So We'll go no more a-roving

So We'll go no more a-roving
so late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving
And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the sould wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And Love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns to soon,
Yes we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.

An Epilogue

I have seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces,
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races,
So I trust, too.

Body

What was so quiet a companion,
My dumb friend,
Now cries out, groans,
Swells up with noxious fluid
Clamouring for attention.
Did I neglect you,
Taking for granted
The ease with which you walked, breathed,
Ran for a bus?
We that were one, are two.
I bow before you.

The sun has burst the sky

The sun has burst the sky
Because I love you
And the river banks.

The sea laps the great rocks
Because I love you
And takes no heed of the moon dragging it away
And saying coldly 'Constancy is not for you'.

The blackbird fills the air
Because I love you
With spring and lawns and shadows falling on lawns.

The people walk in the street and laugh
I love you
And far down the river ships sounds their hooters
Crazy with joy because I love you.

Casabianca

Love's the boy stood on the burning deck
trying to recite 'The boy stood on
the burning deck'. Love's the son
stood stammering elocution
while the poor ship in flames went down.

Love's the obstinate boy, the ship,
even the swimming sailors, who
would like a schoolroom platform, too,
or an excuse to stay
on deck. And love's the burning boy.

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

A thunderstorm in town

She wore a new 'terra-cotta' dress,
And we stayed, because of the pelting storm,
Within the hansom's dry recess,
Though the horse had stopped; yea motionless
We sat on, snug and warm.

Then the downpur ceased, to my sharp sad pain
And the glass that had screend our forms before
Flew up, and out she sprang to her door:
I should have kissed her if the rain
Had lasted a minute more

This is just to say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

FROM The Tempest

Ariel. Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when Owls do cry;
On the bat`s back I do fly
After summer merrily:
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

All You Who Sleep Tonight

All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right,
And emptiness above -

Know that you aren' t alone.
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years.

Parting in Wartime

How long ago Hector took off his plume,
Not wanting that his little son should cry,
Then kissed his sad Andromache goodbye -
Nad now we three in Euston waiting-room.