Immoderation
Immoderation The frantic thrusts of lust’s long loin Engender ill-considered fruits. If we took thought to preconceive The outcome of precipitance We might become more temperate And chaste in what we do inside The darkened chambers of our minds Behind the curtained eyes of haste. Passion is honourable when It […]
Dangerous Minds
Dangerous Minds Dangerous Minds ‘…the worst Are full of passionate intensity’. [W.B. Yeats: The Second Coming] Zealots are dangerous. Their minds are closed About their sole enthusiastic cause: Their bright eyes blind to contra-evidence, Their keen […]
The Greek Myths
The Greek Myths The Greek Myths (After re-reading Robert Graves’s The Greek Myths) i. The Greek mythologers have given to the world, (In stories of their great divinities and tales Of heroes and of heroines almost as great As […]
Balshazzar's Feast
Balshazzar’s Feast Balshzzar’s Feast (539 BC) Wild was the music played In Babylon; Rare the fine foods arrayed And rich the robes displayed In Babylon, At King Balshazzar’s feast. How merry was the sport In Babylon, And […]
Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony
Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony This last and greatest composition floods Emotions through the caverns of my sense As when high spring-tides swell to full expanse Of their majestic reach. All human moods Are touchingly evoked through these deep themes Which thrill the ultimate extremes […]
Cricket
Cricket Cricket (After L. Smart) A village church-spire watching from nearby; a white, Red-roofed pavilion shaded by trees. In front, Upon a close-mown […]
Islanders
Islanders Islanders O the islanders may love the sea When in its halcyon mood, Since it’s in their blood, for ill or good, As none knows better than they Their heart-enchanting sea. Or the islanders may dread the sea […]
Night Force
Night Force Those ‘Nights that brought [him] to her body bare’ Could they not also strip his heart for her? What fuels his passion’s consummating fires Could that not spark the words she so desires? O those bare nights and that occluded heart, (Pulled close by longing, by fear held […]
Mortal Deeds, Immortal Needs
Mortal Deeds, Immortal Needs Mortal Deeds, Immortal Needs Perhaps beside some sliding stream, or on More modish bed, they move barely as one – Bodies in lightshine bathed or nightshade swathed – Performing privately those ancient rites Which tune emotions to shared harmonies, Their interactions from profane eyes screened By […]
Bath
Bath Bath (After a photograph) Here is a structured question-mark. The gold Great Crescent’s elegant façade sweeps round To meet straitBrock Street’s subfusc straight that guides Towards a perfect ornate roundel […]