Poetry

The Great Hunt 

Carl Sandburg

I cannot tell you now;
When the wind’s drive and whirl
Blow me along no longer,
And the wind’s a whisper at last–
Maybe I’ll tell you then–
some other time.

When the rose’s flash to the sunset
Reels to the rack and the twist,
And the rose is a red bygone,
When the face I love is going
And the gate to the end shall clang,
And it’s no use to beckon or say, “So long”–
Maybe I’ll tell you then–
some other time.

I never knew any more beautiful than you:
I have hunted you under my thoughts,
I have broken down under the wind
And into the roses looking for you.
I shall never find any
greater than you.

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I Arise from Dreams of Thee

Percy Bysshe Shelley

I arise from dreams of thee 
In the first sweet sleep of night, 
When the winds are breathing low, 
And the stars are shining bright 
I arise from dreams of thee, 
And a spirit in my feet 
Has led me — who knows how? — 
To thy chamber-window, sweet! 

The wandering airs they faint 
On the dark, the silent stream, — 
The champak odors fall 
Like sweet thoughts in a dream, 
The nightingale’s complaint, 
It dies upon her heart, 
As I must die on thine, 
O, beloved as thou art! 

O, lift me from the grass! 
I die, I faint, I fall! 
Let thy love in kisses rain 
On my lips and eyelids pale, 
My cheek is cold and white, alas! 
My Heart beats loud and fast 
Oh! press it close to thine again, 
Where it will break at last!

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Sonnet 105: Let Not My Love be Called Idolatry 

William Shakespeare

Let not my love be called idolatry,
Nor my belovèd as an idol show,
Since all alike my songs and praises be
To one, of one, still such, and ever so.
Kind is my love today, tomorrow kind,
Still constant in a wondrous excellence;
Therefore my verse to constancy confined,
One thing expressing, leaves out difference.
“Fair, kind, and true” is all my argument,
“Fair, kind, and true” varying to other words;
And in this change is my invention spent,
Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords.
Fair, kind, and true, have often lived alone.
Which three till now never kept seat in one. 

Joy

Carl Sandburg

Let a joy keep you.
Reach out your hands
And take it when it runs by,
As the Apache dancer
Clutches his woman.
I have seen them
Live long and laugh loud,
Sent on singing, singing,
Smashed to the heart
Under the ribs
With a terrible love.
Joy always,
Joy everywhere–
Let joy kill you!
Keep away from the little deaths.

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Your Feet

Pablo Neruda

When I cannot look at your face 
I look at your feet. 
Your feet of arched bone, 
your hard little feet. 
I know that they support you, 
and that your sweet weight 
rises upon them. 
Your waist and your breasts, 
the doubled purple 
of your nipples, 
the sockets of your eyes 
that have just flown away, 
your wide fruit mouth, 
your red tresses, 
my little tower. 
But I love your feet 
only because they walked 
upon the earth and upon 
the wind and upon the waters, 
until they found me.

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Your Laughter

Pablo Neruda

Take bread away from me, if you wish, 
take air away, but 
do not take from me your laughter. 

Do not take away the rose, 
the lance flower that you pluck, 
the water that suddenly 
bursts forth in joy, 
the sudden wave 
of silver born in you. 

My struggle is harsh and I come back 
with eyes tired 
at times from having seen 
the unchanging earth, 
but when your laughter enters 
it rises to the sky seeking me 
and it opens for me all 
the doors of life. 

My love, in the darkest 
hour your laughter 
opens, and if suddenly 
you see my blood staining 
the stones of the street, 
laugh, because your laughter 
will be for my hands 
like a fresh sword. 

Next to the sea in the autumn, 
your laughter must raise 
its foamy cascade, 
and in the spring, love, 
I want your laughter like 
the flower I was waiting for, 
the blue flower, the rose 
of my echoing country. 

Laugh at the night, 
at the day, at the moon, 
laugh at the twisted 
streets of the island, 
laugh at this clumsy 
boy who loves you, 
but when I open 
my eyes and close them, 
when my steps go, 
when my steps return, 
deny me bread, air, 
light, spring, 
but never your laughter 
for I would die.

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