Literature – Page 4 – Robin’s Nest

Gazing at Spring

by Xu Tao Flowers bloom:no oneto enjoy them with.Flowers fall:no onewith whom to grieve.I wonder when love’slongingsstir us most -when flowers bloom,or when flowers fall?

Fair Child of Sun and Summer! we beholdWith eager eyes thy wings bedropp’d with gold;The purple spots that o’er thy mantle spread,The sapphire’s lively blue, the ruby’s red,Ten thousand various blended tints surprise,Beyond the rainbow’s hues or peacock’s eyes:Not Judah’s king in eastern pomp array’d,Whose charms allur’d from far the Sheban maid,High on his glitt’ringContinue reading “Verses on a Butterfly”

For a row of laurel shrubs

They don’t want to be your hedge,Your barrier, your living wall, the no-goGo-between between your propertyAnd the prying of dogs and strangers. They don’tWant to settle any of your old squabblesInside or out of bounds. Their new growthIn eight-foot shoots goes thrusting straightUp in the air each April or goes offHalf-cocked sideways to recconoiterWilder dimensions:Continue reading “For a row of laurel shrubs”

January

by John Updike The days are shortThe sun a sparkHung thin betweenThe dark and darkFat snowy footstepsTrack the floorMilk bottles burstOutside the door.The river isA frozen placeHeld still beneathThe trees of lace.The sky is lowThe wind is gray.The radiatorPurrs all day.

Houses of Dreams

by Sarah Teasdale You took my empty dreamsAnd filled them every oneWith tenderness and nobleness,April and the sun.The old empty dreamsWhere my thoughts would throngAre all too full of happinessTo even hold a song.Oh, the empty dreams were dimAnd the empty dreams were wide,They were sweet and shadowy housesWhere my thoughts could hide.But you tookContinue reading “Houses of Dreams”

All the World’s a Stage

by William Shakespeare All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his life plays many parts,His acts being seven stages. At first, the infant,Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like aContinue reading “All the World’s a Stage”

A Birthday

by Christina Rossetti My heart is like a singing birdWhose nest is in a water’d shoot;My heart is like an apple-treeWhose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;My heart is like a rainbow shellThat paddles in a halcyon sea;My heart is gladder than all theseBecause my love has come to me.Raise me a dais of silkContinue reading “A Birthday”

Street in Agrigentum

by Salvatore Quasimodo There is still the wind that I rememberfiring the manes of horses, racingslanting, across the plains,the wind that stains and scours the sandstone,and the heart of gloomy columns, telamons,Overthrown in the grass. Spirit of the ancients, greywith the rancour, return on the wind,breathe in that feather-light mossthat covers those giants, hurled downContinue reading “Street in Agrigentum”

“I loved you…”

by Alexander Pushkin I loved you, and probably still do,And for a while the feeling may remain…But let my love no longer trouble you,I do not wish to cause you any pain.I loved you, and the hopelessness I knew,The jealousy, the shyness – though in vain -Made up a love so tender and so trueAsContinue reading ““I loved you…””

Airly Beacon

by Charles Kingsley Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon;Oh, the pleasant sight to seeShires and towns from Airly BeaconWhile my love climbed up to me!Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon;Oh, the happy hours we layDeep in fern on Airly Beacon,Courting through the summer’s day!Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon;Oh, the weary haunt for me,All alone on Airly Beacon;With his baby onContinue reading “Airly Beacon”