Concordance

This concordance provides an index to every word in the poems, excluding a list of common "stopwords". It may be useful in finding a half-remembered poem, and perhaps in looking at the usage of words in the poems as a whole. It will be readable only on a large screen.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

N

Nadia / Flute with no reed, violin / / left unstringed. / / Instrume

ad. / / Don’t fret / / that the tired

nag / / stumbles, drags / / rambling feet, / / won’t, can’t / / ke

Against Anorexia: For Cathy

star-frosted. And, alone, / / a god’s

nail -paring, / / a silver sliver caught on / / western darkness, han

to bed with cries and prayers / / and

nailed the window shut. / / A man in the woven hanging reached for a

Eugénie de Guérin

/ You will have / / your own haunter,

nailed to die / / on the dry tree, failed love. / /

Stray Thoughts at a Wedding

seems strangled in the womb, / / whose

nails are broken picking at the knot / / of Gordian anguish in the he

ed pitifully, / / and then at last the

naked blade came free… / / but he had done his business and was gone.

Pelopia and Thyestes

ewels of Andromeda. / / Andromeda, who

naked / / chained on a sea-rock, waited / / out of the wave / / a m

/ / which might distract him. So with

naked hands / / he tore at the barbed tightly-woven strands / / whic

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

on / / to shame us, but no error— / /

naked image of what gets done. / / And yet those silent weavings in t

Heron and Gulls

But that was long ago, / / long before

naked Jews / / were herded into gas. / / And that is past too. / /

weight of the roped truck / / cutting

naked loins. / / But that was long ago, / / long before naked Jews /

f-line closed / / in cliffs and a rock-

naked promontory. / / That way he trudged, and suddenly—check and chi

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

nd air / / edge to knife-edge with the

naked rock / / breaking down in a pine-torrent of green / / or rock

oo that last horrible / / reach, among

naked , spiny, treacherous stone, / / no gull’s sad cry for company, a

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

long time on the stony ground, / / the

naked sword across her naked thighs, / / staring down at it with unse

Pelopia and Thyestes

ground, / / the naked sword across her

naked thighs, / / staring down at it with unseeing eyes. / / Then sh

Pelopia and Thyestes

shifting look. / / Lift it again. / /

Naked under brutal lamps, / / fine Jewish features suffering-sunk /

Stray Thoughts at a Wedding

ful of the cloven and cliffed / / wind-

naked way. He went peaceful to sleep. / / Up early, off—a letter left

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ / with the dead child. / / Popular

name for archaeologist / / is grave-robber. / / Not without reason.

ely way / / a man I knew but could not

name . / / He said “Good morning”, I the same / / and asked if he was

/ / Kurt Huber was much older / / but

name him, praise him as well), / / promised, unfulfilled / / years,

Die Weisse Rose

r a good crop has dandruff in. / / You

name it, we’ve the lot. / / Yet there are those / / who almost seem

ther?” “Old now. Your sister—what’s her

name ?— / / kept the flock sometimes a year or two ago— / / how’s she

ed by law, but do not sneer / / at the

name of brother from us. Think / / that not all men have an equal sha

Villon’s Epitaph

rn about / / burned one another in the

name of / / the same God, whom both sides could declare / / (even be

hat is your sex, that we may give you a

name ? / / your tastes, that we may make our house your home? / / Wha

, / / you that I’ve remembered but not

named , lest / / the proud procession should wind on for ever: / / I

d in the holy grove. / / You that I’ve

named , you that I’ve forgotten, / / you that I’ve remembered but not

Naples / St. Januarius’s blood / / froths cold in its gold-mounted ph

ome round again. / / Down in the plain

Napoleon or Pericles / / draws to the drill-ground the flower of life

etch him in the little shop / / in the

narrow alley. / / But he escaped from the alley, / / pursued by poli

dge my guide turned up the hill / / by

narrow alleys where the houses pile, / / and half my mind in Greece,

ead, and equally not question, / / her

narrow barren road. / / Loves children, could have been a loving wife

Eugénie de Guérin

omehow missed led to a stair, / / low,

narrow , black, and twisting to its end / / his fingers groping felt a

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ch had always so much of love? / / Why

narrow , cerebral, unhappy Annabel? / / the last person who should hav

“Tell Lady Byron…”

/ in narrow yards, the yards, even the

narrow / / houses, serried and stacked. / / Not only in the eye of t

“Life is sweet, brother”

se we love have lived, knowing / / our

narrow length of time eternal deep. / /

f consistency / / dazzle me. / / That

narrow master shan’t dictate / / my answers to the mystery. / / Good

ch. Then trudged, a weary way, / / the

narrow ribbon of the flatland shore / / stretching on endlessly. Unti

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

moves mastered by an inner law, / / a

narrow supple vixen on quick black pads. / /

/ is possible, faded from you in / / a

narrow walled alley with no escape. / / Now, outside hope, / / the l

[Most of us, somewhere along the road]

things / / subtle as his, riding those

narrow wings. / /

ies themselves, washing shining / / in

narrow yards, the yards, even the narrow / / houses, serried and stac

“Life is sweet, brother”

, but not the second. / / Down sandbag-

narrowed steps I reached the glare, / / but swift a sanded figure fro

ad / / patterns of twigs, jutting from

narrowing branches, / / from stout, straight trunks—the armature wher

Dance of the Seasons

en sky, the easy slumber. / / Now in a

narrowing chamber / / we pace and pace and turn, and pace and turn, /

That Way Madness Lies

en the capes / / and felt constricted,

narrowly hedged in. / / West, his mother’s tramontane kingdom reached

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ing him down and swallow him. / / Life

narrows down between our closing arms, / / between our hands, between

That Way Madness Lies

s pinioned, strengthless, dumb / / the

natural angel now. / /

amuse you though… / / The thought, as

natural as breath, / / falls dead against the fact of death. / / “On

I feel, / / not only for affection—for

natural beauty. / / Here it’s light colours on fields / / varying so

ide the horizon of the heart / / where

natural beauty, mutual love are free. / / Ointments you have to sooth

m. / / To one each turns, as / / to a

natural centre. / / Now my centre’s gone. / / I am haunted by / / a

th, strength and decay; / / tomorrow’s

natural course / / following simply out of yesterday / / through a p

ost will break, youth / / break to its

natural dance. / /

Winter Recalled

but that movement is pain. / / Can the

natural dance / / ever break out again? / / Wait. If you like, pray.

Winter Recalled

s mutandis, through our lives. / / The

natural good state is anarchy / / —would be, if human nature let it b

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

/ / hopeless becomes hopelesser, / /

natural goodness goes bad… / / one would think. But this man / / can

things, the breath, / / the pulse, the

natural interlocking of death / / and life, with our unnatural “I am”

d step aside. / / But felt at once her

natural kindness chide / / her churlishness; and felt, too, gratitude

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ake a cross / / too easily out of your

natural load” / / and added gentler: “Come.” We passed across / / un

sing to walk with us / / at our shared

natural pace, / / and so shared joy is a shared peace, / / a home. /

Two Poems from a New Life

/ There a child / / is cheated of its

natural star, / / forefailed / / through odds of brutal, hopeless ci

nly, / / at first, a servant—one whose

natural state / / was being at her bidding. Then at most / / at mome

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

he gods and most abused / / was it not

natural that you should hate / / the girls who kept your sovereign lo

er from the outside, can / / love her.

Natural things in nature are / / blind to her beauty, dumb to sing of

/ / A clotted mass fell clear, / / a

natural tunnel from the other side / / opened to join his own, and he

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

will. / / Can any misery kill / / the

natural unpremeditated start / / of happiness welling suddenly within

been forced to fight and fear / / the

natural world, that’s yet our dear / / mother and love. This paradox

ter. / / The call comes from them / /

naturally . / / I stand on the balcony. / / Children run and shout /

Climacteric by the Sea

beetle. No, / / the beetle is black by

nature , and no doubt / / enjoys life much of the time in its own way.

e, can / / love her. Natural things in

nature are / / blind to her beauty, dumb to sing of her. / / We, tho

our own sake, / / what we are doing to

nature as we love her; / / but need not in a longer view, I fancy, /

The Reckoning / We are part of

nature . At least, we issue from / / nature—yet wreck the balance of t

of nature, to upset, / / fight, break

nature , defy her, defeat her. Yet / / only we, seeing her from the ou

Nature / for Judith Wright / Nature is much to wreck, but man can do i

nary man. / / Man, who knows / / from

nature how to kill / / and breeds in his own breast, / / sows incont

hile we live / / we know we live, know

nature . I believe / / our game was worth her candle after all. / /

Sin / Child I believed / / that in my

nature I was true and kind. / / It has taken half my life and more to

wrecking wreck? / / What hope? His own

nature . / / In the dark of Soledad / / hopeless becomes hopelesser,

o its shadows, / / grow one again with

nature in the night. / /

Dream under a Carob-tree

/ of actuality. / / What is real? / /

Nature is blind / / —blank blackness / / the sun’s light / / until

Music is Landscape

ipus constrained to rape and kill. / /

Nature is much to wreck, but man can do it / / and, part of what we r

that way, cool or warm. Be still.” / /

Nature is much to wreck, but man can do it. / / Barbarian or Greek, G

Man in Nature / for Judith Wright /

Nature is much to wreck, but man can do it— / / his greatest and last

ng so subtle as escapes my skill.” / /

Nature is much to wreck, but man can do it. / / Now we begin into cle

/ Time heals and doesn’t heal, / / and

nature is no comfort but is beautiful. / /

News of a Death

g the nature we know and love, / / but

nature is not ready to go under. / / How strong she is. The decimatio

what we see / / and beguiles us. / /

Nature is nothing, / / unformed, till an eye / / prints an image /

Music is Landscape

/ our future lies. That is the future’s

nature . / / It is not necessary, it is not honest / / to prophesy to

which live things by nature / / (their

nature , its own) forsake. / / Does it matter? / / Aconite, snowdrop,

ate is anarchy / / —would be, if human

nature let it be, / / but humanness can only be itself / / by accept

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

ake ourselves something / / other than

nature made us / / yet not to deny nature; / / to divine and follow

care. / / A central part of our love’s

nature (more, / / don’t you think? than of most loves) is the way /

[Yes, you’re right]

to sing of her. / / We, though wrecked

nature ruin us in the fall / / we forced, have had our vision. While

d shall cease / / to be, or change its

nature , structure, form. / / Within this same salt tide / / the othe

your home? / / What is your form, your

nature , / / that love may know the object of its thought? / / what s

This is / / life, which live things by

nature / / (their nature, its own) forsake. / / Does it matter? / /

han nature made us / / yet not to deny

nature ; / / to divine and follow reason / / yet to dare at a moment

s of becoming man / / forces us out of

nature , to upset, / / fight, break nature, defy her, defeat her. Yet

e in profusion. / / We are ruining the

nature we know and love, / / but nature is not ready to go under. /

ut nature with us (or else / / ruining

nature we may destroy ourselves). / / But I am still / / thankful to

her we may quite probably / / wipe out

nature with us (or else / / ruining nature we may destroy ourselves).

of nature. At least, we issue from / /

nature —yet wreck the balance of things, the breath, / / the pulse, th

hurt / / the other—a thing our loving

natures learned / / each in an earlier day, / / something which colo

[Yes, you’re right]

rcing it from its fishing-grounds. / /

Nature’s brutal economy holds a mirror / / to human doing, / / unfla

Heron and Gulls

om the astonishing age when we / / (in

Nature’s cyclic sleep long curled) / / woke to ourselves and to the w

os to Naxos / Occultation of Jupiter / (

Naxos harbour, 12 September, 1983) / Statue at Apollona, Naxos / Thoma

September Cruise

ean / Kea Lion / Leaving Kea / Syros to

Naxos / Occultation of Jupiter / (Naxos harbour, 12 September, 1983) /

September Cruise

Statue at Apollona, Naxos / Thomas auf

Naxos / Siphnos, Kastro / Traverse the beach, from your feet always /

September Cruise

/ may he quite forget them, as once in

Naxos , they say, / / Theseus forgot Ariadne for all her beauty. / /

Spells and Love

September, 1983) / Statue at Apollona,

Naxos / Thomas auf Naxos / Siphnos, Kastro / Traverse the beach, from

September Cruise

yatollahs, / / those reds. Once it was

Nazism / / —those Germans). Others are hated / / simply for being ot

hild: / / mother and nurse and father,

near and dear, / / taken for granted. Not as yet for her / / painful

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

n glows / / above the shaded wall, and

near at hand / / glows the monument of Philopappos / / (a Syrian pri

Athens, Hill of the Muses; Evening

with how I am and feel. / / Autumn is

near . / / Autumn is beautiful. / / All seasons are beautiful, but no

eam to get / / his bottles full of the

near -brackish marsh- / / water—the mountain-water, sweet and clean, /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

exhaustion and thirst-sickness did / /

near -crush him when he came, south always south / / watching the moun

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

human ill / / by my own jealousies and

near -despair. / /

her. / / In autumn (her own mistress,

near fifteen) / / she came again, to set beside the green / / and ba

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

k them, lady Moon. / / About half way,

near Lycon’s, who should pass us / / but Delphis, strolling along wit

Spells and Love

/ The light wind faded out as he came

near . / / “Oh what a moon,” he said. “By such a shine / / we first s

in their memory burns, / / seeming so

near / / one step will set / / them home in it, / / their home—thos

[Some exiles know]

rned her back, and so / / drew quickly

near . / / That was a dream of contraries. / / Our goal’s before us,

Through the Looking-Glass

inning of the wood / / should mark him

near the castle. Then he knew. / / He hurled himself against the armo

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

k / / and broken through in two places

near the root / / so that only three struts of worn wood / / held up

Five Poems for Roni

ainst the fact of death. / / “One ever

near thee.” How can I / / believe the tearing of this tie? / /

oo knew the clear dawn; / / my bud was

near to blossom. / / But the thunder-stone / / struck my world and l

—no, many spheres; and all, the far and

near / / wheel in one harmony about us here. / / Pure light of the l

rning star / / brightest of all, but a

nearer flame too: / / fire on the hearth, / / torch in the hand, /

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

ords of the broad flow / / beneath the

nearer hills. Alone long days / / walking, scrambling, he added mount

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

he swan / / and that of the grey gull.

Nearer the bone / / was the moorhen. / / Like something not known to

Yeats and Water-Birds

always the sea, / / dark slate under a

nearing storm, silver / / out under lighter sky beyond the cloud, /

Varangian in Mickelgard

es, but slate again soon / / under the

nearing storm. The sea, reaching / / its firths round us, embracing r

Varangian in Mickelgard

ver / / hardly beckoned; and he’d been

nearly drowned / / lately, crossing a river he knew well. / / He tur

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

s of passion / / and every passion, or

nearly , ends in a killing. / / Only, it’s not the end: / / loving an

[The bare, beautiful borders]

ge— / / mountains! The river-water was

nearly gone / / and in the mountains there would surely be / / sprin

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

, / / footsore and starving, worn out,

nearly lost. / / The girl grew up and married a young groom / / in t

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

d, / / were driving him and her mother

nearly mad. / / The neighbours say: We knew that she was dying— / /

good quarter. / / He was abreast now,

nearly , of the cape / / and drew in closer. Huge cliffs black and red

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

opes, fears / / for you. Eternal bliss

nears / / for you, for me the parallel / / of eternity in Hell. / /

Virgil’s Farewell to Dante

Anna / A long steep road to climB / /

Nears the top. Turn. TherE / / Now, look, under clear aiR / / Is the

[A long steep road to climb]

om some galaxy, far / / past the faint

nebula / / remotest ranged / / within our sense / / behind the jewe

f some guessed star / / in Andromeda’s

nebula . / / The goal whisks on, / / the tip of our own fool tail. /

Curvature of Space

silent; / / silent and dark behind the

nebulous / / city receded; crossing slope and stream / / we lost all

see each other again? Friends, / / not

necessarily / / intimate friends, not lovers—old friends / / who hav

What Do They Feel?

hildhood, parents, affection, age; / /

necessary and unnecessary death; / / recurring terror of the unfenced

ood smile, began to understand / / the

necessary double face of fate, / / the two in one, the one and other

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

is the future’s nature. / / It is not

necessary , it is not honest / / to prophesy to a full stop. Ours the

yet here, and on your way / / another

necessary stage. Go on / / and speak to her.” I felt my legs obey, /

Waiting / Not yet the

necessary word awakes / / nor stir the lips, / / but helpless till p

e are all human) / / but easy to agree

necessity of. / / All are born sib. / / Brothers and sisters quarrel

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

A Hot Bath at Bedtime / The

Necessity of Purgatory / Heaven I don’t covet. / / Timeless nothing’s

A Hot Bath at Bedtime

w galleon-sails, / / writhes its proud

neck , / / as the attack / / of the quick-winged hounds, / / sharp-c

Heron and Gulls

oft cloak spread, / / my arm round her

neck , I comforted / / her fear. The fawn soon ceased to flee. / / Ov

dare not venture from. / / Feeling his

neck jerk on the tautened rope / / he turned again. Descending, to dr

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

you want. / / Rein slack / / on sunk

neck , / / let him amble home / / in his own time; / / dream, keep /

Against Anorexia: For Cathy

Lie down again. So. Here’s my hair, my

neck , / / my silver body. Touch me, though your hands are dry. / / H

Greek Folk Song

s wide grey angled wings, / / its long

neck out, rising into slow flight. / / The sight of a heron always li

Leda’s lover. / / That long-stretched

neck , those purposeful / / pinions, legend is lifted on. / /

ver-hungry beak. / / Hangs heavy on my

neck / / Time killed. / /

g to ability, / / to each according to

need .” A noble cry, / / and “What have you got to lose but chains?” S

ything be more absurd? / / And yet, we

need a sense of sin / / to put force in our will to virtue. / / Life

your dark sea. Waits ahead the help you

need .” / / “Anabel,” I thought, and pressing forward questioned: / /

Elfland. / / I am not for her / / nor

need fear her, holding you in my heart, / / your presence at my side

Los Altos Hills

ong the white / / wheatlands; a man at

need / / good in fight / / —witness the hallowed field of Marathon,

Aeschylus’ Epitaph

ere. Get warm. I’ve got all that you’ll

need / / if you’ve the courage for the land-journey.” / / She stroke

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

lives we love do not know, / / do not

need . / / Is it a tangled or an infinitely / / intricately woven ske

r feed. / / Love will be there and not

need making, / / light bodies lightly touching. Waking, / / the drea

en, mockery here’s nothing. / / We all

need mercy, so go pray. / /

Villon’s Epitaph

ad. Spare us more harrying. / / We all

need mercy, so go pray. / / Laundered by rain we are pegged here / /

Villon’s Epitaph

otherhood is not welcoming. / / We all

need mercy, so go pray. / / Prince Jesus, Master of everything, / /

Villon’s Epitaph

ver laugh at our suffering. / / We all

need mercy, so go pray. / / We died by law, but do not sneer / / at

Villon’s Epitaph

t, the feeling is / / affection, which

need not arise / / from beauty, charm or cleverness, / / which does

ree? / / Or thought, that’s in her and

need not be given? / / Or did not think? Well satisfied, the five /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

oing to nature as we love her; / / but

need not in a longer view, I fancy, / / worry that we have hurt her.

ateful, nice / / and plentiful. / / I

need not measure the amount / / this course, next meal… The alcohol /

Stanley Spencer’s vision tells / / one

need not paint in French exclusively; / / Margot Fonteyn dances at Sa

soldier must obey. / / Strontium 90 we

need perhaps, to clear / / the stench of Belsen from the atmosphere.

Two Poems in Memory of Anne Frank

He’d the gift of the gab. And I didn’t

need persuading. / / I took his hand, pulled him down on the soft bed

Spells and Love

ettle on you unawares. / / Now I don’t

need / / such magic fancies. / / Any leaf which dances / / off its

[Golden, red, brown]

ly— / / and true though much of it is,

need that be final? / / Green trees flourish unstricken. Some recover

/ strictly determined by the season’s

need . / / Then, four years after the princess’s visit / / (the boy a

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

nd outside time? / / May I think, as I

need to think, that because one / / existed so strongly, warmly, and

ld all kinds aspire, / / all kinds are

needed , but there seems / / one kindling only for the fire / / whose

ing the half-worked stuff, / / ran the

needle deep in his thumb, and bled, / / red on the white. And she cri

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

How can a hero find a way to fight / /

needle or thorn? The fact would come to him / / and put his painted f

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

s of a princess were not meant / / for

needlework . She laughed at that and, clever, / / found ways to circum

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

g / / the heeling coach home through a

needle’s eye / / into the court—but was there something wrong? / / A

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

nbless, / / but I can half uncurse it.

Needling fate / / shall pierce her youth, and yet she shall not die.

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ / but stays with her father / / who

needs her, loves her, whom she loves too; stays / / with sister and b

Eugénie de Guérin

nly said: “How can I go? / / My mother

needs me here. I cannot choose.” / / They parted, not pleased with ea

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

od against the starry donors—loss, / /

negation , new-moon darkness—Carabosse! / / And words like cave-drips

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

lso of bad and ugly, / / but those are

negatives , / / shadow to light). And somehow I believe / / without d

nown / / certainly for a way. But long

neglect / / had left it more a guide-line than a road. / / And then,

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

o wine. / / Here is the absolute. / /

Neglect the planned return / / from logical pursuit. / / Let the mom

ooting firm, / / and tune its ear, too

negligent in peace, / / to hear the still, small voice. / / Having i

Prayer to Truth

is I shouldn’t half / / give the nice

neighbours a belly-laugh. / / You’re all right, darling. You’re simpl

him and her mother nearly mad. / / The

neighbours say: We knew that she was dying— / / skin, bone and scared

own self true / / but shown so to his

neighbours ’ seeing? / / Each of us sometimes wears a mask, / / most

wo truths to accept / / with a crooked

neighbour’s love / / before Struwwelpeter and straw-gold vanish / /

hained for—what?—to set me free / / am

neither great nor likely to be great. / / “For happiness a still more

it? / / (revelation being something I

neither have nor covet). / / Without that, can I stand outside time?

for middle age. / / Being no fortress,

neither is it a prison. / / Patience is not concerned with self alone

/ a recipe for trouble. / / Yet / /

neither of us really believes that. / / Less because of our partednes

[I have (what seemingly you do not see)]

“Your delicate task to keep your power,

neither / / thrown to the winds, nor hid as now it is. / / Turn to w

elt towards gold. / / Summer and I are

neither young nor old, / / the quiet middle reaches. / / But somethi

ur anger and despair, / / and like the

nephews of a poisoned Pope / / relinquish every hope. / / Oh plan no

ic heard in / / the mindless wind / /

nerve -ends murmur / / of a lost limb… / / fingers supple / / to car

arries away / / the knot of tissue and

nerve , / / structurally / / a sentient person, personality / / who

eauty, / / explore truth… / / Sheared

nerves mutter / / in the sealed stump. / /

with leaf-bud, blossom, bird-song, / /

nest -building. / /

man in the woven hanging reached for a

nest . / / Each morning when she woke she could bear it less / / —fou

Eugénie de Guérin

or him in a wren’s-nest mockery. / / A

nest ? He peered harder. It was a shell, / / its shaven bright fragili

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

He gave up. / / Deeper in the thorn, a

nest / / he thought, an odd one, hung. His dull mind played / / with

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

nd calm / / raised for him in a wren’s-

nest mockery. / / A nest? He peered harder. It was a shell, / / its

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

a thing. / / Yet peace, that keeps her

nest unnoticed in / / hearts holding memory along life’s increase /

Dulce et Decorum

/ / cares if it sprout or wither. / /

Nestling and cub go free / / of the uncaring father, / / the season-

/ / plucked beards and brows for their

nests ’ lining. / / We can’t sit down for a brief breathing, / / ceas

Villon’s Epitaph

l in / / and remains empty. / / Their

net of feeling and thought / / compassed the cosmos once, now let dro

/ sleeping curled up long, / / awake

netted in human / / care, lingers among / / down, under spread wing;

hen, human, envy / / beast and flower?

netted , / / knitted into this knot, / / envy beings empty / / of me

were together in the green forest. / /

Nettles or brambles, she plunged gaily in / / but he feared Carabosse

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ran short / / yet she completed of her

nettlework / / all but the second sleeve of the twelfth shirt, / / l

a few faint stars across the loose / /

network of twigs, and knew that all was said. / / Before I looked aga

e joined him as peers. / / But now the

net’s cast in other waters / / more gleaming wonders leap from the ma

give her love, but he was dead / / and

never came again to her. / / She wept a little time alone, / / alone

Beauty / Drink (your fill / / you

never can) / / beauty of earth, skill / / of visionary man. / / Man

old, ring in the new” / / but you can

never catch the changing / / years. Time flows unbroken through. / /

he lack’ll / / offend you to see. / /

Never doubting that you do love me / / and long for me as I do / / l

[Age’s bony knuckle]

other one / / —that plea allowed could

never fail / / to carry a built-in reprieve, / / a passport to etern

answered, “long. My way / / is lost or

never found. Life, that should fill / / my days with action, chokes t

down, under spread wing; / / growing,

never grows / / wholly away, stays / / linked still to parents / /

ound ways to circumvent them which they

never / / guessed. She was sempstress now, and competent. / / She wa

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

liked his cousins well enough, / / but

never had the sea and the far shores / / called him so coaxingly. He

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

s shocked surprise, / / a story he had

never heard before. / / It didn’t even start with ‘Once upon / / a t

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

worse corrosions of the soul, / / but

never hunger and cold / / —not real cold, let alone / / real hunger—

Climacteric by the Sea

And Then / And then / /

never , it says, he never smiled again. / / I doubt it, though; / / o

/ / was with him all his childhood. He

never knew / / a time he did not know it; and behind / / those words

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ng sad, / / so sad. Just what it was I

never knew. / / But he would talk about the forest-land / / where he

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

th an only son. / / A mother’s boy (he

never knew his father) / / beloved and loving, but a lonely child, /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

than this cartwheeling child) / / yet

never lacked, do not lack, delight, / / would be wholly sorry to have

Climacteric by the Sea

/ / (we, the bones) fritter away. / /

Never laugh at our suffering. / / We all need mercy, so go pray. / /

Villon’s Epitaph

/ / as you did not forget / / living,

never let / / fear or horror deny it; / / so now, dead, can teach /

Two Poems in Memory of Anne Frank

drift our way / / but surely we shall

never let them build / / into a barrier. / / We know too well how ki

[Yes, you’re right]

s ours, / / a grace, a blessing we can

never lose. / /

[Our lives are in other hands]

ng, its failures and gains, / / let us

never lose touch with the joys and the pains / / of this deeper exist

ruth of love, somehow, / / is here and

never lost. / /

ink your love / / is lost, but love is

never lost. I came / / to tell you this. It may seem little enough /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

your life to make again / / You would

never meet—?” / / Ophelia to Miranda: / / “I have not said that.” /

roportion of those remains / / for me.

Never mind. / / A full, a whole time, / / a time shared. / / Wish t

and the world was all / / before them.

Never mind the rent and stain. / / Enjoy life as it was before the fa

, / / accept their transience / / and

never mourn their passing until they’re past. / /

n one / / spring song?” she said. “You

never offered me / / relationship—only an inner-grown / / and self-e

taught to hunt and use the bow / / but

never practised much, and several days / / he didn’t manage to bring

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

iet, / / but in my body the anguish is

never quiet, / / burning as I am all over for this man who’s made me,

Spells and Love

knowing quite certainly / / they will

never see each other again? Friends, / / not necessarily / / intimat

What Do They Feel?

ed / / —your pleasure, if you felt it,

never shown, / / no bright spark in your love that might have started

Then / And then / / never, it says, he

never smiled again. / / I doubt it, though; / / or were it so / / t

y / / and went on over Sunday / / and

never stopped all day. / / Monday morning early / / we found the dri

d I the whole day through / / probably

never thought / / once one of the other. But if we did / / the thoug

t’s rooted in a deep determination / /

never to hurt / / the other—a thing our loving natures learned / / e

[Yes, you’re right]

/ a Claude, a dream. / / A sword was

never tossed in here, / / and if it were / / no hand would rise to c

Water in a Wood

Blind / The blind girl’s face, which

never was / / composed before a looking-glass, / / learns a composur

/ whose fierce, dark look I knew; who

never was / / weak to regret, but followed his few days / / his ligh

/ / Would he then, / / since he could

never wholly be a man, / / happily have remained / / an air-and-wate

ight-still- / / be (though you know it

never will) / / but just a what-once-might-have-been / / (although y

ht-have-been / / (although you know it

never would). / / And between those (in spite of these / / nullifyin

as our ‘wood’. / / And yet, I knew, he

never would go back.” / / And one day (they were sitting on the shore

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ Uxorious the Duke. While Angelo / /

nevermore touched poor Mariana’s skin, / / nun Isabella, curdling fro

hem / / again—or else took refuge in a

new / / and subtler one. You’ve guessed it: cannot true / / love for

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

, / / fast to the sea—and sudden I saw

new , / / as out of cloud, the moon; as hanging over / / Croyde Bay o

bright, washed things will display / /

new beauty, a world singing. / / Morning did come bright. / / Irides

, / / covet the fountain of youth or a

new birth? / /

w Year / “Ring out the old, ring in the

new ” / / but you can never catch the changing / / years. Time flows

fact of his loss, / / dropped sharp as

new , contorted him with pain, / / its black authority cutting across

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

am a part / / of this cold, rare / /

new day. / / You and I are still apart, / / only the sullen grey /

[The clouds that pressed the air]

brought new muscles into play / / with

new delights. He breathed the air’s brightness, / / watched light cha

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

n the hard victuals (they were far from

new / / did cross his mind) and dropped flat on the bed. / / Next mo

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ields, / / grease wiped from rifles, a

new edge ground on spears / / —a stack of polished shells or polished

ater-swimmer’s limbs again / / in this

new element to master. Then / / glowing picked up his bow and with su

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ripped, plunged over head / / and out,

new -fired. Then something caught his eye. / / A flowered bush, studde

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

f our blood, / / yet raise each spring

new flowers in the garden, / / draw green afresh out of the creaking

breasts my hands moved gently, / / the

new -formed girlhood she bared for me; / / over all her body, the youn

/ / and make himself a life, but not a

new / / heart-life, since to the old he must be true. / / Not courag

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

his exiled age, / / but now we take a

new hero—or say / / him rebegotten by the fairy’s word? / / A prince

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ght dare now go free, rejoice / / in a

new land in a new love, a wife / / perhaps, children. For him it was

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

Two Poems from a

New Life / Time / Distance / ‘The enemy’ / / people say, / / meaning

Two Poems from a New Life

shed lives recede / / and remain. / /

New lives we love do not know, / / do not need. / / Is it a tangled

o free, rejoice / / in a new land in a

new love, a wife / / perhaps, children. For him it was not so. / / H

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

took (all unaware) control / / of her

new love-kingdom, his conquered being. / / Her look, her walk, her la

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

usk / / I saw the thinnest sliver of a

new moon, / / a day or two only, tilted on its back, / / low down in

the starry donors—loss, / / negation,

new -moon darkness—Carabosse! / / And words like cave-drips from her c

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ail of poetry / / —the old moon in the

new moon’s arms, / / the little daughter dead in the sea. / / Lays o

o pass / / your unschemed hope, as the

new morning finds / / dew on the grass. / /

ds the pass. / / The mountains brought

new muscles into play / / with new delights. He breathed the air’s br

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ dropping from old flowers, only a few

new ones / / coming in their place. Still, though, starred with beaut

ack) / / rough immemorial pasture from

new plough, / / laid face on arm he wept—sobbing waves / / of hot te

es to be free. / / Good, if new warmth

new -quickening his straining / / loosens the bindings and the close w

dings. / / Can they be sloughed in the

new / / relation? (live—dead). / / In car, bus, train I / / want th

sometimes I’m half blinded / / as by a

new revelation: / / how, having muddled through my life, / / for wor

[I have you always in my mind]

ucy in the sky / / with diamonds and a

new song. / / I think the Sirens do not die. / /

its beak / / gold-glinting / / in the

new sun / / in the soft air. / / The delayed year / / is moving int

quires another year / / to finish some

new thing begun, / / round off some ragged, trailing tail. / / But a

her rosy thought of being loved— / / a

new thought almost; though a smoother prince / / had praised her beau

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

en he’d reached the river-mouth. / / A

new trouble: the choice of right or left, / / of wrong or right. The

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

en time comes to be free. / / Good, if

new warmth new-quickening his straining / / loosens the bindings and

did the soul steal from the flame? / /

New wings for its dream. / /

—a love-gift and / / a proof that this

new world was truly won. / / Northwards the dunes ran straight betwee

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

New Year / “Ring out the old, ring in the new” / / but you can never

, from the late autumn on / / till the

New Year to hunt. Those three months gone / / the castle was for nine

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

Pavements / Dog-shit in London; / /

New York, chewed gum. / / To each culture-surface / / its proper scu

man. / / Misunderstandings? / / That

New Yorker joke: “My wife / / does understand me.” / / I failed you

n free? / / Give absolute freedom to a

newborn baby, / / it dies. / / And so, mutatis mutandis, through our

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

esmond Hill / / (not, as it sounds, in

Newcastle / / but above Pangbourne on the middle Thames) / / dreams

y mystery. / / Home, he found fuss and

news , a messenger / / arrived, announcing the immediate visit / / of

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

gangling woodman of eighteen) / / came

news again: this Christmas-time the Queen / / comes with the court, a

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

News of a Death / I woke in the night and heard the rain falling / /

News of a Death

now who) to my house. / / Bran goes on

next . Artemis, Moon, you can move / / Death’s adamant door, and anyth

Spells and Love

hitely in a widening pool / / from the

next cliff. He stripped and plunged to cool / / his sweating body—kne

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

a pass; but left her little moved. / /

Next day she slept late, but late afternoon / / dry and still drew he

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

nurse (she’s dead now), / / who lived

next door, came and kept begging me / / to come to the show with her,

Spells and Love

s in the next field] / The grass in the

next field / / is greener? No. / / Ours is emerald. / / Our grief i

[The grass in the next field]

[The grass in the

next field] / The grass in the next field / / is greener? No. / / Ou

[The grass in the next field]

ivering, his belt drawn tight. / / The

next four years lent him less time to dream / / being apprenticed to

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ot measure the amount / / this course,

next meal… The alcohol / / I wash it down with warms the soul… / / S

alling / / of child or bird leaves the

next moment empty. / / Look on the walls, lofty and from no empty /

mind) and dropped flat on the bed. / /

Next morning, fit and fresh, the mystery / / puzzled him of the empty

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

es at least to express her rarity. / /

Next morning hooves and grinding wheels awoke him. / / He looked down

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

him. / / ‘All right’ he thought. ‘The

next test is the river.’ / / That’s what he thought. The tests came s

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

led, but stayed from stubbornness. / /

Next time with bleeding hands he harvested / / nine, cleaned up three

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

and found there, not the worst, but the

next worst / / thing in his life. Afraid, afraid went back, / / a dr

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

h caught leaf promises a happy day / /

next year”. / / Have you tried to catch / / these autumn flutterers?

[Golden, red, brown]

em, / / till someone saw the girl / /

nibbling a hard green / / cast-out shell. / / Coaxed into feeding /

The Green Children of Woolpit

Dinner / A plateful,

nice / / and plentiful. / / I need not measure the amount / / this

e she is I shouldn’t half / / give the

nice neighbours a belly-laugh. / / You’re all right, darling. You’re

y guide said; “not the scene / / which

nicely rounds so many wishful stories, / / where boy meets girl again

/ / In Guildford Place, where London’s

nicest statue / / kneels with her pitcher and her broken nose / / be

/ felt herself blush, laughed ‘Oh how

nice ’—half child / / still, if already half woman, and soon / / to l

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ Look down into your life and know the

night . / /

ou other stars that ride with the quiet

night . / /

Spells and Love

/ / grow one again with nature in the

night . / /

Dream under a Carob-tree

steadied his swimming head, saw it was

night , / / a moon—behind, the bright sea under it, / / and calm. Mil

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

Magic / Late in a winter

night , / / a round high moon lighting the field path home. / / Cold…

ond-lit / / by washed stars is now the

night . / / Again night’s vaulting / / is star-frosted. And, alone, /

rtyard was moonlit, half a pool / / of

night , all empty; and the opposite rooms / / showed lightless windows

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

rom the sin, / / was pawed and paddled

night and day; and (though / / hating herself and it) yet learned the

arth. / / Observe, absorb her faces of

night and day / / before the more than sleep. / /

[Now of threescore and ten]

, / / learning the horror, fled / / …

night and day, day and night… / / came to the Delphic fane, / / burs

Pelopia and Thyestes

ills, / / began the long drag. Day and

night and day / / (time lost) closed in fever’s bewildering storm. /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

News of a Death / I woke in the

night and heard the rain falling / / softly. It seemed like weeping.

News of a Death

Quo Vadis / I fled by

night and in the grey / / of dawn met on the lonely way / / a man I

s, take the ashes / / while it’s still

night , and knead them into his door-sill / / and as you do, whisper “

Spells and Love

hed far out but changed quickly between

night and night, / / till the field reached a hedge and the hours for

the tether, / / the thaw—soft air one

night , and sound on waking / / of water dribbling, drifting mists, sh

sual parting to a last, / / though the

night be deprived of moon and morning, / / day was before it—and we h

that irradiated / / us. Bonfire on the

night beach. / /

sun-touched or dark cloud. / / A rare

night . Beach deep / / in snow. A ceaseless gale that / / strips it.

Night / Between Orion and the Bear / / the buoy-lights of the planets

and diamonds and clubs and hearts / /

night -black and bloody, spinning, and in the centre / / hung God Niji

Macrocosm / Look up into the

night , but not to extend / / divine order spun from the thoughts of m

ached the ford with dawn, / / and when

night came, deep in the mountains stopped, / / his water-bottle fille

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ror, fled / / … night and day, day and

night … / / came to the Delphic fane, / / burst in (uncleansed his st

Pelopia and Thyestes

ng candle flared up straight. Out. / /

Night claimed him. / / But in the whittled, bruised stone he left cau

our doubt and shame—sweet / / day and

night , / / cloud and sun, stars, / / wind on the heath. / /

Two Poems in Memory of Anne Frank

Night / Considers, musing at the sleeper’s side, / / the initiated br

blackness not annulled. Must that long

night / / divide the princess from her womanhood?… / / The story and

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

turers, pass / / out through uncharted

night , / / extending being. But in their recklessness / / stretch to

. A ceaseless gale that / / strips it.

Night for you. / / Warm summer cycle / / ride. Home, in the garden f

that huddle to the bleak and harsh / /

night here; whose lives, which life has tried to quench, / / seem shr

weird at home, walked through the black

night home. / / Past two o’clock. The ball went on and on. / / All t

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

but smiled as she turned, and said good

night … / / How can one love and not be understood? / / He brooded lo

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ freshness and silence of the country

night . / / I spoke: “if I did not know, this would seem / / Berkshir

r, not defiance, but consciousness that

night / / is coming, to drain all colour from a cold world. / /

What Do They Feel?

ce they are dead and I am old. / / The

night is trackless, deep and cold. / /

y “a knocking at the door / / one dark

night late when they were going to bed. / / My mother—she was your ag

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

Masque / Cornered in the bewildering

night / / Love summoned Dignity to fight, / / and Pride, against Des

ns to weaken, flicker, vanishes / / in

night , marking the unseen edge, / / the moon’s dark circle / / which

September Cruise

the full moon shed / / when caught by

night my second day in Greece / / we lost our way about the twentieth

le he limped mechanically / / into the

night of his third waterless day. / / He shuffled on under the darken

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

t / / to a still starburst / / in the

night of thought. / /

/ When the moment comes to forget / / (

night on the footless cliff) / / I hope I shall feel relief / / as w

[When the moment comes to forget]

bove the huge Pacific / / Mercury last

night . / / One long ago summer midnight in the Thames valley / / I c

Night -piece / The half-moon on Orion’s shoulder / / lays on the world

John Ruskin’s Wedding

Night / Quick to beauty more than is common / / but reared in rigid a

John Ruskin’s Wedding Night

windows, uninvolved as tombs. / / The

night , she thought, alone is beautiful. / / Out of the black a figure

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

later, each separately, / / found the

night -slow / / familiar way / / home to the lit farmsteads… Who? /

From woods and valleys now the gathered

night / / spreads to the open, darkening field and hill. / / To star

Country and Town

/ / shook him with beauty—or the early

night , / / stars contouring a high black mountain’s rim. / / But oft

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ / to beg food and a shelter for the

night . / / The hut was dark, and silent to his knock. / / He pushed

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

manner / As it rained all day / / all

night the rain is falling. / / But suppose morning / / comes bright,

ame / / which sears his spirit day and

night / / they mark his bondage to a dream. / /

t but changed quickly between night and

night , / / till the field reached a hedge and the hours formed in day

east an omen. ‘I accept.’ / / A day, a

night —two, three days and their nights / / the smooth horizon, the un

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ Out of the positive blackness of the

night / / under the bright lights, against gold and white, / / he wa

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

reaking to the coastal plain. / / That

night was warmer. He slept late, and then / / half a day’s walking br

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

dark. / / The town is fevered; but as

night wears on, / / blood cooler, quieted the pulse’s roar, / / it d

Country and Town

ion-lines / / of light, / / are lost.

Night wins. / / Swirling vastness a lost speck. In each speck / / sp

death, / / that life) how, out of the

night , / / without window, without path, / / without ladder, he foun

” / / The bridge shadow, darker than a

night wood, / / took three and rendered two; what I must yet /

quenched city, and talk.” But she: “to-

night / / you shall not home so soon; in other places / / you are aw

he said, “the war / / recurring like a

nightmare or a fever. / / Yet while our personal intellects endure /

/ / an unbalance, an ache, / / breeds

nightmares and throws dark veils on the day. / /

over me to have her there as when / /

nightmares or wars, quarrels or waitings cease. / / “Martin” she said

/ by nights without a moon. / / Three

nights and days together / / two-score Turks I killed, / / and two-s

ment on / / through storm and sun, ice-

nights and sweating heat / / of shadeless, windless noon, he followed

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

w, / / drowsing (he had not slept / /

nights , days) saw—in a dream?— / / a girl come to the stream / / and

Pelopia and Thyestes

wn with a high fever / / —ten days and

nights I couldn’t get out of bed. / / These are the springs of my lov

Spells and Love

day, a night—two, three days and their

nights / / the smooth horizon, the unbroken cliff / / held him as in

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

rsh but he was viable. / / Wind-bitter

nights were much the worst of it. / / Waking before dawn always, stif

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

t always. / / These two days, / / two

nights , when our / / long affection opened its cactus-flower, / / we

Two Poems from a New Life

/ A likely lad, a bonny fighter / / by

nights without a moon. / / Three nights and days together / / two-sc

go / / in sun’s light, / / behind the

night’s / / spangled tent, / / an unmoved mover, / / loved not love

/ / The bright morning glistens on the

night’s tears. / / Time heals and doesn’t heal, / / and nature is no

News of a Death

shed stars is now the night. / / Again

night’s vaulting / / is star-frosted. And, alone, / / a god’s nail-p

inning, and in the centre / / hung God

Nijinsky , and Diaghilev not. / /

ed at war between them with the soul of

Nijinsky / / in fifty-two pieces like a pack of cards; / / and the f

and again / / travel, and watch again

Nijinsky jump. / / But the gay twenties got a dusty answer: / / with

Nijinsky / / / The cordon drawn / / about the isolated brain grows

he rock. And dressed / / and clambered

nimbly up the cliff and on. / / High on the col, late in the afternoo

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

e with bleeding hands he harvested / /

nine , cleaned up three unbroken, placed them in / / his pouch, turned

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ / she braved the thorns, but later,

nine or ten / / perhaps—another meeting equally good. / / In the dar

ree months gone / / the castle was for

nine their quiet home. / / But now the Queen, it seemed, had not been

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

st, he thought, then have been eight or

nine ) / / “went and opened the door. And there, she said, / / stood

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

of him? / / What could she think, the

nine -year-old princess? / / The circumscription of her small world’s

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

wer, the love. Now, from that day, / /

nine years went on without the boy once more / / seeing the girl. Pre

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

d on that twenty-ninth of February / /

nineteen -eighty-four / / you, I suppose, and I the whole day through

/ / as the Empress Eugénie? / / High

nineteenth -century / / Paris. Rich, squalid, whirling Paris: / / Win

ar cycles more. / / And on that twenty-

ninth of February / / nineteen-eighty-four / / you, I suppose, and I

ity, / / to each according to need.” A

noble cry, / / and “What have you got to lose but chains?” So why /

d then I was alone / / with Emily. The

noble mountain stood, / / St Paul’s, in pale and shadow-moulded stone

/ has dominion outside time / / (when

nobody measures time / / time is dead, and the world / / death’s); b

[Time is enough]

gh again). / / “Get one yourself”, she

nodded at the sea. / / He looked along the rock, and presently / / g

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

the aging author / / of Le Rouge et le

Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme. / /

/ / with blood and smoke, movement and

noise . / / The moment’s timeless flame transcends / / imagination’s

Delos in Spring

ody unknown / / lends unnecessary / /

noise to a dead man / / by marks on this dumb stone. / /

all received my echoing paces, / / the

noiseless passage of my friend and guide. / / We turned, and left beh

n breast, / / sows incontinently, / /

noisomer ill, / / yet pursues / / beauty, and is blest. / / For all

circling, swooping over / / the white,

noisy water. / / The call comes from them / / naturally. / / I stan

Climacteric by the Sea

d hurt, / / immutability / / would be

non -entity. / / Mourn the smooth hill, the woods / / you love, the f

/ / Difference, / / the good sine qua

non of humanness, / / cannot be tailored to equality, / / except tha

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

promise, made / / and broken—there was

none . / / Beauty owes nothing: by having been has put / / the world,

k bud should flower / / (even before).

None chose to give her power / / to love. Better, they thought, keep

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

od. In that creed or in this / / or in

none , here’s a truth which unfailingly is. / / Love is hard, love is

lli Graf / / —so many years lost / / (

none more than twenty-five, / / Sophie twenty-one. / / Kurt Huber wa

Die Weisse Rose

“many have I honoured, many loved, but

none , / / not my guide, more than you.” He answered: “why / / worshi

to speak— / / she liked his thinking (

none of those she knew / / were given to thought), but his thought ac

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

weep / / the world before a cause, but

none the more / / to sit and wait and lull your powers asleep. / / Y

[Noon. But the sun is low] /

Noon . But the sun is low, / / coldly bright in light blue sky. / / E

[Noon. But the sun is low]

Noon . But the sun is low] / Noon. But the sun is low, / / coldly brig

[Noon. But the sun is low]

m on either side. / / And every day at

noon came the white flights / / fanning out, wheeling west, ahead, as

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

eating heat / / of shadeless, windless

noon , he followed it, / / lost and recovered, up steep valleys and do

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

uery ‘Which is right?’ / / Till, about

noon he thought, there fronted him / / no choice, no way—a mountainou

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

from grass to surf, golden against the

noon , / / lovely, inhospitable. In the lee / / he lost the breeze, a

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

urety of this flawless morning / / for

noon or afternoon. Take what may / / come—bright or broken day / / o

level through the air. / / What summer

noon struck blankly on, / / obliterated and dissolved, / / autumn an

e sun is climbing from cloud to its low

noon . / / The wind-swept flat horizon / / under the high-cloud-mottl

[Bare trees black]

ody with their scalding flail. / / The

noon was darkness, and the terrible coast / / could not be seen. Even

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ / the undergrowth master again. The

noon / / was hidden. His direction was maintained / / by the thorn-b

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

issed / / when we’re right awake. / /

Normally , that is. / / Sick and weak, / / we feel them take over /

Against Anorexia: For Cathy

w bright sun in the south, and from the

north / / a steady wind blows cold and colourlessly. / / A child’s c

[White foam sweeps]

d midday / / the wind shifted into the

north , and he / / turned the bow south. Dim to the starboard lay / /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

nd Orion the hunter here / / up to the

north and on his head. / / Above his feet is spread / / a dome studd

en Anne, and North by a dark road. / /

North , and then West again by the Old Bailey / / towards High Holborn

berate knife. / / Between the starving

North and war’s dull flame, / / distressed only by the knowledge of d

assed across / / under Queen Anne, and

North by a dark road. / / North, and then West again by the Old Baile

tact with the loved. / / We had turned

North , for when I rose again / / out of the pit, I saw the portico /

htened by, even / / surprised at. / /

North -north-west / / we are all mad. / / Don’t fret / / that the ti

Against Anorexia: For Cathy

tramontane kingdom reached / / leagues

north , she told him, to the sea again / / and all between huge cliffs

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

uide his forest-sense)—east, west, / /

north , south, all points were sullenly the same. / / ’The fairy’s cur

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

nd haikus / Aldeburgh / Cambridge / The

North / They burned drowned Shelley / / on the beach. We on your beac

hancery Lane, but turned once more / /

north up the Grays Inn Road. Where the moon shone / / across a tram-w

by, even / / surprised at. / / North-

north -west / / we are all mad. / / Don’t fret / / that the tired na

Against Anorexia: For Cathy

that this new world was truly won. / /

Northwards the dunes ran straight between the sea / / and broadening

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

kneels with her pitcher and her broken

nose / / between the men’s and women’s lavatories, / / I saw a tall

he roses, / / and now before my donkey-

nose is / / nostalgic autumn beckoning / / —the lines recur, the poe

Man’s Seasons

h the opaque water another year / / is

nosing its way. I seem to see a sharp / / dorsal fin already cutting

/ and now before my donkey-nose is / /

nostalgic autumn beckoning / / —the lines recur, the poem closes. /

Man’s Seasons

… Grind the axe, / / heap the faggots.

Notch it up. / /

oot is home / / and hand, firm / / on

notched rock. / / Oh, the subtle / / steps of the couple / / on the

/ / each in her palace-cell alone / /

notching up which heads shall fall / / if she can once ascend the thr

he could still coax from the air, / /

note painfully on the waiting page / / for the deaf world to hear, /

/ / at least a week’s supply—written a

note / / to tell his mother he was gone, and gone. / / The sky was c

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

being are. / / Days, years, man’s time-

notes , are / / always perishing. Time / / (man’s making) is outside

[Time is enough]

tening the light stillness / / by bird-

notes pierced but not dispersed / / while easy coolness / / lay alof

er basic monotone / / scents, colours,

notes , the whole / / dream-treasury of the soul. / /

mit me to the furnace. / / After that,

nothing . / /

A Hot Bath at Bedtime

The whores and the boys of course were

nothing / / —and Caroline, he may have had a thought for her / / but

“Tell Lady Byron…”

, / / the too good to be true, / / is

nothing , and we bear / / self-pitying now our anger and despair, / /

laid. / / “What else? What else?” / /

Nothing . “And what have left undone?” / / Have sometimes upon world a

life-time, and released / / if not by

nothing , at least / / in its own moment by almost anything? / /

n come of nothing, nothing goes / / to

nothing , but we cannot see the cause / / which moves the tides of gai

Winter Solstice

broken—there was none. / / Beauty owes

nothing : by having been has put / / the world, rather, in debt. / /

/ / —or does another year begin? / /

Nothing can come of nothing, nothing goes / / to nothing, but we cann

Winter Solstice

didn’t visit. / / But time went on and

nothing changed at all. / / These are the springs of my love. Mark th

Spells and Love

here to eternity. / / The train moves.

Nothing changes. / / What in this city / / do we share? Best, Domini

r one / / for whom that ugliness holds

nothing dear. / / I remember / / beauty just so shining from air to

“Life is sweet, brother”

sun through bright mist. / / There is

nothing else. / / Luckily I am / / too often too silly to / / be a

he dark tree’s edge, and could / / see

nothing first, but slowly the dim light / / shaped me the shadows amo

(so far as I am) rather floating. / /

Nothing for foot to press on or hand feel / / to tell me I can count

loud and lit, / / touches the senses,

nothing further; form / / thins into smoke, thence into lightless air

That Way Madness Lies

egin? / / Nothing can come of nothing,

nothing goes / / to nothing, but we cannot see the cause / / which m

Winter Solstice

and tears / / —a predictable order, if

nothing goes wrong, / / to protect us from fear and to guide us along

head and was his nurse. Desire / / for

nothing happier filled him with delight. / / “Come here. Get warm. I’

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ntrol. Then he / / was fighting water.

Nothing he could do / / was anything. The water sucked and struck /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

od / Husk flakes from the seed / / and

nothing in plant or tree / / cares if it sprout or wither. / / Nestl

or evil and for good, a power. / / But

nothing lasts indefinitely. / / She fails now in her fated hour, / /

e rare-pathed hills spread on / / till

nothing lay beyond them but the sky. / / Half their sweep, though, wa

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

The will to live / / (which yet loves

nothing like a sedative) / / traps us in self-despising misery, / /

ho listen for the phone, / / expecting

nothing , listen for the post, / / when mind and hand hold so much to

er year begin? / / Nothing can come of

nothing , nothing goes / / to nothing, but we cannot see the cause /

Winter Solstice

world before him laid / / was his and

nothing . Now he’d journey far / / and make himself a life, but not a

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

hing to you now, but it’s far from / /

nothing , or little. And I offer too / / what may seem nothing or seem

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

tle. And I offer too / / what may seem

nothing or seem all to you / / but is a hope to which you yet may com

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

win), / / is for them also, knowing or

nothing , peace. / /

Dulce et Decorum

s and others too, / / the dead who see

nothing , perhaps another / / who reads this after / / I’m dead, but

[Released from cloud the low sun at my back]

/ his pouch, turned homeward. The hag,

nothing said / / worked steadily, but as he left, again / / lifted h

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

for the young wood-ranger, if… / / If

nothing —she would give it to him still— / / how dare she lecture him

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

the nucleus and cries “I knew it! / /

Nothing so subtle as escapes my skill.” / / Nature is much to wreck,

ckness of uncentred space, / / knowing

nothing , sweats with fear. / / Fled are the open sky, the easy slumbe

That Way Madness Lies

/ / whittles and whittles and there is

nothing there. / / The bodily earth about us, loud and lit, / / touc

That Way Madness Lies

What Emily had said / / of hope seemed

nothing to me now that she / / was gone; I hoped no more for Anabel,

this. It may seem little enough / / or

nothing to you now, but it’s far from / / nothing, or little. And I o

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ght, he knew, the other wrong, / / but

nothing told him which. Below, close by, / / the joined streams forme

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ho we are, / / hate whom we love. / /

Nothing , truly, / / to be ashamed of, / / frightened by, even / / s

Against Anorexia: For Cathy

ee / / and beguiles us. / / Nature is

nothing , / / unformed, till an eye / / prints an image / / on a pre

Music is Landscape

s pay. / / Brother men, mockery here’s

nothing . / / We all need mercy, so go pray. / /

Villon’s Epitaph

in the lands above the sea, / / claim

nothing within the sea’s reach. / / Easy to live below the built wall

e / / is something to settle for. / /

Nothingness is at least / / good, though not the best. / /

f dying or of being dead / / (absolute

nothingness / / is what we can’t conceive / / but must imply at leas

y / Heaven I don’t covet. / / Timeless

nothing’s enough. / / I feel so dirty though, / / I should like to b

A Hot Bath at Bedtime

h joins her crescent-tips. / / Then we

notice / / how far, while we were watching them, these two / / have

September Cruise

heaven. Do I now sometimes though / /

notice myself, against all I feel and know, / / covet the fountain of

the worlds / / masquerading behind the

notice . / / We walked together back under the trees. / /

Los Altos Hills

ed that Troy would fall / / and no one

noticed her at all. / / But Hector, heaving out of bed, / / saw unde

a flood of tears and fled. / / He half-

noticed the room was filled with light, / / and hurrying down saw hal

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

ction opened its cactus-flower, / / we

noticed Time / / choosing to walk with us / / at our shared natural

Two Poems from a New Life

sioned, lay at anchor. / / They had no

notion where the river ran, / / but thinking of the mountains and the

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

tra kick from the affair / / having no

notion who these people were. / /

nor yet my heavy stone. / / Was there

nowhere for you to tread / / but on my head alone? / / Wasn’t I a la

in, we shall rue it. / / He cracks the

nucleus and cries “I knew it! / / Nothing so subtle as escapes my ski

d between those (in spite of these / /

nullifying parentheses) / / is all the difference in the world. / /

argument; and slowly ebbed again. / /

Numb , cold and utterly worn out, he found / / that he was walking bac

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

reen: / / conscious terrified eyes and

numbed groin; / / white figures, busy hands, flicker of steel / / at

od / / when an awareness seeped to his

numbed life / / of someone there. He stared dully. Then, late, / / s

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

peck. In each speck / / sparks without

number spin, / / suns. One bursts in huge radiance. The wreck / / fa

pleted, am more aware / / what a small

number we’re entitled to, / / what a small proportion of those remain

/ rise half perceptibly. / / World is

numberless shades of blue, breaking / / to greys, to silver, white. A

September Cruise

his barbed camp we fret, we grieve / /

numbly under his rifling hands, but he / / leaves us our fee to Death

d, truly, forgotten, / / after initial

numbness , / / blankness, unrecognition, / / I feel my eyes adjusting

rmore touched poor Mariana’s skin, / /

nun Isabella, curdling from the sin, / / was pawed and paddled night

comes to a happy child: / / mother and

nurse and father, near and dear, / / taken for granted. Not as yet fo

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ / the teller of all stories, his old

nurse . / / But this was different from her other tales. / / Fairies

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

light / / lifted her head and was his

nurse . Desire / / for nothing happier filled him with delight. / / “

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ / his chokes and sputters ended, the

nurse said, / / not in the tears she looked for but in laughter. / /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

on. / / —and Theumaridas’ old Thracian

nurse (she’s dead now), / / who lived next door, came and kept beggin

Spells and Love

alone. / / Then he remembered that his

nurse was dead. / / He picked himself up. He was cold and stiff, / /

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

dream were centred on the sea. / / His

nurse would carry him along the shore. / / He crowed against the seag

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

t the tiller, the boy recalled / / the

nurse’s story told him long ago. / / But sharper than the image of he

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

t ribbon stretching on and on. / / The

nurse’s tale? Yes, but he felt aware / / of much, much more, than she

The Sleeping Beauty’s Prince

/ / They meet to mate, then share / /

nurture of the young, / / yet in that loving care / / yield themselv

Encore un peu, mon enfant. Mon enfant,

n’aie pas peur. / / … but the knife whips out manhood, womanhood… /