Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xxiii
Nor later, when with her my childhood died,Was life less sealed to me. The Church becameMy guardian next and mother deified,Who lit within me a more..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xxii
You know the story of my birth, the nameWhich I inherited for good and ill,The secret of my father's fame and shame,His tragedy and death on that..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xxi
If I have since done evil in my life,I was not born for evil. This I know.My soul was a thing pure from sensual strife.No vice of the blood..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xviii
Alas, poor Queen of Beauty! In my heartI could weep for you and your sad graceless doom.You stand at my life's threshold in the partOf king's chief..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xvii
I touched that knee. She did not show surprise,And the earth had not opened at our feet.She did not even laugh. Her foolish eyesTwinkled a moment in..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xvi
Oh, 'tis a terrible thing in early youthTo be assailed by laughter and mute shame,A terrible thing to be befooled forsoothBy one's own foolish face..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xv
Thus it began with laughter. But anonThe ox--eyed queen, who had resumed by roteThe tale of her perfections one by one,Turned by some ominous chance..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xlviii
Suddenly then my strange companion cried,``Bring me the body.'' In a moment moreShe had thrown off her hat, her veil untied,And motioning all..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xlvii
Sublime discussions! Let who will be wise!These are the things that touch us and transcend.The logic of all beauty is surprise,The reason of all love..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xlvi
Not so my little sponsor. She, with eyesProudly unconscious of my fool's display,Talked volubly to all and scorned disguise,While Madame Blanche..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xlv
I followed dumb and shrinking like a thiefClose in her shadow from the women's guess,Yet ruthlessly betrayed for my cheeks' griefFrom head to foot in..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xlix
I will not tell the secrets of that place.When Madame Blanche returned to us againI was kneeling there, while Esther kissed my faceAnd dried and..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xliv
We came at last, alas! I see it yet,With its open windows on the upper floor,To a certain house still stirring, with lights set,And just a chink left..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xliii
How shall I tell my fall? The life of manIs but a tale of tumbles, this way thrownAt his beginning by mere haste of planIn the first gaping ditch..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xlii
And so we went our way,--yes, hand in hand,Like two lost children in some magic woodBaffled and baffling with enchanter's wandThe various beasts that..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xl
She went on talking like a running stream,Without more reason or more pause or stayThan to gather breath and then pursue her whimJust where it led..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xix
I fled the booth with feelings as of Cain,Yet laughing at my own bewilderment.My cheeks had blushed till it was physical pain,And my eyes smarted...
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xiv
Me, too, she doubtless read. For, with her handRaised as for help and pointing to a chair,She bade me, with a gesture, part commandAnd part entreaty..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xiii
A second warning, nor unheeded. YetThe thought appealed to me as no strange thing,Pure though I was, that love impure had setIts seal on that fair..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xii
She was a little woman dressed in black,Who stood on tiptoe with a childish air,Her face and figure hidden in a sacque,All but her eyes and forehead..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Xi
Beyond her sat a second monster. SheIn shape and sense was undisguisedly real,An ox--eyed queen of full--fed majestyAnd giant height and comeliness..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: X
An instant, just an instant, and no more,And it was gone, and I with eyes unsealedSaw the bald pageant stripped to its thought's core,And naked there..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Viii
It was a booth no larger than the rest,No loftier fashioned and no more sublime,As poor a shrine as ever youth possessedIn which to worship truth..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Vii
I had made my round, as yet with little gainOf undiscovered good in that gay place.I had sought my share of pleasure, but in vain.Laughter was not..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Esther, A Sonnet Sequence: Vi
The Lyons fair! In truth it was a HeavenFor idlers' eyes, a feast of curious things,Swings, roundabouts, and shows, the Champions Seven,Dramas of..
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt