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Monthly Archives: May 2009

poem of the day

The Lost Heifer
by Austin Clarke (1896-1974)
When the black herds of the rain were grazing,
In the gap of the pure cold wind
And the watery hazes of the hazel
Brought her into my mind,
I thought of the last honey by the water
That no hive can find.
Brightness was drenching through the branches
When she wandered again,
Turning sliver out of dark [...]

poem of the day

On the World
by Francis Quarles (1592-1644)
The world

poem of the day

Baccalaureate
by Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982)
A year or two, and grey Euripides,
And Horace and a Lydia or so,
And Euclid and the brush of Angelo,
Darwin on man, Vergilius on bees,
The nose and Dialogues of Socrates,
Don Quixote, Hudibras and Trinculo,
How worlds are spawned and where the dead gods go,

poem of the day

The Players
by Francis Bickley (1885-1976)
We challenged Death. He threw with weighted dice.
We laughed and paid the forfeit, glad to pay

poem of the day

Ibant Obscurae
by Thomas Edward Brown (1830-1897)
To-night I saw three maidens on the beach,
Dark-robed descending to the sea,
So slow, so silent of all speech,
And visible to me
Only by that strange drift-light, dim, forlorn,
Of the sun

poem of the day

The Taj
by H.G. Keene (1825-1915)
White, like a spectre seen when night is old
Yet stained with hues of many a tear and smart,
Cornelian, blood-stone, matched in callous art:
Aflame, like passion, like dominion cold,
Bed of imperial consorts whom none part
For ever (domed with glory, heart to heart)
Still whispering to the ages,

poem of the day

Ichabod
by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)
So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn
Which once he wore!
The glory from his gray hairs gone
Forevermore!
Revile him not, the Tempter hath
A snare for all;
And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath,
[...]

poem of the day

Fragment of an Ode to Maia, Written on May Day 1818
by John Keats (1795-1821)
Mother of Hermes! and still youthful Maia!
May I sing to thee
As thou wast hymned on the shores of Baiae?
Or may I woo thee
In earlier Sicilian? or thy smiles
Seek as they once were sought, in Grecian isles,
By [...]