Sunday, March 03, 2013

Three Poem Re-Drafts

Starlight

Walking in this twilight wood
I the stars had seen and stood,
wonder-struck; I could not roam.
Here was found the holy grail
shining light on sand and loam,
blessing all; thus all was well.

Sit beneath the starlit dome,
speak the words of ancient tales:
make the skies your rightful home,
distant-seen through gloaming veils.
Starry steeds will never fail,
steady through this endless space
fair, divine, and swift of pace,
rushing like a burning gale.

Crown

The golden crown upon my head I give,
or would if golden crown I had to give,
and with it all the life I have to live,
if life were something such as I could give;
for when and where you dwell true good shall live,
and there I too must wish to love and live,
and though it cost me dear, I dearly love
to love your life and give to you my love.

I love you! Would you could return the same.
Yet how I see you love me not the same,
and that your love is mostly love in name!
From day to day your look is not the same;
the tone will change with which you say my name.
Indifference can love not man nor name:
it wreathes your look; it stifles every love,
and proves, perhaps, that you will never love.

And yet I still somehow in hope can live.
Without a victor's crown a man will live
through other joys, and joy may give.
Though not the greatest way a man may live,
a man unloved may still his own love give
until new fortunes new loves to him give.
Undaunted I to you will give my love
until the day I too am crowned with love.

Pristine

Forest bright in morning
Busy as a town,
Rich in dewy freshness,
Farm with fertile ground,
Undecayed, untouched,
Pristine and virgin-grown.