A Very Short Song
Once, when I was young and true,
Someone left me sad-
Broke my brittle heart in two;
And that is very bad.
Love is for unlucky folk,
Love is but a curse.
Once there was a heart I broke;
And that, I think, is worse.
Inventory
Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.
Four be the things I’d been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.
Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.
I Shall Come Back
I shall come back without fanfaronade
Of wailing wind and graveyard panoply;
But, trembling, slip from cool Eternity-
A mild and most bewildered little shade.
I shall not make sepulchral midnight raid,
But softly come where I had longed to be
In April twilight's unsung melody,
And I, not you, shall be the one afraid.
Strange, that from lovely dreamings of the dead
I shall come back to you, who hurt me most.
You may not feel my hand upon your head,
I'll be so new and inexpert a ghost.
Perhaps you will not know that I am near-
And that will break my ghostly heart, my dear.
Portrait Of The Artist
Oh, lead me to a quiet cell
Where never footfall rankles,
And bar the window passing well,
And gyve my wrists and ankles.
Oh, wrap my eyes with linen fair,
With hempen cord go bind me,
And, of your mercy, leave me there,
Nor tell them where to find me.
Oh, lock the portal as you go,
And see its bolts be double….
Come back in half an hour or so,
And I will be in trouble.
_____
Absolutely beautiful poetry, especially the two first ones. I'm so glad I found this blog, so I could find this poet. Thank you.
SvarSlettI don't know which I love most, this woman or this poet. I feel as though I know her well, she has put so much of herself into her poems. But beyond that, I like her, the woman that the poems reveal. From the things written about her I know her to be witty and brave and even a little bit mean. But from her poems, she reveals the tender, loving woman. In the first poem she is a woman who feels more regret over having broken a heart than she does over having been hurt. In the third ( and one of my favorites) she a ghost sop timid and tender and vulnerable. I love this woman that the poet reveals.
SvarSlettSunny J.