by Homer
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Mother, I Cannot Mind My Wheel
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
MOTHER, I cannot mind my wheel;
My fingers ache, my lips are dry:
Oh! if you felt the pain I feel!
But oh, who ever felt as I?
No longer could I doubt him true — 5
All other men may use deceit;
He always said my eyes were blue,
And often swore my lips were sweet.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Well I Remember
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
WELL I remember how you smiled
To see me write your name upon
The soft sea-sand— ‘O! what a child!
You think you’re writing upon stone!’
I have since written what no tide 5
Shall ever wash away, what men
Unborn shall read o’er ocean wide
And find Ianthe’s name again.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
No, My Own Love
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
NO, my own love of other years!
No, it must never be.
Much rests with you that yet endears,
Alas! but what with me?
Could those bright years o’er me revolve 5
So gay, o’er you so fair,
The pearl of life we would dissolve,
And each the cup might share.
You show that truth can ne’er decay,
Whatever fate befalls; 10
I, that the myrtle and the bay
Shoot fresh on ruined walls.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Robert Browning
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
THERE is delight in singing, though none hear
Beside the singer; and there is delight
In praising, though the praiser sit alone
And see the praised far off him, far above.
Shakespeare is not our poet, but the world’s, 5
Therefore on him no speech! and brief for thee,
Browning! Since Chaucer was alive and hale,
No man hath walked along our roads with step
So active, so inquiring eye, or tongue
So varied in discourse. But warmer climes 10
Give brighter plumage, stronger wing: the breeze
Of Alpine heights thou playest with, borne on
Beyond Sorrento and Amalfi, where
The Siren waits thee, singing song for song.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Death of Artemidora
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
‘ARTEMIDORA! Gods invisible,
While thou art lying faint along the couch,
Have tied the sandal to thy veinèd feet
And stand beside thee, ready to convey
Thy weary steps where other rivers flow. 5
Refreshing shades will waft thy weariness
Away, and voices like thine own come nigh
And nearer, and solicit an embrace.’
Artemidora sigh’d, and would have pressed
The hand now pressing hers, but was too weak. 10
Iris stood over her dark hair unseen
While thus Elpenor spake. He looked into
Eyes that had given light and life erewhile
To those above them, but now dim with tears
And wakefulness. Again he spake of joy 15
Eternal. At that word, that sad word, joy,
Faithful and fond her bosom heav’d once more:
Her head fell back; and now a loud deep sob
Swell’d thro’ the darken’d chamber; ’twas not hers.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Iphigeneia
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
IPHIGENEIA, when she heard her doom
At Aulis, and when all beside the king
Had gone away, took his right hand, and said,
“O father, I am young and very happy.
I do not think the pious Calchas heard 5
Distinctly what the Goddess spake. Old-age
Obscures the senses. If my nurse, who knew
My voice so well, sometimes misunderstood
While I was resting on her knee both arms
And hitting it to make her mind my words, 10
And looking in her face, and she in mine,
Might he not also hear one word amiss,
Spoken from so far off, even from Olympus?”
The father placed his cheek upon her head,
And tears dropped down it, but the king of men 15
Replied not. Then the maiden spake once more.
“O father! sayst thou nothing? Hear’st thou not
Me whom thou ever hast, until this hour,
Listened to fondly, and awakened me
To hear my voice among the voice of birds, 20
When it was inarticulate as theirs,
And the down deadened it within the nest?”
He moved her gently from him, silent still,
And this, and this alone, brought tears from her,
Although she saw fate nearer: then with sighs, 25
“I thought to have laid down my hair before
Benignant Artemis, and not have dimmed
Her polished altar with my virgin blood;
I thought to have selected the white flowers
To please the nymphs, and to have asked of each 30
By name, and with no sorrowful regret,
Whether, since both my parents willed the change,
I might at Hymen’s feet bend my clipt brow;
And (after those who mind us girls the most)
Adore our own Athena, that she would 35
Regard me mildly with her azure eyes.
But, father! to see you no more, and see
Your love, O father! go ere I am gone” —
Gently he moved her off, and drew her back,
Bending his lofty head far over hers, 40
And the dark depths of nature heaved and burst.
He turned away; not far, but silent still.
She now first shuddered; for in him so nigh,
So long a silence seemed the approach of death,
And like it. Once again she raised her voice. 45
“O father! if the ships are now detained,
And all your vows move not the Gods above,
When the knife strikes me there will be one prayer
The less to them: and purer can there be
Any, or more fervent than the daughter’s prayer 50
For her dear father’s safety and success?”
A groan that shook him shook not his resolve.
An aged man now entered, and without
One word, stept slowly on, and took the wrist
Of the pale maiden. She looked up, and saw 55
The fillet of the priest and calm cold eyes.
Then turned she where her parent stood, and cried
“O father! grieve no more: the ships can sail.”
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Do You Remember Me?
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
‘DO you remember me? or are you proud?’
Lightly advancing thro’ her star-trimm’d crowd,
Ianthe said, and looked into my eyes.
‘A yes, a yes, to both: for Memory
Where you but once have been must ever be, 5
And at your voice Pride from his throne must rise.’
List of Poe
ms in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
For an Epitaph at Fiesole
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
LO! where the four mimosas blend their shade
In calm repose at last is Landor laid,
For ere he slept he saw them planted here
By her his soul had ever held most dear,
And he had lived enough when he had dried her tear. 5
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
On Lucretia Borgia’s Hair
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
BORGIA, thou once wert almost too august
And high for adoration; now thou’rt dust;
All that remains of thee these plaits unfold,
Calm hair, meandering in pellucid gold.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
On His Seventy-Fifth Birthday
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
I STROVE with none; for none was worth my strife,
Nature I loved, and next to Nature, Art;
I warmed both hands before the fire of life,
It sinks, and I am ready to depart.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
To My Ninth Decade
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
TO my ninth decade I have totter’d on,
And no soft arm bends now my steps to steady;
She, who once led me where she would, is gone,
So when he calls me, Death shall find me ready.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Death Stands Above Me
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
DEATH stands above me, whispering low
I know not what into my ear;
Of his strange language all I know
Is, there is not a word of fear.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
On Living Too Long
Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)
IS it not better at an early hour
In its calm cell to rest the weary head,
While birds are singing and while blooms the bower,
Than sit the fire out and go starv’d to bed?
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Thomas Hood
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Fair Ines
Thomas Hood (1798–1845)
O SAW ye not fair Ines?
She’s gone into the West,
To dazzle when the sun is down,
And rob the world of rest:
She took our daylight with her, 5
The smiles that we love best,
With morning blushes on her cheek,
And pearls upon her breast.
O turn again, fair Ines,
Before the fall of night, 10
For fear the Moon should shine alone,
And stars unrivall’d bright;
And blessèd will the lover be
That walks beneath their light,
And breathes the love against thy cheek 15
I dare not even write!
Would I had been, fair Ines,
That gallant cavalier,
Who rode so gaily by thy side,
And whisper’d thee so near! 20
Were there no bonny dames at home,
Or no true lovers here,
That he should cross the seas to win
The dearest of the dear?
I saw thee, lovely Ines, 25
Descend along the shore,
With bands of noble gentlemen,
And banners waved before;
And gentle youth and maidens gay,
And snowy plumes they wore: 30
It would have been a beauteous dream, —
If it had been no more!
Alas, alas! fair Ines,
She went away with song,
With Music waiting on her steps, 35
And shoutings of the throng;
But some were sad, and felt no mirth,
But only Music’s wrong,
In sounds that sang Farewell, farewell,
To her you’ve loved so long. 40
Farewell, farewell, fair Ines!
That vessel never bore
So fair a lady on its deck,
Nor danced so light before, —
Alas for pleasure on the sea, 45
And sorrow on the shore!
The smile that bless’d one lover’s heart
Has broken many more!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Bridge of Sighs
Thomas Hood (1798–1845)
ONE more Unfortunate
Weary of breath
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death!
Take her up tenderly, 5
Lift her with care;
Fashion’d so slenderly,
Young, and so fair!
Look at her garments
Clinging like cerements; 10
Whilst the wave constantly
Drips from her clothing;
Take her up instantly,
Loving, not loathing.
Touch her not scornfully; 15
Think of her mournfully,
Gently and humanly;
Not of the stains of her —
All that remains of her
Now is pure womanly. 20
Make no deep scrutiny
Into her mutiny
Rash and undutiful:
Past all dishonour,
Death has left on her 25
Only the beautiful.
Still, for all slips of hers,
One of Eve’s family —
Wipe those poor lips of hers
Oozing so clammily. 30
Loop up her tresses
Escaped from the comb,
Her fair auburn tresses;
Whilst wonderment guesses
Where was her home? 35
Who was her father?
Who was her mother?
Had she a sister?
Had she a brother?
Or was there a dearer one 40
Still, and a nearer one
Yet, than all other?
Alas! for the rarity
Of Christian charity
Under the sun! 45
O! it was pitiful!
Near a whole city full,
Home she had none.
Sisterly, brotherly,
Fatherly, motherly 50
Feelings had changed:
Love, by harsh evidence,
Thrown from its eminence;
Even God’s providence
Seeming estranged. 55
Where the lamps quiver
So far in the river,
With many a light
From window and casement,
From garret to basement, 60
She stood, with amazement,
Houseless by night.
The bleak wind of March
Made her tremble and shiver;
But not the dark arch, 65
Or the black flowing river:
Mad from life’s history,
Glad to death’s mystery
Swift to be hurl’d —
Anywhere, anywhere 70
Out of the world!
In she plunged boldly,
No matter how coldly
The rough river ran,
Over the brink of it, — 75
Picture it, think of it,
Dissolute Man!
Lave in it, drink of it,
Then, if you can!
Take her up tenderly, 80
&
nbsp; Lift her with care;
Fashion’d so slenderly,
Young, and so fair!
Ere her limbs frigidly
Stiffen too rigidly, 85
Decently, kindly,
Smooth and compose them;
And her eyes, close them,
Staring so blindly!
Dreadfully staring 90
Thro’ muddy impurity,
As when with the daring
Last look of despairing
Fix’d on futurity.
Perishing gloomily, 95
Spurr’d by contumely,
Cold inhumanity,
Burning insanity,
Into her rest.
— Cross her hands humbly 100
As if praying dumbly,
Over her breast!
Owning her weakness,
Her evil behaviour,
And leaving, with meekness, 105
Her sins to her Saviour.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Death Bed
Thomas Hood (1798–1845)
WE watch’d her breathing thro’ the night,
Her breathing soft and low,
As in her breast the wave of life
Kept heaving to and fro.
So silently we seemed to speak, 5