Three from Q II

Selections from The Oxford Book of English Verse (New Edition).

Evening on Calais Beach

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
   The holy time is quiet as a Nun
   Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the sea:
   Listen! the mighty Being is awake,
   And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder—everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
   If thou appear untouch'd by solemn thought,
   Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
   And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
   God being with thee when we know it not.

William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

Meeting at Night

The gray sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!

Robert Browning (1812–1889)

Serenade

Softly, O midnight Hours!
      Move softly o'er the bowers
Where lies in happy sleep a girl so fair!
      For ye have power, men say,
      Our hearts in sleep to sway,
And cage cold fancies in a moonlight snare.
      Round ivory neck and arm
      Enclasp a separate charm;
Hang o'er her poised, but breathe nor sigh nor prayer:
      Silently ye may smile,
      But hold your breath the while,
And let the wind sweep back your cloudy hair!

      Bend down your glittering urns,
      Ere yet the dawn returns,
And star with dew the lawn her feet shall tread;
      Upon the air rain balm,
      Bid all the woods be calm,
Ambrosial dreams with healthful slumbers wed;
      That so the Maiden may
      With smiles your care repay,
When from her couch she lifts her golden head;
      Waking with earliest birds,
      Ere yet the misty herds
Leave warm 'mid the gray grass their dusky bed.

Aubrey de Vere (1814–1902)

The Oxford Book of English Verse (1939), ed. Arthur Quiller-Couch, ## 535, 733, 742; pp. 615, 875, 891.

See also Three from Q: Selections from The Oxford Book of English Verse (New Edition).

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 09/07/03 12:02:59 PM
Categorized as Literary & Sunday Poetry Series.