RARITIES
Beauty, and grace, and wit are rare;
And even intelligence:
But lovelier than hawthorn seen in May,
Or mistletoe berries on Innocent’s Day
The face that, open as heaven, doth wear —
With kindness for its sunshine there —
Good nature and good sense.
-Walter de la Mare
Thanks to Stephen Pentz for giving me this “bonus poem” earlier this year.
Sconzani reports a hawthorn, also known as the May-tree, blooming right now: Earthstar
SILVER
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
-Walter de la Mare
ALL BUT BLIND
All but blind
….In his chambered hole
Gropes for worms
….The four-clawed Mole.
All but blind
….In the evening sky
The hooded Bat
….Twirls softly by.
All but blind
….In the burning day
The Barn Owl blunders
….On her way.
And blind as are
….These three to me,
So, blind to Some One
….I must be.
-Walter de la Mare
SLEEP
When all, and birds, and creeping beasts,
When the dark of night is deep,
From the moving wonder of their lives
Commit themselves to sleep.
Without a thought, or fear, they shut
The narrow gates of sense;
Heedless and quiet, in slumber turn
Their strength to impotence.
The transient strangeness of the earth
Their spirits no more see:
Within a silent gloom withdrawn,
They slumber in secrecy.
Two worlds they have–a globe forgot,
Wheeling from dark to light;
And all the enchanted realm of dream
That burgeons out of night.
-Walter de la Mare
Gladsome Lights 