Why? ~Mary Webb Why did you come, with your enkindled eyes And mountain-look, across my lower way, And take the vague dishonor from my day By luring me from paltry things, to rise And stand beside you, waiting wistfully The looming of a larger destiny? Why did you with strong fingers fling aside The gates […]
Pyrargite Metal, 9 ~Cecilia Meireles Translated from Portuguese by Jams Merrill The piano tuner spoke to me that tenderest attender to each note who ever looking over sharp and flat hears and glimpses something more remote. And his ears make no mistake nor do his hands that in each chord awake those sounds delighted to […]
Siena “L’anima non avra giammai l’oblio, giammai l’oblio, giammai . . . ” ~ Lily Thicknesse Whilst thou art far away, I am at peace, As some poor wretch, delivered from the rack, Enjoys the slumber of a doubtful ease Knowing he must be haled to torture back. In this embattled city of old days, […]
The Roosters Will Crow ~ Cecilia Meireles (A lovely site devoted to Meireles’ work is here.) The roosters will crow when we die, And a soft breeze, with delicate hands, Will touch the fringes, the silken Shrouds. And the sleep of night will cloud The clear windows. And the crickets, far off, will saw silences: […]
Vision ~ May Thielgaard Watts To-day there have been lovely things I never saw before; Sunlight through a jar of marmalade; A blue gate; A rainbow In soapsuds on dishwater; Candlelight on butter; The crinkled smile of a little girl Who had new shoes with tassels; A chickadee on a thorn-apple; Empurpled mud under a […]
