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larryhammerPoetry Monday:
I.M.: Margaritae Sorori, William Henley
A late lark twitters from the quiet skies:
And from the west,
Where the sun, his day's work ended,
Lingers as in content,
There falls on the old, gray city
An influence luminous and serene,
A shining peace.
The smoke ascends
In a rosy-and-golden haze. The spires
Shine and are changed. In the valley
Shadows rise. The lark sings on. The sun,
Closing his benediction,
Sinks, and the darkening air
Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night--
Night with her train of stars
And her great gift of sleep.
So be my passing!
My task accomplish'd and the long day done,
My wages taken, and in my heart
Some late lark singing,
Let me be gather'd to the quiet west,
The sundown splendid and serene,
Death.
Henley, another foundation writer of early Modernism,* is only remembered these days for "Invictus," but for a long time this was his other common anthology piece. "I.M." is "In memoriam," so if my rusty Latin can be trusted, the title is "In memory of Margaret's sister." (Edit: see comments.) The last stanza is carved on the headstone, facing west, over the grave of Henley, his wife, and his daughter Margaret, who died age 5 (after naming Wendy in Peter Pan). Biographies I've found mention no other children, still-born or otherwise.
* Among other things, he was the first English poet to use free verse.
---L.
Subject quote from "Tony," Patty Griffin.
I.M.: Margaritae Sorori, William Henley
A late lark twitters from the quiet skies:
And from the west,
Where the sun, his day's work ended,
Lingers as in content,
There falls on the old, gray city
An influence luminous and serene,
A shining peace.
The smoke ascends
In a rosy-and-golden haze. The spires
Shine and are changed. In the valley
Shadows rise. The lark sings on. The sun,
Closing his benediction,
Sinks, and the darkening air
Thrills with a sense of the triumphing night--
Night with her train of stars
And her great gift of sleep.
So be my passing!
My task accomplish'd and the long day done,
My wages taken, and in my heart
Some late lark singing,
Let me be gather'd to the quiet west,
The sundown splendid and serene,
Death.
Henley, another foundation writer of early Modernism,* is only remembered these days for "Invictus," but for a long time this was his other common anthology piece. "I.M." is "In memoriam," so if my rusty Latin can be trusted, the title is "In memory of Margaret's sister." (Edit: see comments.) The last stanza is carved on the headstone, facing west, over the grave of Henley, his wife, and his daughter Margaret, who died age 5 (after naming Wendy in Peter Pan). Biographies I've found mention no other children, still-born or otherwise.
* Among other things, he was the first English poet to use free verse.
---L.
Subject quote from "Tony," Patty Griffin.