Poetry Page - Anonymous

April Is In My Mistress' Face

April is in my mistress' face,
And July in her eyes hath place,
Within her bosom is September,
But in her heart a cold December.

Aubade

Stay, O sweet, and do not rise,
The light that shines comes from thine eyes;
The day breaks not, it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part.
Stay, or else my joys will die,
And perish in their infancy.

Breeder

I want to watch you intimately
without you knowing my eyes see only you
without the unconscious barriers we build
in the presence of people.
I want to be your voyuer---
the holder of your daily secrets---
and hope that it is the only sickeness
you breed in me.

Do You Not Know That I Need To Touch You

Do you not know that I need to touch you
as I touch a fruit or child?

Knowledge I need of you that comes not with words.

Let me touch your hair, your moving lip,
the bone beneath your gentle skin.

I will not harm you-I do not want your sex.

Trust me to touch you and to leave you whole.

From An Anonymous Frontier Guard

While the leaves of the bamboo rustle
On a cold and frosty night,
The seven layers of clobber I wear
Are not so warm, not so warm
As the body of my wife.

From This Day Forward

From this day forward,
You shall not walk alone.
My heart will be your shelter,
And my arms will be your home.

If You But Knew

If you but knew
How all my days seemed filled with dreams of you,
How sometimes in the silent night
Your eyes thrill through me with their tender light,
How oft I hear your voice when others speak,
How you 'mid other forms I seek-
Oh, love more real than though such dreams were true,
If you but knew.

Could you but guess
How you alone make all my happiness,
How I am more than willing for your sake
To stand alone, give all and nothing take,
Nor chafe to think you bound while I am free,
Quite free, till death, to love you silently,
Could you but guess.

Could you but learn
How when you doubt my truth I sadly yearn
To tell you all, to stand for one brief space
Unfettered, soul to soul, as face to face,
To crown you kind, my king, till life shall end,
My lover and likewise my truest friend,
Would you love me, dearest, as fondly in return,
Could you but learn?

Love Is A Secret Feeding Fire

Love is a secret feeding fire that gives all creatures being,
Life to the dead, speech to the dumb, and to the blind man seeing,
And yet in me he contradicts all these his sacred graces:
Sears up my lips, my eyes, my life, and from me ever flying
Leads me in paths untracked, ungone, and many uncouth places,
Where in despair I beauty curse. Curse love and all fair faces!

Love Me Little, Love Me Long

Love me little, love me long!
Is the burden of my song:
Love that is too hot and strong
Burneth soon to waste.
Still I would not have thee cold-
Not too backward, nor too bold;
Love that lasteth till 'tis old
Fadeth not in haste.
Love me little, love me long!
Is the burden of my song.

If thou lovest me too much,
'Twill not prove as true a touch;
Love me little more than such-
For I fear the end.
I'm with little well content,
And a little from thee sent
Is enough, with true intent
To be steadfast, friend.

Say thou lovest me, while thou live
I to thee my love will give,
Never dreaming to deceive
While that life endures;
Nay, and after death, in sooth,
I to thee will keep my truth,
As now when in my May of youth:
This my love assures.

Constant love is moderate ever,
And it will through life persever;
Give me that with true endeavor-
I will it restore.
A suit of durance let it be,
For all weather-that for me-
For the land or for the sea:
Lasting evermore.

Winter's cold or summer's heat,
Autumn's tempests on it beat;
It can never know defeat,
Never can rebel:
Such the love that I would gain,
Such the love, I tell thee plain,
Thou must give, or woo in vail:
So to thee-farewell!

Love Not Me For Comely Grace

Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Not for any outward part,
No, nor for my constant heart;
For those may fail or turn to ill,
So thou and I shall sever;
Keep therefore a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why.
So hast though the same reason still
To dote upon me ever.

Madrigal

My Love in her attire doth show her wit,
It doth so well become her;
For every season she hath dressings fit,
For Winter, Spring, and Summer.
No beauty she doth miss
When all her robes are on:
But Beauty's self she is
When all her robes are gone.

Night-Piece

the moon has fallen on her back
night cannot console her thin belly
she ravens shadow

fires flicker and crumble
ash scudding lighter than snow

my hand a cupped moth clinging
in the folded dark our breath rises
a grey bird among pines

desire is formless between us
we are enormous as stars

last light withdraws over the sloping field
trees deep in their darker selves

your fingers stir in the black grass

memory of absence..............
the galloping shadow on the sky's arm

Our Mother

You are the mother I received
The day I wed your son.
And I just want to thank you, Mum
For all the things you've done.

You've given me a gracious man
With whom I share my life.
You are his loving mother and
I his lucky wife.

You used to pat his little head,
And now I hold his hand.
You raised in love a little boy
And gave to me a man

Passing By

There is a lady sweet and kind,
Was never face so pleased my mind;
I did but see her passing by,
And yet I love her till I die!

Her gestures, motions, and her smile,
Her wit, her voice my heart beguile,
Beguile my heart, I know not why;
And yet I love her till I die!

Cupid is winged and doth range
Her country; so my love doth change.
But change the earth or change the sky,
Yet will I love her till I die!

The Indian Serenade

I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright:
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Hath led me-who knows how?
To thy chamber window, sweet!

The Wife To Her Husband

Linger not long. Home is not home without thee:
In dearest tokens do but make me mourn.
O, Let its memory, like a chain about thee,
Gently compel and hasten thy return!

Linger not long. Though crowds should woo thy staying,
Bethink thee, can the mirth of thy friend, though dear,
Compensate for the grief thy long delaying
Costs the fond heart that sighs to have thee here?

Linger not long. How shall I watch thy coming,
As evening shadows stetch o'er moor and dell;
When the wild bee hath ceased her busy humming,
And silence hangs on all things like a spell!

How shall I watch for thee, when fears grow stronger,
As night grows dark and darker on the hill!
How shall I weep, when I can watch no longer!
Ah! art thou absent, art thou absent still?

Yet I shall grieve not, though the eye that seeth me
Gazeth through tears that make its splendor dull;
For oh! I sometimes fear when thou art with me,
My cup of happiness is too full!

Haste, haste thee home unto thy mountain dwelling,
Haste, as a bird unto its peaceful nest!
Haste, as a skiff, through tempests wide and swelling,
Flies to its haven of securest rest!

These I Can Promise

I cannot promise you a life of sunshine;
I cannot promise riches, wealth, or gold;
I cannot promise you an easy pathway
That leads away from change or growing old.

But I can promise all my heart's devotion;
A smile to chase away your tears of sorrow;
A love that's ever true and ever growing;
A hand to hold in yours through each tomorrow.

This Day I Married My Best Friend

This day I married my best friend
...the one I laugh with as we share life's wonderous zest,
as we find new enjoyments and experience all that's best.
...the one I live for because the world seems brighter
as our happy times are better and our burdens feel much lighter.
...the one I love with every fiber of my soul.
We used to feel vaguely incomplete, now together we are whole.

This Day I Married My Best Friend
(shortened version)

This day I will marry my best friend.
The one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love.

True Love

True love is a sacred flame
That burns eternally,
And none can dim its special glow
Or change its destiny.
True love speaks in tender tones
And hears with gentle ear,
True love gives with open heart
And true love conquers fear.
True love makes no harsh demands
It neither rules nor binds,
And true love holds with gentle hands
The hearts that it entwines.

Since First I Saw Your Face

Since first I saw your face I resolved to honor and reknown ye;
If now I am disdained I wish my heart had never known ye.
What? I that loved and you that liked, shall we begin to wrangle?
No, no, no, my heart is fast, and cannot disentangle.
If I admire or praise you too much, that fault you may forgive me;
Or if my hands had stray'd but a touch, then just might you leave me.
I ask'd you leavem you bade me love; is't now a time to chide me?
No, no, no, I'll love you still what forune e'er betide me.
The Sun, whose beams most glorious are, rejecteth no beholder.
Where beauty move and wit delights and signs of kindness bind me,
There, O there, whe'er I go I'll leave my heart behind me!

Sweet, Let Me Go

Sweet, sweet, sweet, let me go.
What do you mean, to vex me so,
Cease, cease, cease your pleading force,
Do you think thus, to extort remorse,
Now, now, now no more. Alas you overbear me,
And I would cry, but some would hear, I fear me.

Untitled

Western wind, when will thou blow
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, if my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again!

Untitled

I gently touched her hand: she gave
A look that did my soul enslave;
I pressed her rebel lips in vain:
They rose up to be pressed again.
Thus happy, I no farther meant,
Than to be pleased and innocent.
On her soft breasts my hand I laid,
And a quick, light impression made;
They with a kindly warmth did glow,
And swelled, and seemed to overflow.
Yet, trust me, I no farther meant,
Than to be pleased and innocent.
On her eyes my eyes did stay:
O'er her smooth limbs my hands did stray;
Each sense was ravished with delight,
And my soul stood prepared for flight.
Blame me not if at last I meant
More to be pleased than innocent.

We Must Not Part

We must not part, as others do,
With sighs and tears as we were two;
Though with these outward forms we part,
We keep each other in our heart.
What search hath found a being, where
I am not, if that thou be there?

True love hath wings, and can as soon
Survery the world, as sun and moon;
And everywhere our truimphs keep
O'er absence, which makes others weep;
By which alone a power is given
To live one earth, as they in heaven.

Western Wind

Western wind, when wilt thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again.

Will You Love Me When I'm Old?

I would ask of you, my darling,
A question soft and low,
That gives me many a heartache
As the moments come and go.

Your love I know is truthful,
But the truest love grows cold;
It is this that I would ask you:
Will you love me when I'm old?

Life's mourn will soon be waning,
And its evening bells be tolled,
But my heart shall know no sadness,
If you'll love me when I'm old.

Down the stream of life together
We are sailing side by side,
Hoping some bright day to anchor
Safe beyond the surging tide.
Today our sky is cloudless,
But the night may clouds unfold;
But, though storms may gather round us,
Will you love me when I'm old?

When my hair shade the snowdrift,
And mine eyes shall dimmer grow,
I would lean upon some loved one,
Through the valley as I go.
I would claim of you one promise,
Worth to me a world of gold;
It is only this, my darling,
That you'll love me when I'm old.

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