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").
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 09
This one I saw once and loved, and never saw her again.Shall I count them for you upon my fingers?Or like a priest solemnly sliding beads?Or pretend..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
When You Are Not Surprised
When you are not surprised, not surprised,nor leap in imagination from sunlight into shadowor from shadow into sunlightsuiting the color of fright or..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Melody In A Restaurant
The cigarette smoke loops and slides above us,Dipping and swirling as the waiter passes.You strike a match and stare upon the flame.The tiny..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 04: 05: The Bitter Love-Song
No, I shall not say why it is that I love you—Why do you ask me, save for vanity?Surely you would not have me, like a mirror,Say 'yes,—your hair..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 06: Adele And Davis
s dingy room,The wigs and costumes scattered around the floor,—Yellows and greens in the dark,—she walked againThose nightmare streets which she had..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 07: Two Lovers: Overtones
Two lovers, here at the corner, by the steeple,Two lovers blow together like music blowing:And the crowd dissolves about them like a sea.Recurring..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 11: Conversation: Undertones
What shall we talk of? Li Po? Hokusai?You narrow your long dark eyes to fascinate me;You smile a little. . . .Outside, the night goes by.I walk alone..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The Tower
One, from his high bright window in a tower,Leans out, as evening falls,And sees the advancing curtain of the showerSplashing its silver on roofs and..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The Dreamer Of Dreams
The sun goes down in a cold pale flare of light.The trees grow dark: the shadows lean to the east:And lights wink out through the windows, one by..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 15
The music of the morning is red and warm;Snow lies against the walls;And on the sloping roof in the yellow sunlightPigeons huddle against the..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Stage Direction
It is a shabby backdrop of bright stars:one of the small interstices of time:the worn out north star northward, and Orionto westward spread in ruined..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 03: Interlude
The warm sun dreams in the dust, the warm sun fallsOn bright red roofs and walls;The trees in the park exhale a ghost of rain;We go from door to door..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 05: Melody In A Restaurant
The cigarette-smoke loops and slides above us,Dipping and swirling as the waiter passes;You strike a match and stare upon the flame.The tiny fire..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 09: Interlude
The days, the nights, flow one by one above us,The hours go silently over our lifted faces,We are like dreamers who walk beneath a sea.Beneath high..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 07: Porcelain
You see that porcelain ranged there in the window—Platters and soup-plates done with pale pink rosebuds,And tiny violets, and wreaths of ivy?See how..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 04: 02: Death: And A Derisive Chorus
The door is shut. She leaves the curtained office,And down the grey-walled stairs comes trembling slowlyTowards the dazzling street.Her withered hand..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 04: 03: Palimpsest: A Deceitful Portrait
Well, as you say, we live for small horizons:We move in crowds, we flow and talk together,Seeing so many eyes and hands and faces,So many mouths, and..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The Dance Of Life
Gracious and lovable and sweet,She made his jaded pulses beat,And made the glare of streets grow dimAnd life more soft and hushed for him….Over her..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 01: The Round Red Sun Heaves Darkly Out Of The Sea
The round red sun heaves darkly out of the sea.The walls and towers are warmed and gleam.Sounds go drowsily up from streets and wharves.The city..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 01: As Evening Falls
As evening falls,And the yellow lights leap one by oneAlong high walls;And along black streets that glisten as if with rain,The muted city seemsLike..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 04: 01: Clairvoyant
'This envelope you say has something in itWhich once belonged to your dead son—or somethingHe knew, was fond of? Something he remembers?—The soul..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 01
The girl in the room beneathBefore going to bedStrums on a mandolinThe three simple tunes she knows.How inadequate they are to tell how her heart..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 12: Witches' Sabbath
Now, when the moon slid under the cloudAnd the cold clear dark of starlight fell,He heard in his blood the well-known bellTolling slowly in heaves of..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 10: Letter
From time to time, lifting his eyes, he seesThe soft blue starlight through the one small window,The moon above black trees, and clouds, and..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 04: Nightmare
'Draw three cards, and I will tell your future . . .Draw three cards, and lay them down,Rest your palms upon them, stare at the crystal,And think of..
© Conrad Potter Aiken