The Apparitions
Because there is safety in derision
I talked about an apparition,
I took no trouble to convince,
Or seem plausible to a man of sense.
Distrustful of thar popular eye
Whether it be bold or sly.
Fifteen apparitions have I seen;
The worst a coat upon a coat-hanger.
I have found nothing half so good
As my long-planned half solitude,
Where I can sit up half the night
With some friend that has the wit
Not to allow his looks to tell
When I am unintelligible.
Fifteen apparitions have I seen;
The worst a coat upon a coat-hanger.
When a man grows old his joy
Grows more deep day after day,
His empty heart is full at length,
But he has need of all that strength
Because of the increasing Night
That opens her mystery and fright.
Fifteen apparitions have I seen;
The worst a coat upon a coat-hanger.





Related poetry:
- SCARECROW CRIMES In Hayfield I imagine Not just the nuts and bolts of split cockpits But a Spitfire’s sunk fuselage Has smoked […]...
- Departure It was not like your great and gracious ways! Do you, that have naught other to lament, Never, my Love, […]...
- The Worst And The Best in the hospitals and jails It’s the worst In madhouses It’s the worst In penthouses It’s the worst In skid […]...
- The Lute And The Lyre Deep desire, that pierces heart and spirit to the root, Finds reluctant voice in verse that yearns like soaring fire, […]...
- On the March So the time seems come at last, And the drums go rolling past, And above them in the sunlight Labour’s […]...
- How fits his Umber Coat How fits his Umber Coat The Tailor of the Nut? Combined without a seam Like Raiment of a Dream Who […]...
- Pearl Fog Open the door now. Go roll up the collar of your coat To walk in the changing scarf of mist. […]...
- A Song I thought no more was needed Youth to polong Than dumb-bell and foil To keep the body young. O who […]...
- The Mountaineer OH, at the eagle’s height To lie i’ the sweet of the sun, While veil after veil takes flight And […]...
- An old life Snow fell in the night. At five-fifteen I woke to a bluish Mounded softness where The Honda was. Cat fed […]...
- Albert and His Savings One day, little Albert Ramsbottom To see ‘ow much money ‘e’d got Stuck a knife in ‘is money-box slot ‘ole […]...
- At Lulworth Cove A Century Back Had I but lived a hundred years ago I might have gone, as I have gone this year, By Warmwell […]...
- An Encounter ONCE on the kind of day called “weather breeder,” When the heat slowly hazes and the sun By its own […]...
- Elegy The page opens to snow on a field: boot-holed month, black hour The bottle in your coat half voda half […]...
- Sin (II) O that I could a sin once see! We paint the devil foul, yet he Hath some good in him, […]...
- I Have Longed To Move Away I have longed to move away From the hissing of the spent lie And the old terrors’ continual cry Growing […]...
- Sowing IT was a perfect day For sowing; just As sweet and dry was the ground As tobacco-dust. I tasted deep […]...
- Tears, Idle Tears Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the […]...
- The Princess: A Medley: Tears, Idle Tears Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the […]...
- 372. Song-Kellyburn Braes THERE lived a carl in Kellyburn Braes, Hey, and the rue grows bonie wi’ thyme; And he had a wife […]...
- The House Of Dust: Part 03: 13: The half-shut doors through which we heard that music The half-shut doors through which we heard that music Are softly closed. Horns mutter down to silence. The stars whirl […]...
- Poetry I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle. Reading it, however, with a perfect […]...
- Prelude – Tristan And Isolde Fate, out of the deep sea’s gloom, When a man’s heart’s pride grows great, And nought seems now to foredoom […]...
- Womanhood She slides over The hot upholstery Of her mother’s car, This schoolgirl of fifteen Who loves humming & swaying With […]...
- The beans were exciting I tried cooking in my new Quicksilver jacket, just An affectation I assure you – no, not the coat Or […]...
- Sandhill People I TOOK away three pictures. One was a white gull forming a half-mile arch from the pines toward Waukegan. One […]...
- Quarantine In the worst hour of the worst season of the worst year of a whole people A man set out […]...
- Crossroads The second half of my life will be black To the white rind of the old and fading moon. The […]...
- My Dog ‘Twas in a pub just off the Strand When I was in my cups, There passed a bloke with in […]...
- Nimrod in September When half the drowsy world’s a-bed And misty morning rises red, With jollity of horn and lusty cheer, Young Nimrod […]...
- Break Of Day ‘Tis true, ’tis day; what though it be? O wilt thou therefore rise from me? Why should we rise? because […]...
- Send Me A Leaf Send me a leaf, but from a bush That grows at least one half hour Away from your house, then […]...
- Hauntings In the grey tumult of these after years Oft silence falls; the incessant wranglers part; And less-than-echoes of remembered tears […]...
- Village in Late Summer LIPS half-willing in a doorway. Lips half-singing at a window. Eyes half-dreaming in the walls. Feet half-dancing in a kitchen. […]...
- Love Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate, Where that comes in that shall not go again; Love […]...
- Dream Song 132: A Small Dream A Small Dream It was only a small dream of the Golden World, Now you trot off to bed. I’ll […]...
- Breaghy WHEN twilight flutters the mountains over, The faery lights from the earth unfold: And over the caves enchanted hover The […]...
- The Widower Oh I have worn my mourning out, And on her grave the green grass grows; So I will hang each […]...
- Peace Sweet Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave, Let me once know. I sought thee in a secret cave, […]...
- Bewick Finzer Time was when his half million drew The breath of six per cent; But soon the worm of what-was-not Fed […]...