A boat, beneath a sunny sky

And Whispers of a Summer SeaGirt with a boyish garb for boyish task,Eager she wields her spade: yet loves as wellRest on a friendly knee, intent to askThe tale he loves to tell.Rude spirits of the seething outer strife,Unmeet to read her pure and simple spright,Deem if you list, such hours a waste of life,Empty…

nonsense were ever brought against the author of this brief butinstructive poem, it would be based, I feel convinced, on the line“Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes”In view of this painful possibility, I will not (as I might) appealindignantly to my other writings as a proof that I am incapable ofsuch a…

You told me once ‘the very wishPartook of the sublime.’The tell me how! Don’t put me offWith your ‘another time’!’The old man smiled to see him,To hear his sudden sally;He liked the lad to speak his mindEnthusiastically;And thought ‘There’s no hum-drum in him,Nor any shilly-shally.’‘And would you be a poetBefore you’ve been to school?Ah, well!…

(Her brother, fierce, as bluff King Hal),‘I tell you flat, I shall do that!’She softly whispers ‘ ‘May’ for ‘shall’!’He wistful sighed one eventide(Her friend, that made this Madrigal),‘And shall I kiss you, pretty Miss!’Smiling she answered ‘ ‘May’ for ‘shall’!’With eager eyes my reader cries,‘Your friend must be indeed a val–uable child, so sweet,…

I saw an aged aged man,A-sitting on a gate.‘Who are you, aged man?’ I said.‘And how is it you live?’And his answer trickled through my head,Like water through a sieve.He said, ‘I look for butterfliesThat sleep among the wheat:I make them into mutton-pies,And sell them in the street.I sell them unto men,’ he said,‘Who sail…

Atalanta did notVote my presence a bore,Nor reply to my tenderest talk ‘She hadheard all that nonsense before.’She’d the brooch I had boughtAnd the necklace and sash on,And her heart, as I thought,Was alive to my passion;And she’d done up her hair in the style thatthe Empress had brought into fashion.I had been to the…

At night she sighed ‘I fear ’twas wrongSuch cheerful words to borrow.Dearest, a sweeter, sadder songI’ll sing to thee to-morrow.’I thanked her, but I could not sayThat I was glad to hear it:I left the house at break of day,And did not venture near itTill time, I hoped, had worn awayHer grief, for nought could…

lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a vio­lent shake at the end of every line: — —‘Speak roughly to your little boy,And beat him when he sneezes;He only does it to annoy,Because he knows it teases.’CHORUS(in which the cook and the baby joined): — — ‘Wow! wow! wow!’While the Duchess sang…

Around me tread the mighty dead,And slowly pass away.Lo, warriors, saints, and sages,From out the vanished ages,With solemn pace and reverend faceAppear and pass away.The blaze of noonday splendour,The twilight soft and tender,May charm the eye: yet they shall die,Shall die and pass away.But here, in Dreamland’s centre,No spoiler’s hand may enter,These visions fair, this…

Made of sliding, folding rosewood;Neatly put it all together.In its case it lay compactly,Folded into nearly nothing;But he opened out the hinges,Pushed and pulled the joints and hinges,Till it looked all squares and oblongs,Like a complicated figureIn the Second Book of Euclid.This he perched upon a tripod –Crouched beneath its dusky cover –Stretched his hand,…

I saw an aged, aged man,A-sitting on a gate.‘Who are you, aged man?’ I said.‘And how is it you live?’And his answer trickled through my headLike water through a sieve.He said, ‘I look for butterfliesThat sleep among the wheat;I make them into mutton-pies,And sell them in the street.I sell them unto men,’ he said,‘Who sail…

Pepper and vinegar besidesAre very good indeed-Now if you’re ready, Oysters, dear,We can begin to feed!

I saw an aged aged man,A-sitting on a gate.‘Who are you, aged man?’ I said.‘And how is it you live?’And his answer trickled through my head,Like water through a sieve.He said, ‘I look for butterfliesThat sleep among the wheat:I make them into mutton-pies,And sell them in the street.I sell them unto men,’ he said,‘Who sail…

lullaby to it as she did so, and giving it a vio­lent shake at the end of every line: — —‘Speak roughly to your little boy,And beat him when he sneezes;He only does it to annoy,Because he knows it teases.’CHORUS(in which the cook and the baby joined): — — ‘Wow! wow! wow!’While the Duchess sang…

As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his noseTrims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,His voice has a timid and tremulous sound.’‘I…

I saw an aged, aged man,A-sitting on a gate.‘Who are you, aged man?’ I said.‘And how is it you live?’And his answer trickled through my headLike water through a sieve.He said, ‘I look for butterfliesThat sleep among the wheat;I make them into mutton-pies,And sell them in the street.I sell them unto men,’ he said,‘Who sail…

That I hate, but the thing that I hate the mostIs a thing they call the Sea.Pour some salt water over the floor –Ugly I’m sure you’ll allow it to be:Suppose it extended a mile or more,THAT’S very like the Sea.Beat a dog till it howls outright –Cruel, but all very well for a spree:Suppose…

And Whispers of a Summer SeaGirt with a boyish garb for boyish task,Eager she wields her spade: yet loves as wellRest on a friendly knee, intent to askThe tale he loves to tell.Rude spirits of the seething outer strife,Unmeet to read her pure and simple spright,Deem if you list, such hours a waste of life,Empty…