by John Betjeman (1906-1984) The sleepy sound of a tea-time tide Slaps at the rocks that the sun has dried, Too lazy, almost, to sink and lift Round low peninsulas pink with thrift. The water, enlarging shells and sands, Glows greener emerald out from land And brown over shadowy shelves below The waving forests ofContinue reading “A Bay in Anglesey”
Category Archives: poetry
A Memory of June
Claude McKay (1889-1948) When June comes dancing o’er the death of May, With scarlet roses tinting her green breast, And mating thrushes ushering in her day, And Earth on tiptoe for her golden guest, I always see the evening when we met – The first of June baptized in tender rain – And walked homeContinue reading “A Memory of June”
Dawn
by Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918) O tender first cold flush of rose, O budded dawn, wake dreamily; Your dim lips as your lids unclose Murmur your own sad threnody. O as the soft and frail lights break Upon your eyelids, and your eyes Wider and wider grow and wake, The old pale glory dies. And then,Continue reading “Dawn”
White Comedy
by Benjamin Zephaniah (b1958) I was whitemailed By a white witch, Wid white magic And white lies, Branded by a white sheep I slaved as a whitesmith Near a white spot Where I suffered whitewater fever. Whitelisted as a white leg I waz in de white book As a master of white art, It wazContinue reading “White Comedy”
Taliesin
by R S Thomas (1913-2000) I have been all men known to history, Wondering at the world and at time passing; I have seen evil, and the light blessing Innocent love under a spring sky. I have been Merlin wandering in the woods Of a far country, where the winds waken Unnatural voices, my mindContinue reading “Taliesin”
Suicide In The Trenches
by Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) I knew a simple soldier boy Who grinned at life in empty joy, Slept soundly through the lonely dark, And whistled early with the lark. In winter trenches, cowed and glum, With crumps and lice and lack of rum, He put a bullet through his brain. No one spoke of himContinue reading “Suicide In The Trenches”
Growing Old
by Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) What is it to grow old? Is it to lose the glory of the form, The lustre of the eye? Is it for beauty to forego her wreath? Yes, but not for this alone. Is it to feel our strength – Not our bloom only, but our strength – decay? IsContinue reading “Growing Old”
The Laughing Boy
by Brendan Behan (1921-1963) T’was on an August morning, all in the dawning hours, I went to take the warming air, all in the Month of Flowers, And there I saw a maiden, and mournful was her cry, ‘Ah what will mend my broken heart, I’ve lost my Laughing Boy. So strong, so wild, andContinue reading “The Laughing Boy”
Two Lorries
by Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) It’s raining on black coal and warm, wet ashes There are tyre-marks in the yard, Agnew’s old lorry Has all its cribs down and Agnew the coalman With his Belfast accent’s sweet-talking my mother. Would she go to a film in Magherafelt? But it’s raining and he still has half hisContinue reading “Two Lorries”
Hard Luck
by Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959) Ain’t no use as I can see In sittin’ underneath a tree An’ growling that your luck is bad, An’ that your life is extry sad; Your life ain’t sadder than your neighbor’s Nor any harder are your labors; It rains on him the same as you, An’ he hasContinue reading “Hard Luck”
Robin's Nest 