' Live-Poets Society ' – A Corner For Poetry

[Former Member]

I've been reading selections from a poet most remembered today for her Sapphic exposés of high Victorian times. And with poems like the following, one can see why her particular anguish intrigued the 20th century minds of psychologists. wow

 

The Convent Threshold

 

There's blood between us, love, my love,
There's father's blood, there's brother's blood,
And blood's a bar I cannot pass.
I choose the stairs that mount above,
Stair after golden sky-ward stair,
To city and to sea of glass.
My lily feet are soiled with mud,
With scarlet mud which tells a tale
Of hope that was, of guilt that was,
Of love that shall not yet avail;
Alas, my heart, if I could bare
My heart, this selfsame stain is there:
I seek the sea of glass and fire
To wash the spot, to burn the snare;
Lo, stairs are meant to lift us higher—
Mount with me, mount the kindled stair.

Your eyes look earthward, mine look up.
I see the far-off city grand,
Beyond the hills a watered land,
Beyond the gulf a gleaming strand
Of mansions where the righteous sup;
Who sleep at ease among their trees,
Or wake to sing a cadenced hymn
With Cherubim and Seraphim;
They bore the Cross, they drained the cup,
Racked, roasted, crushed, wrenched limb from limb,
They the offscouring of the world.
The heaven of starry heavens unfurled,
The sun before their face is dim.
You looking earthward, what see you?
Milk-white, wine-flushed among the vines,
Up and down leaping, to and fro,
Most glad, most full, made strong with wines,
Blooming as peaches pearled with dew,
Their golden windy hair afloat,
Love-music warbling in their throat,
Young men and women come and go.

You linger, yet the time is short:
Flee for your life, gird up your strength
To flee; the shadows stretched at length
Show that day wanes, that night draws nigh;
Flee to the mountain, tarry not.
Is this a time for smile and sigh,
For songs among the secret trees
Where sudden blue birds nest and sport?
The time is short and yet you stay:
To-day, while it is called to-day,
Kneel, wrestle, knock, do violence, pray;
To-day is short, to-morrow nigh:
Why will you die? why will you die?

You sinned with me a pleasant sin:
Repent with me, for I repent.
Woe's me the lore I must unlearn!
Woe's me that easy way we went,
So rugged when I would return!
How long until my sleep begin
How long shall stretch these nights and days?
Surely, clean Angels cry, she prays;
She laves her soul with tedious tears:
How long must stretch these years and years?

I turn from you my cheeks and eyes,
My hair which you shall see no more—
Alas for joy that went before,
For joy that dies, for love that dies.
Only my lips still turn to you,
My livid lips that cry, Repent.
O weary life, O weary Lent,
O weary time whose stars are few.

How shall I rest in Paradise,
Or sit on steps of heaven alone
If Saints and Angels spoke of love
Should I not answer from my throne:
Have pity upon me, ye my friends,
For I have heard the sound thereof:
Should I not turn with yearning eyes,
Turn earthwards with a pitiful pang?
Oh save me from a pang in heaven.
By all the gifts we took and gave,
Repent, repent, and be forgiven:
This life is long, but yet it ends;
Repent and purge your soul and save:
No gladder song the morning stars
Upon their birthday morning sang
Than Angels sing when one repents.

I tell you what I dreamed last night:
A spirit with transfigured face
Fire-footed clomb an infinite space.
I heard his hundred pinions clang,
Heaven-bells rejoicing rang and rang,
Heaven-air was thrilled with subtle scents,
Worlds spun upon their rushing cars.
He mounted, shrieking, "Give me light!"
Still light was poured on him, more light;
Angels, Archangels he outstripped,
Exulting in exceeding might,
And trod the skirts of Cherubim.
Still "Give me light," he shrieked; and dipped
His thirsty face, and drank a sea,
Athirst with thirst it could not slake.
I saw him, drunk with knowledge, take
From aching brows the aureole crown—
His locks writhe like a cloven snake—
He left his throne to grovel down
And lick the dust of Seraphs' feet;
For what is knowledge duly weighed?
Knowledge is strong, but love is sweet;
Yea, all the progress he had made
Was but to learn that all is small
Save love, for love is all in all.

I tell you what I dreamed last night:
It was not dark, it was not light,
Cold dews had drenched my plenteous hair
Through clay; you came to seek me there.
And "Do you dream of me?" you said.
My heart was dust that used to leap
To you; I answered half asleep:
"My pillow is damp, my sheets are red,
There's a leaden tester to my bed;
Find you a warmer playfellow,
A warmer pillow for your head,
A kinder love to love than mine."
You wrung your hands, while I, like lead,
Crushed downwards through the sodden earth;
You smote your hands but not in mirth,
And reeled but were not drunk with wine.

For all night long I dreamed of you;
I woke and prayed against my will,
Then slept to dream of you again.
At length I rose and knelt and prayed.
I cannot write the words I said,
My words were slow, my tears were few;
But through the dark my silence spoke
Like thunder. When this morning broke,
My face was pinched, my hair was grey,
And frozen blood was on the sill
Where stifling in my struggle I lay.
If now you saw me you would say:
Where is the face I used to love?
And I would answer: Gone before;
It tarries veiled in paradise.
When once the morning star shall rise,
When earth with shadow flees away
And we stand safe within the door,
Then you shall lift the veil thereof.
Look up, rise up: for far above
Our palms are grown, our place is set;
There we shall meet as once we met,
And love with old familiar love.

—Christina Georgina Rosetti  

 

 

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Edited June 21, 2024 by AC Benus

[Former Member]

 

[Former Member]

. 

Regen

 

Feiner Regen lag vor dem Fenster. Es war wie

das Rauschen ferner Meere.

So tief träumt es sich in dunklen Zimmern, vor

denen Regen niederfällt.

All die erleucheten Fenster, die einsamen Augen

von Häusern, die in das Dunkel sehnen.

Weit hinter den hohen Wäldern, die sich beschatten,

hinter den Augen der Häuser – hockt ein Weib – mein Gram.

Ich liebte diesen bleichen, zusammengekauerten Gram

mit den großen Abgründen im Auge – seiner mütterlichen

Grausamkeit. Ich hatte Heimweh nach ihm.

Vor Zeiten verließ er mich.

Nun war ich lange einsam.

Der Pfiff einer Lokomotive entfernte sich – weithin.

Immer ferner das Rauschen.

Ich strich mit der Hand durch die Luft. Ich wollte

streicheln – meine Hände suchten schwarze Haare.

Leere lag um mich.

Da war ich Regen, der niederweinte – nur großes

Weinen.

Und es war wie ferne Rauschen fremder Meere.

 --Peter Baum, 1902

 

 

Precipitation

 

A slender rain lies behind the glass. It's like the

murmur of secluded seas. 

So deep it is to dream in darkened rooms, when

the rain begins to descend.

All the illuminated windows, the forlorn sockets

of house-eyes, now yearn into the darkness.

Far beyond the towering forests, which shade themselves,

beyond the gazes of housetops – sits a mate – my grief.

I once loved the cause of this bleached out, ever-crouched grieving

with the fathomless abyss in his eye – his mothering type of

cruelty. But I'm homesick yet for him.

Though he left me long ago,

Now I feel lonelier still.

The shriek of a locomotive moved in the distance – away.

The murmur grew quieter.

I skimmed with my hand through the air. I sought to

caress – my hands searched in vain for his raven hair.

All lay desolate.

Thus I became mere precipitation – only tears

crying.

And like the distant murmur of stranger seas.

 

 

 

 

 

[chris191070]

Reminds me of a rainy day 

[Parker Owens]

Rain and grief accompany one another,  like pianist and singer entwined in a mournful lied. Windows as empty eye sockets were such a powerful image.