Poetry - William Carlos Williams (beach read .txt) 📗

Poetry

By William Carlos Williams.

Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint Peace on Earth Postlude First Praise Homage The Fool’s Song From “The Birth of Venus,” Song Immortal Mezzo Forte An After Song Crude Lament The Ordeal The Death of Franco of Cologne: His Prophecy of Beethoven Portent Con Brio Ad Infinitum Translations from the Spanish, “El Romancero” I II III IV Hic Jacet Contemporania To Wish Myself Courage Sub Terra Pastoral Chickory and Daisies I II Metric Figure Woman Walking Gulls Appeal In Harbor Winter Sunset Apology Pastoral Love Song M. B. Tract Promenade I II III El Hombre Hero Libertad! Igualdad! Fraternidad! Canthara Mujer Summer Song Love Song Foreign A Prelude History I II III IV V Winter Quiet Dawn Good Night Danse Russe Portrait of a Woman in Bed Virtue Conquest Portrait of a Young Man with a Bad Heart Keller Gegen Dom Smell! Ballet Sympathetic Portrait of a Child The Ogre Riposte The Old Men Pastoral Spring Strains Trees A Portrait in Greys Invitation Divertimiento January Morning I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV To a Solitary Disciple Dedication for a Plot of Ground K. McB. Love Song The Wanderer Advent Clarity Broadway Paterson—The Strike Abroad Soothsay St. James’ Grove The Late Singer March I II III IV V Berket and the Stars A Celebration April A Goodnight Overture to a Dance of Locomotives I II Romance Moderne The Desolate Field Willow Poem Approach of Winter January Blizzard To Waken an Old Lady Winter Trees Complaint The Cold Night Spring Storm The Delicacies Thursday The Dark Day Time the Hangman To a Friend The Gentle Man The Soughing Wind Spring Play Lines The Poor Complete Destruction Memory of April Epitaph Daisy Primrose Queen-Ann’s-Lace Great Mullen Waiting The Hunter Arrival To a Friend Concerning Several Ladies Youth and Beauty The Thinker The Disputants The Tulip Bed The Birds The Nightingales Spouts Blueflags The Widow’s Lament in Springtime Light Hearted William Portrait of the Author The Lonely Street The Great Figure Colophon Uncopyright Imprint

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Peace on Earth

The Archer is wake!
The Swan is flying!
Gold against blue
An Arrow is lying.
There is hunting in heaven⁠—
Sleep safe till to-morrow.

The Bears are abroad!
The Eagle is screaming!
Gold against blue
Their eyes are gleaming!
Sleep!
Sleep safe till to-morrow.

The Sisters lie
With their arms intertwining;
Gold against blue
Their hair is shining!
The Serpent writhes!
Orion is listening!
Gold against blue
His sword is glistening!
Sleep!
There is hunting in heaven⁠—
Sleep safe till to-morrow.

Postlude

Now that I have cooled to you
Let there be gold of tarnished masonry,
Temples soothed by the sun to ruin
That sleep utterly.
Give me hand for the dances,
Ripples at Philae, in and out,
And lips, my Lesbian,
Wall flowers that once were flame.

Your hair is my Carthage
And my arms the bow,
And our words arrows
To shoot the stars
Who from that misty sea
Swarm to destroy us.

But you there beside me⁠—
Oh how shall I defy you,
Who wound me in the night
With breasts shining
Like Venus and like Mars?
The night that is shouting Jason
When the loud eaves rattle
As with waves above me
Blue at the prow of my desire.

First Praise

Lady of dusk wood fastnesses,
Thou art my Lady.
I have known the crisp splintering leaf-tread with thee on before,
White, slender through green saplings;
I have lain by thee on the grey forest floor
Beside thee, my Lady.

Lady of rivers strewn with stones,
Only thou art my Lady.
Where thousand the freshets are crowded like peasants to a fair;
Clear skinned, wild from seclusion,
They jostle white armed down the tent-bordered thoroughfare
Praising my Lady.

Homage

Elvira, by love’s grace
There goeth before you
A clear radiance
Which maketh all vain souls
Candles when noon is.

The loud clangour of pretenders
Melteth before you
Like the roll of carts passing,
But you come silently
And homage is given.

Now the little by-path
Which leadeth to love
Is again joyful with its many;
And the great highway
From love
Is without passers.

The Fool’s Song

I tried to put a bird in a cage.
O fool that I am!
For the bird was Truth.
Sing merrily, Truth: I tried to put
Truth in a cage!

And when I had the bird in the cage,
O fool that I am!
Why, it broke my pretty cage.
Sing merrily, Truth; I tried to put
Truth in a cage!

And when the bird was flown from the cage,
O fool that I am!
Why, I had nor bird nor cage.
Sing merrily, Truth: I tried to put
Truth in a cage!
Heigh-ho! Truth in a cage.

From “The Birth of Venus,” Song

Come with us and play!
See, we have breasts as women!
From your tents by the sea
Come play with us: it is forbidden!

Come with us and play!
Lo, bare, straight legs in the water!