Lucius Atherton

Related poetry:

1. Atherton's Gambit The Master played the bishop’s pawn, For jest, while Atherton looked on; The master played this way and that, And Atherton, amazed thereat, Said “Now I have a thing in view That will enlighten one or two, And make a difference or so In what it is they do not know.” The morning stars together […]...
2. The Bight [On my birthday] At low tide like this how sheer the water is. White, crumbling ribs of marl protrude and glare And the boats are dry, the pilings dry as matches. Absorbing, rather than being absorbed, The water in the bight doesn’t wet anything, The color of the gas flame turned as low as possible. […]...
3. The Joy Of Little Things It’s good the great green earth to roam, Where sights of awe the soul inspire; But oh, it’s best, the coming home, The crackle of one’s own hearth-fire! You’ve hob-nobbed with the solemn Past; You’ve seen the pageantry of kings; Yet oh, how sweet to gain at last The peace and rest of Little Things! […]...
4. Hildrup Tubbs I made two fights for the people. First I left my party, bearing the gonfalon Of independence, for reform, and was defeated. Next I used my rebel strength To capture the standard of my old party And I captured it, but I was defeated. Discredited and discarded, misanthropical, I turned to the solace of gold […]...
5. The Clock's Clear Voice Into The Clearer Air THE cock’s clear voice into the clearer air Where westward far I roam, Mounts with a thrill of hope, Falls with a sigh of home. A rural sentry, he from farm and field The coming morn descries, And, mankind’s bugler, wakes The camp of enterprise. He sings the morn upon the westward hills Strange and […]...
6. I saw Old General at Bay I SAW old General at bay; (Old as he was, his grey eyes yet shone out in battle like stars;) His small force was now completely hemm’d in, in his works; He call’d for volunteers to run the enemy’s lines-a desperate emergency; I saw a hundred and more step forth from the ranks-but two or […]...
7. Love The longer I live and the more I see Of the struggle of souls towards the heights above, The stronger this truth comes home to me – That the Universe rests on the shoulders of love, A love so limitless, deep, and broad, That men have re-named it, and called it God. And nothing that […]...
8. Variations on ‘The short night Below are eleven Buson haiku Beginning with the phrase ‘The short night ‘ The short night On the hairy caterpillar Beads of dew. The short night Patrolmen Washing in the river. The short night Bubbles of crab froth Among the river reeds. The short night A broom thrown away On the beach. The short night […]...
9. Binsey Poplars felled 1879 My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled, Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun, All felled, felled, are all felled; Of a fresh and following folded rank Not spared, not one That dandled a sandalled Shadow that swam or sank On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank. O if we but […]...
10. Tube Station The tube lift mounts, sap in a stem, And blossoms its load, a black, untidy rose. The fountain of the escalator curls at the crest, breaks and scatters A winnow of men, a sickle of dark spray....
11. Song and dance do you think an old heart can’t sing Do you think an old heart can’t dance With a love that belongs to spring – Nor i – till i took this glance In a mirror long put-by – denied The least touch of light (there being No cause but to let it hide) Yet now […]...
12. Crossing the Frontier Crossing the frontier they were stopped in time, Told, quite politely, they would have to wait: Passports in order, nothing to declare And surely holding hands was not a crime Until they saw how, ranged across the gate, All their most formidable friends were there. Wearing his conscience like a crucifix, Her father, rampant, nursed […]...
13. Salutation O generation of the thoroughly smug and thoroughly uncomfortable, I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun, I have seen them with untidy families, I have seen their smiles full of teeth and heard ungainly laughter. And I am happier than you are, And they were happier than I am; And the fish swim in […]...
14. Last Night I Drove A Car Last night I drove a car not knowing how to drive not owning a car I drove and knocked down people I loved …went 120 through one town. I stopped at Hedgeville and slept in the back seat …excited about my new life....
15. Washerwoman THE WASHERWOMAN is a member of the Salvation Army. And over the tub of suds rubbing underwear clean She sings that Jesus will wash her sins away And the red wrongs she has done God and man Shall be white as driven snow. Rubbing underwear she sings of the Last Great Washday....
16. Hymn 46 God’s condescension to human affairs. Up to the Lord, that reigns on high, And views the nations from afar, Let everlasting praises fly, And tell how large his bounties are. [He that can shake the worlds he made, Or with his word, or with his rod, His goodness, how amazing great! And what a condescending […]...
17. Florentine Pilgrim “I’ll do the old dump in a day,” He told me in his brittle way. “Two more, I guess, I’ll give to Rome Before I hit the trail for home; But while I’m there I kindo’ hope To have an audience with the Pope.” We stood upon the terraced height With sunny Florence in our […]...
18. Summer Evening The frog half fearful jumps across the path, And little mouse that leaves its hole at eve Nimbles with timid dread beneath the swath; My rustling steps awhile their joys deceive, Till past, and then the cricket sings more strong, And grasshoppers in merry moods still wear The short night weary with their fretting song. […]...
19. The Ancient Speech A Gaelic bard they praise who in fourteen adjectives Named the one indivisible soul of his glen; For what are the bens and the glens but manifold qualities, Immeasurable complexities of soul? What are these isles but a song sung by island voices? The herdsman sings ancestral memories And the song makes the singer wise, […]...
20. LE PANNEAU Under the rose-tree’s dancing shade There stands a little ivory girl, Pulling the leaves of pink and pearl With pale green nails of polished jade. The red leaves fall upon the mould, The white leaves flutter, one by one, Down to a blue bowl where the sun, Like a great dragon, writhes in gold. The […]...
21. From Spring Days To Winter (For Music) In the glad springtime when leaves were green, O merrily the throstle sings! I sought, amid the tangled sheen, Love whom mine eyes had never seen, O the glad dove has golden wings! Between the blossoms red and white, O merrily the throstle sings! My love first came into my sight, O perfect vision of […]...
22. A Shade upon the mind there passes A Shade upon the mind there passes As when on Noon A Cloud the mighty Sun encloses Remembering That some there be too numb to notice Oh God Why give if Thou must take away The Loved?...
23. A Boy Named Sue Well, my daddy left home when I was three, And he didn’t leave much to Ma and me, Just this old guitar and a bottle of booze. Now I don’t blame him because he run and hid, But the meanest thing that he ever did was Before he left he went and named me Sue. […]...
24. Jack Dunn of Nevertire It chanced upon the very day we’d got the shearing done, A buggy brought a stranger to the West-o’-Sunday Run; He had a round and jolly face, and he was sleek and stout, He drove right up between the huts and called the super out. We chaps were smoking after tea, and heard the swell […]...
25. The Road to Avignon A Minstrel stands on a marble stair, Blown by the bright wind, debonair; Below lies the sea, a sapphire floor, Above on the terrace a turret door Frames a lady, listless and wan, But fair for the eye to rest upon. The minstrel plucks at his silver strings, And looking up to the lady, sings: […]...
26. Elephant Dormitory An elephant went to bed and pulled a crazy quilt up under Its tusks. But just as the great gray head began filling with the gray Wrinkles of sleep it was awakened by the thud of its tail Falling out of bed. Would you get my tail? said the elephant to another Elephant also tucked […]...
27. Remembered Women FOR a woman’s face remembered as a spot of quick light on the flat land of dark night, For this memory of one mouth and a forehead they go on in the gray rain and the mud, they go on among the boots and guns. The horizon ahead is a thousand fang flashes, it is […]...
28. The Petition for an Absolute Retreat Give me, O indulgent Fate! Give me yet before I die A sweet, but absolute retreat, ‘Mongst paths so lost and trees so high That the world may ne’er invade Through such windings and such shade My unshaken liberty. No intruders thither come Who visit but to be from home! None who their vain moments […]...
29. Alexandrian Kings The Alexandrians were gathered To see Cleopatra’s children, Caesarion, and his little brothers, Alexander and Ptolemy, whom for the first Time they lead out to the Gymnasium, There to proclaim kings, In front of the grand assembly of the soldiers. Alexander they named him king Of Armenia, Media, and the Parthians. Ptolemy they named him […]...
30. Cat's Dream How neatly a cat sleeps, Sleeps with its paws and its posture, Sleeps with its wicked claws, And with its unfeeling blood, Sleeps with ALL the rings a series Of burnt circles which have formed The odd geology of its sand-colored tail. I should like to sleep like a cat, With all the fur of […]...
31. The Ships that Won't Go Down We hear a great commotion ‘Bout the ship that comes to grief, That founders in mid-ocean, Or is driven on a reef; Because it’s cheap and brittle A score of sinners drown. But we hear but mighty little Of the ships that won’t go down. Here’s honour to the builders – The builders of the […]...
32. Night Words after Juan Ramon A child wakens in a cold apartment. The windows are frosted. Outside he hears Words rising from the streets, words he cannot Understand, and then the semis gear down For the traffic light on Houston. He sleeps Again and dreams of another city On a high hill above a wide river Bathed […]...
33. Duns Scotus's Oxford Towery city and branchy between towers; Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark-charmèd, rook-racked, river-rounded; The dapple-eared lily below thee; that country and town did Once encounter in, here coped and poisèd powers; Thou hast a base and brickish skirt there, sours That neighbour-nature thy grey beauty is grounded Best in; graceless growth, thou hast confounded Rural rural keeping-folk, […]...
34. Sonnet XVIII: To This Our World To the Celestial Numbers To this our world, to Learning, and to Heav’n, Three Nines there are, to every one a Nine, One number of the Earth, the other both divine; One woman now makes three odd numbers ev’n. Nine Orders first of Angels be in Heav’n, Nine Muses do with Learning still frequent: These […]...
35. The Secret Rose Far-off, most secret, and inviolate Rose, Enfold me in my hour of hours; where those Who sought thee in the Holy Sepulchre, Or in the wine-vat, dwell beyond the stir And tumult of defeated dreams; and deep Among pale eyelids, heavy with the sleep Men have named beauty. Thy great leaves enfold The ancient beards, […]...
36. Waking at 3 a. m Even in the cave of the night when you Wake and are free and lonely, Neglected by others, discarded, loved only By what doesn’t matter even in that Big room no one can see, You push with your eyes till forever Comes in its twisted figure eight And lies down in your head. You think […]...
37. To Kate. (In Lieu Of A Valentine) Sweet Love and I had oft communed; We were, indeed, great friends, And oft I sought his office, near Where Courtship Alley ends. I used to sit with him, and smoke, And talk of your blue eyes, And argue how I best might act To make your heart my prize. He always seemed to have […]...
38. Hear, ye Ladies HEAR, ye ladies that despise What the mighty Love has done; Fear examples and be wise: Fair Callisto was a nun; Leda, sailing on the stream To deceive the hopes of man, Love accounting but a dream, Doted on a silver swan; Danae, in a brazen tower, Where no love was, loved a shower. Hear, […]...
39. Memorial Day For The War Dead Memorial day for the war dead. Add now The grief of all your losses to their grief, Even of a woman that has left you. Mix Sorrow with sorrow, like time-saving history, Which stacks holiday and sacrifice and mourning On one day for easy, convenient memory. Oh, sweet world soaked, like bread, In sweet milk […]...
40. Restaurant No, you’re wrong. Everyone is as beautiful as they can possibly be Particularly at lunch in a laughing restaurant Everyone is as beautiful as they can possibly be And they are moved by their own beauty And they shed tears for it in the back of the taxi home...