make thee half divine? Was it that Juno’s brow might stand a sign For ever? and the mien of Pallas be A deadly thing? and th... »
L’envoi Brussels, Hotel Du Midi IT’S copied out at last: very poor stuff Writ in the cold, with pauses of the cramp. Direct, dear William, to the Poste Restante At Ghent—here written Gand—Gong, Hunticè. We go to Antwerp first, but shall not stay; After, to Ghent and Bruges; and after that To O... »
Eden Bower It was Lilith the wife of Adam: (Sing Eden Bower!) Not a drop of her blood was human, But she was made like a soft sweet woman. Lilith stood on the skirts of Eden; (Alas the hour!) She was the first that thence was driven; With her was hell and with Eve was heaven. In the ear of the Snake... »
Almost Over YOU say I should not think upon her now: But then I have stood beside her listening, And watched her rose—breathed lips when she would sing: And I can scarcely yet imagine how I ever should despise that stately brow And flowering breast that is so pure a thing. Alas for all the weary blo... »
Venus Verticordia (For A Picture) SHE hath the apple in her hand for thee, Yet almost in her heart would hold it back; She muses, with her eyes upon the track Of that which in thy spirit they can see. Haply, “Behold, he is at peace,” saith she; “Alas! the apple for his lips,—the dart That follows it... »
The Kiss What smouldering senses in death’s sick delay Or seizure of malign vicissitude Can rob this body of honour, or denude This soul of wedding-raiment worn to-day? For lo! even now my lady’s lips did play With these my lips such consonant interlude As laurelled Orpheus longed for wh... »
St. Wagner’s Eve THE hop—shop is shut up: the night doth wear. Here, early, Collinson this evening fell “Into the gulfs of sleep”; and Deverell Has turned upon the pivot of his chair The whole of this night long; and Hancock there Has laboured to repeat, in accents screechy, “Guardami ben, ben son, ... »
Sonnet Xvii Beauty’s Pageant What dawn-pulse at the heart of heaven, or last Incarnate flower of culminating day,— What marshalled marvels on the skirts of May, Or song full-quired, sweet June’s encomiast; What glory of change by Nature’s hand amass’d Can vie with all those m... »
Sonnet Lxxxvi Lost Days The lost days of my life until to-day, What were they, could I see them on the street Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat Sown once for food but trodden into clay? Or golden coins squandered and still to pay? Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet? Or such spilt... »
Song And Music O leave your hand where it lies cool Upon the eyes whose lids are hot: Its rosy shade is bountiful Of silence, and assuages thought. O lay your lips against your hand And let me feel your breath through it, While through the sense your song shall fit The soul to understand. The music ... »
On A Handful Of French Money These coins that jostle on my hand do own No single image: each name here and date Denoting in man’s consciousness and state New change. In some, the face is clearly known,— In others marred. The badge of that old throne Of Kings is on the obverse; or this sign Whi... »
God’s Graal The ark of the Lord of Hosts Whose name is called by the name of Him Who dwelleth between the Cherubim. O Thou that in no house dost dwell, But walk’st in tent and tabernacle. For God of all strokes will have one In every battle that is done. Lancelot lay beside the well: (Go... »
Chimes I. HONEY-FLOWERS to the honey-comb, And the honey-bee’s from home. A honey-comb and a honey-flower, And the bee shall have his hour. A honeyed heart for the honey-comb, And the humming bee flies home. A heavy heart in the honey-flower, And the bee has had his hour. II. A honey-cell̵... »
A Match With The Moon WEARY already, weary miles to-night I walked for bed: and so, to get some ease, I dogged the flying moon with similes. And like a wisp she doubled on my sight In ponds; and caught in tree-tops like a kite; And in a globe of film all liquorish Swam full-faced like a silly silver... »
Three Shadows I LOOKED and saw your eyes In the shadow of your hair, As a traveller sees the stream In the shadow of the wood; And I said, “My faint heart sighs, Ah me! to linger there, To drink deep and to dream In that sweet solitude.” I looked and saw your heart In the shadow of your eyes, As a s... »
The House Of Life 72. The Choice, Ii Watch thou and fear; to-morrow thou shalt die. Or art thou sure thou shalt have time for death? Is not the day which God’s word promiseth To come man knows not when? In yonder sky Now while we speak, the sun speeds forth: can I Or thou assure him of his goa... »