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what is lovely never dies
but passes into other loveliness
star-dust or sea-foam flower or winged air |
|
sods on the dugout begin to be fledged
with fine green feathers of yarrow
i once glimpsed fairies by squinting the leaves
but now i scry nothing but sorrow
for i have seen milfoils grow under a hedge
i've seen them stand up on a barrow
but what shall i think when they burst into bloom
the flowers stained mustard-gas yellow
the sun and the wind are drying the mud
but the mortar and shell they will harrow |
|
one must have the mind of winter
to regard the front and the boughs
of the pine-trees crusted in snow
and have been cold a long time
to behold the junipers shagged with ice
the spruces rough in the distant glitter
of the january sun and not to think
of any misery in the sound of the wind
in the sound of a few leaves
which is the sound of the land |
|
to put meaning in one's life may end in madness
but life without meaning is the torture
of restlessness and vague desire
it is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid |
|
of living pained branches
my garden's braided body
cries at night
calling on the billowing of birds's wings
the moon's face wet amid leaves
peers into nests full of absence
green fingers tremble
clasped tight on the wind's throat
dawn |
|
little darling the smiles returning to the faces
little darling it seems like years since its been here
here comes the sun here comes the sun
and i say its all right |
|
the leaves are falling
and they're falling
like they're in love
with the earth |
|
the sound of bank and water is all i hear
the sad resignation of a weeping spring
or a rock that hourly sheds a tear
and the birch leaves' vague quivering
i do not see the river bear the boat along
the flowering shore flits past and i remain
and in the watery depths that i skim
the reflected blue sky flutters like a curtain
meandering in their sleep you might say the waters
waver no longer sure where the bank lies |
|
the people along the sand
all turn and look one way
they turn their back on the land
they look at the sea all day
as long as it takes to pass
a ship keeps raising its hull
the wetter ground like glass
reflects a standing gull
the land may vary more
but wherever the truth may be |
|
a dewy freshness fills the silent air
no mist obscures nor cloud nor speck nor stain
breaks the serene of heaven
in full-orbed glory yonder moon divine
rolls through the dark blue depths
beneath her steady ray
the desert circle spreads
like the round ocean girdled with the sky
how beautiful is night |
|
rise up this morning
smiled with the rising sun
three little birds
pitch by my door step
singing sweet songs
of melodies pure and true
saying this is my message to you
don't worry about a thing
cause every little thing is gonna be alright
don't worry about a thing |
|
the morning chill and clear hurts my skin
while it delights my mind frost flowers
pierce through clots of mud there are crusts
of ice on duckboards which creak and strain
underfoot as i breathe - steam becoming
shards - and light my morning pipe strange
what a comfort fire can be: the hand-cupped
flare of a struck match the warm red
grizzle of lighted tobacco fraying to white
like a lit fuse the clay stem feels snug |
|
i am neither the one nor the two
you are either the three or a single you
rather not say four if five
runs beside and needs to hide
leave behind six
if you're planning no hell
seven is so much better even only to tell
eight is best if tired
'cause it opens infinity
nine was and is and will be |
|
now i hardly felt as if a shell could hurt
my pocket-watch would deflect it
or this notebook would snatch a sniper's
bullet just before it struck my heart
larks would interpose a stray chaffinch
or partridge would find the feathers
on its head were numbered and i would walk
between strafings like a moth flies
through the rain on a moonless night
i hardly felt it left me untouched |
|
at night i open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine
breathe into me
close the language-door
and open the love-window
the moon won't use the door
only the window |
|
enemy plane like pale moth
beautiful among shrapnel bursts
dazed by death's incandescence
notes taken at a distance
painterly smears of war's
aesthetic: mime-show to songs
of larks my mind drifts
through wide skies to dawn-lit
downs and cloud-inversions
chalk paths illumined under |
|
goat thinks his boat is safely moored
he doesn't see duck jump on board
soon sheep and frog are all at sea
with their map and thermos of tea
who knows what dangers are afloat
when duck is captain of the boat |
|
sitting silently
knowing solitude
daytime surrenders
evening comes
and the tide |
|
the king beneath the mountains
the king of carven stone
the lord of silver fountains
shall come into his own
his crown shall be upholden
his harp shall be restrung
his halls shall echo golden
to songs of yore re-sung
the woods shall wave on mountains
and grass beneath the sun |
|
it is the evening of the day
i sit and watch the children play
smiling faces i can see
but not for me
i sit and watch
as tears go by |
|
to many have lived
as we live
for our lives to be
proof of our living
too many have died
as we die
for their deaths to be
proof of our dying |
|
i don't want to waddle like mother
or quack like my silly old dad
i want to be utterly other
and frightfully modern and mad |
|
i am of the ebbing water
of the leaves which tremble
nudged by the sound of wind
which flies by in haste
i am of the evening
which cannot fall asleep
it stubbornly stares
with the hungry eyes of stars
the night -through blueskied veins
in every strand of a body's tissue |
|
if it be your will
that i speak no more
and my voice be still
as it was before
i will speak no more
i shall abide until
i am spoken for
if it be your will
if it be your will
that a voice be true |
|
how do geese know when to fly to the sun
who tells them the seasons
how do we humans know when it is time to move on
as with the migrant birds
so surely with us
there is a voice within if only we would listen to it
that tells us certainly when to go forth into the unknown |
|
the leaves were long the grass was green
the hemlock-umbels tall and fair
and in the glade a light was seen
of stars in shadow shimmering
tinuviel was dancing there
to music of a pipe unseen
and light of stars was in her hair
and in her raiment glimmering
there beren came from mountains cold
and lost he wandered under leaves |
|
there is a whole earth of solitude
and only one small lump of your smile
there is a whole sea of solitude
your tenderness above it like a lost bird
there is a whole heaven of solitude
and only one angel in it
with wings as weightless as your words |
|
take a courageous step
raise your trunk steadily
balance your six senses
amp attain full enthrallment |
|
last night she came to me my dead love came in
so softly she came her feet made no din
and she laid her hand on me and this she did say
it will not be long now 'til our wedding day |
|
softly wordlessly
shadow and light coalesce
emergent being |
|
the leaves are falling falling as if from far up
as if orchards were dying high in space
each leaf falls as if it were motioning no
and tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness
we're all falling this hand here is falling
and look at the other one it's in them all
and yet there is someone whose hands
infinitely calm holding up all this falling |
|
maybe
if i listen closely
to the rocks next time
i'll hear something
if not a word
perhaps
the faint beginning
of a
syllable |
|
the vast and solemn company of clouds
around the sun's death lit incarnadined
cool into ashy wan as night enshrouds
the level pasture creeping up behind |
|
silence of the dawn
sailing in sun speckled sea
gliding into port |
|
halfway up the stairs
isn't up
and isn't down
it isn't in the nursery
it isn't in the town
and all sorts of funny thoughts
run round my head
it isn't really anywhere
it's somewhere else
instead |
|
i cried before but not
i cannot cry anymore
tears are gone somewhere
just gone
red leaves like my blood |
|
what will you tell us
the abandoned wives
o yellow nefertiti
you in the pharaohs's bed
you who bent docile
lorded to in embrace
and when he took his leave
with hollow steps
you would put tiny fists to mouth
and bite |
|
let me not to the marriage of true minds
admit impediments love is not love
which alters when it alteration finds
or bends with the remover to remove
o no it is an ever-fixed mark
that looks on tempests and is never shaken
it is the star to every wandering bark
whose worths unknown although his height be taken
loves not times fool though rosy lips and cheeks
within his bending sickles compass come |
|
the scent of life
or the smell of death
from newly turned furrows
when harvest is over |
|
a power of butterfly must be
the aptitude to fly
meadows of majesty concedes
and easy sweeps of sky |
|
i broke off a branch from love
buried the dead in the earth
now look
my garden has blossomed
it is not possible to kill love
if you bury her in the earth
she grows back
if you throw her in the air
she leafs with wings
if into the water |
|
the flower must not blame the bee
that seeketh his felicity
too often at her door
but teach the footman from vevay
mistress is not at home to say
to people any more |
|
cold under palm and fingers
the clay whirls moist on the wheel
then soars to form
mastered into life
by the potter's pressuring love
tender responsive
primordial beauty softly shining
reserved intact sufficient
then robed in magic dust
it incandesces in the long embrace |
|
one can enjoy a wood fire worthily
only when he warms his thoughts by it
as well as his hands and feet |
|
and since you know you cannot see yourself
so well as by reflection i your glass
will modestly discover to yourself
that of yourself which you yet know not of |
|
study nature love nature
stay close to nature
it will never fail you |
|
once i thought the land i had loved and known
lay curled in my inmost self musing alone
in the quiet room i unfolded the folded sea
unlocked the forest and the lonely tree
hill and mountain valley beach and stone
all these i said are here and exist in me
but now i know it is i who exist in the land
my inmost self is blown like a grain of sand
along the windy beach and is only free
to wander among the mountains enter the tree |
|
you may wear your virtues as a crown
as you walk through life serenely
and grace your simple rustic gown
with a beauty more than queenly
though only one for you shall care
one only speak your praises
and you never wear in your shining hair
a richer flower than daisies |
|
look at this field my son
deserted empty place
where the dead silence feeds on lost whispers
there was a kingdom here
a city full of life
songs of its praise were being sung by the mountains
oh listen to them now
people felt strong and powerful
proud of their wealth
all of them believed they were kings of the whole world |
|
i am in that time
between things
between joy and fear
between sleep and fervor
between trembling and silence
that place where reason
sings a manic song
lulling me with lies about
tomorrow
casting dreams over me |
|
and i'll be your light
i'm shining in the darkest night
i'll be the song that moves you when all hope is gone
gives you strength to carry on
burnin so bright
i'll be your light |
|
when the red bird spread his sable wing
and showed his side of flame
when the rosebud ripened to the rose
in both i read thy name |
|
to see a world in a grain of sand
and a heaven in a wild flower
hold infinity in the palm of your hand
an eternity in an hour |
|
i lay there
blabbering
like a worn out merry-go-round
just not so merry
behind me
the tactful silence
of the therapist
grew
to the thunder
of being |
|
on winter afternoons
that oppresses like the weight
of cathedral tunes
heavenly hurt it gives us
we can find no scar
but internal difference
where the meanings are
none may teach it anything
'tis the seal despair
an imperial affliction |
|
there is a moment a chip in time
when leaving home is the lesser crime
when your eyes are blind with tears
but your heart can see
another life another galaxy |
|
it's all about forgiveness
it's all about darkness
what do you wanna do
what would you do
it's all about what you've seen
it's all about what you've done
what have you gotten
what have you given
you've seen what you want to see
you've done what you want to do |
|
one sparrow is worth a thousand gulls
when it sings the gull sits on chimney-tops
he mocks the guinea challenges
the crow inciting various modes
the sparrow requites one without intent |
|
i remember you as you were in the last autumn
you were the grey beret and the still heart
in your eyes the flames of the twilight fought on
and the leaves fell in the water of your soul
clasping my arms like a climbing plant
the leaves garnered your voice that was slow and at peace
bonfire of awe in which my thirst was burning
sweet blue hyacinth twisted over my soul
i feel your eyes travelling and the autumn is far off
grey beret voice of a bird heart like a house |
|
give me my scallop shell of quiet
my staff of faith to walk upon
my scrip of joy immortal diet
my bottle of salvation
my gown of glory hopes true gage
and thus ill take my pilgrimage |
|
yes sing the song of the orange-tree
with its leaves of velvet green
with its luscious fruit of sunset hue
the fairest that ever were seen
the grape may have its bacchanal verse
to praise the fig we are free
but homage i pay to the queen of all
the glorious orange-tree |
|
there is a flower a little flower
with silver crest and golden eye
that welcomes every changing hour
and weathers every sky |
|
chilli wheel of fire
that red hot cajun cuisine
can you take the heat
fiery capsicums
those red hot chilli peppers
pack a powerful punch
better be prepared
when you eat chilli peppers
water close at hand |
|
i peer out through the rain-dashed window
upon a dark december day
the gathering gloom my view does hinder
all is indistinct and grey
no firmament just threatening cloud
above the doleful dripping trees
that loom behind a misty shroud
this dour scene breeds great unease
receding landscape distant pale
a colourless collage cold |
|
o wild west wind
thou breath of autumn's being
thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
are driven
like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing
yellow and black and pale and hectic red
pestilence-stricken multitudes: o thou
who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
each like a corpse within its grave
until thine azure sister of the spring shall blow |
|
the falling leaves
drift by my window
the falling leaves of red and gold
i see your lips
the summer kisses
the sunburned hands i used to hold
since you went away
the days grow long
and soon i'll hear old winter song
but i miss you most of all my darling |
|
what have the autumn leaves to tell
to the red leafed trees as they sweep along
and vibrate to the rising swell
their music makes in mournful song
they sing the dirge of youthful days
whose tints were bright as the leaves they bear
the saddened heart responsive prays
for another taste of the joys that were
they tell the tale of promise broke
of spring-time gone of summer fled |
|
children have neither past nor future
they enjoy the present
which very few of us do |
|
people are like stained-glass windows
they sparkle and shine when the sun is out
but when the darkness sets in
their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within |
|
when i had no wings to fly you flew to me you flew to me
in the secret space of dreams where i dreaming lay amazed
when the secrets all are told and the petals all unfold
when there was no dream of mine you dreamed of me |
|
we stood by a pond that winter day
and the sun was white as though chidden of god
and a few leaves lay on the starving sod
they had fallen from an ash and were gray
your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
over tedious riddles of years ago
and some words played between us to and fro
on which lost the more by our love
the smile on your mouth was the deadest thing
alive enough to have strength to die |
|
it is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts
as for that subtle something
that quality of air that emanation from old trees
that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit |
|
a tree says: a kernel is hidden in me a spark a thought
i am life from eternal life
the attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique
unique the form and veins of my skin
unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark
i was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail |
|
place me in your eyes and close
let me in your eyes live
i fear though compelled do not blink
protect from falling your captive
and tears though sad do not shed
lest i drown in the flood of eyelids
i lament time passed blind
alas it slipped by with you far
the sword of your eyes the blade shines
in your eyes the charm of your charm |
|
not least t is ever my delight
to drink the early morning light
to take the air upon my tongue
and taste it while the day is young |
|
dreams have delicate
beautiful butterfly wings
dreams i call by name
finding their way
flying into my
dream catcher's net
will not be trapped
like in a spider's web
they'r sifting through
finding their way |
|
the day is bright
yet i stand and stare
deep into the mirror
looking for what is lost
a hint some indication
that you are still there
i reach out my hand
and the surface ripples
casting reflections
of past lives |
|
your love is like a river
peaceful and deep
your soul is like a secret
that i could never keep
when i look into your eyes
i know that its true
god must of spent
a little more time
on you |
|
on the blue plains in wintry days
the stately birds move in the dance
keen eyes have they and quaint old ways
on the blue plains in wintry days
the winds their unseen piper plays
they strut salute retreat advance
on the blue plains in wintry days
these stately birds move in the dance |
|
she tells her love while half asleep
in the dark hours
with half-words whispered low
as earth stirs in her winter sleep
and put out grass and flowers
despite the snow
despite the falling snow |
|
for it is life the very life of life
in its brief course lie all the
verities and realities of your existence
the bliss of growth
the glory of action
the splendor of beauty
for yesterday is but a dream
and to-morrow is only a vision
but to-day well lived makes
every yesterday a dream of happiness |
|
the art of losing isnt hard to master
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster
lose something every day accept the fluster
of lost door keys the hour badly spent
the art of losing isnt hard to master
then practice losing farther losing faster
places and names and where it was you meant
to travel none of these will bring disaster
i lost my mothers watch and look my last or |
|
sometimes a story has no end
sometimes i think that we could just be friends 'cause i'm a wandering man he said to me
and what about our future plans
does this thing we have even make sense
when i got the whole world in front of me |
|
if the river was whiskey and i was a divin' duck
i would dive down to the bottom
don't think i'd ever come back up |
|
you fill up my senses
like a night in a forest
like the mountains in springtime
like a walk in the rain
like a storm in the desert
you fill up my senses
come fill me again |
|
i do not love you as if you were salt-rose or topaz
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off
i love you as certain dark things are to be loved
in secret between the shadow and the soul
i love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance
risen from the earth lives darkly in my body
i love you without knowing how or when or from where
i love you straightforwardly without complexities or pride |
|
light gives of itself freely
filling all available space
it does not seek anything in return
it asks not whether you are friend or foe
it gives of itself and is therefore not diminished |
|
or waterlily taken in pool below the waterfall
rapaciously we gathered flowery spoils
from land and water lilies of each hue
golden and white that float upon the waves
and court the wind |
|
if i can stop
one heart from breaking
i shall not live in vain
if i can ease one life the aching
or cool one pain
or help one fainting robin
unto his nest again
i shall not live in vain |
|
hands - ten fingers disabled
abandoned absolutely
useless to anyone
blind |
|
people
are like
stained glass windows
they
sparkle and shine
when the sun is out
but when the darkness sets in
their true beauty is revealed
only
if their is light |
|
the beauteous pansies rise
in purple gold and blue
with tints of rainbow hue
mocking the sunset skies |
|
give me what you have on you
neither keys nor money
make it something temporary
the hastily scribbled phone number
the dry-cleaned piece of paper in your coat pocket
the button about to fall off
the words you just held back from saying
your strength too much to open a door
all the things you no longer need
give me the rustle of your cotton |
|
to err is to be human
to forgive is deemed divine
but sometimes its not as easy as it sounds
way down the hurting line
for if your heart gets broken
and you've been told so many lies
your spirit dies a thousand deaths
and all compassion flies
so don't let others taint you
let go of all the hate |
|
how the mind clings to the road it knows
rushing through crossroads sticking
like lint to the familiar |
|
waking up this morning i smile
twenty-four brand new hours are before me
i vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion |
|
each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly
every morning
whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray |
|
to sea to sea the calm is o'er
the wanton water leaps in sport
and rattles down the pebbly shore
the dolphin wheels the sea-cows snort
and unseen mermaids' pearly song
comes bubbling up the weeds among
fling broad the sail dip deep the oar
to sea to sea the calm is o'er
to sea to sea our wide-winged bark
shall billowy cleave its sunny way |
|
see how nature - trees flowers grass - grows in silence
see the stars
the moon and the sun how they move in silence
we need silence to be
able to touch souls |
|
my eyes already touch the sunny hill
going far ahead of the road i have begun
so we are grasped by what we cannot grasp
it has inner light even from a distance
and charges us even if we do not reach it
into something else which hardly sensing it
we already are a gesture waves us on
answering our own wave
but what we feel is the wind in our faces |