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").
Counterpoint: Two Rooms
He, in the room above, grown old and tired;She, in the room below, his floor her ceiling,Pursue their separate dreams. He turns his light,And throws..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Senlin: His Cloudy Destiny
1Senlin sat before us and we heard him.He smoked his pipe before us and we saw him.Was he small, with reddish hair,Did he light his pipe with a..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The Window
She looks out in the blue morningand sees a whole wonderful worldshe looks out in the morningand sees a whole worldshe leans out of the windowand..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 01: 06: Over The Darkened City, The City Of Towers
Over the darkened city, the city of towers,The city of a thousand gates,Over the gleaming terraced roofs, the huddled towers,Over a somnolent whisper..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 01: 04: Up High Black Walls, Up Sombre Terraces
Up high black walls, up sombre terraces,Clinging like luminous birds to the sides of cliffs,The yellow lights went climbing towards the sky.From high..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 08: Coffins: Interlude
Wind blows. Snow falls. The great clock in its towerTicks with reverberant coil and tolls the hour:At the deep sudden stroke the pigeons fly . . .The..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 01: 02: One, From His High Bright Window In A 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
How To Accompany The Moon Without Walking
Harsh, harsh, the maram grass on the salt dune,seen by the cricket’s eye against the harbor moon,anchor-frost and seaward, the lighthouse moon—the..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Nocturne Of Remembered Spring
I.Moonlight silvers the tops of trees,Moonlight whitens the lilac shadowed wallAnd through the evening fall,Clearly, as if through enchanted..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Turns And Movies: Dancing Adairs
Behold me, in my chiffon, gauze, and tinsel,Flitting out of the shadow into the spotlight,And into the shadow again, without a whisper!--Firefly's my..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
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
The House Of Dust: Part 01: 05: The Snow Floats Down Upon Us, Mingled With Rain
The snow floats down upon us, mingled with rain...It eddies around pale lilac lamps, and fallsDown golden-windowed walls.We were all born of flesh..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 13: The Half-Shut Doors Through Which We Heard That Music
The half-shut doors through which we heard that musicAre softly closed. Horns mutter down to silence.The stars whirl out, the night grows..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Red Is The Color Of Blood
Red is the color of blood, and I will seek it:I have sought it in the grass.It is the color of steep sun seen through eyelids.It is hidden under the..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Senlin: His Dark Origins
1Senlin sits before us, and we see him.He smokes his pipe before us, and we hear him.Is he small, with reddish hair,Does he light his pipe with..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Senlin: His Futile Preoccupations
1I am a house, says Senlin, locked and darkened,Sealed from the sun with wall and door and blind.Summon me loudly, and you'll hear slow footstepsRing..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Illicit
Of what she said to me that night—no matter.The strange thing came next day.My brain was full of music—something she played me;I couldn't remember it..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
From: Preludes For Memnon
LXIII read the primrose and the seaand remember nothingI read Arcturus and the snowand remember nothingI read the green and white book of springand..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Dancing Adairs
Behold me, in my chiffon, gauze, and tinsel,Flitting out of the shadow into the spotlight,And into the shadow again, without a whisper!-Firefly's my..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 09: Cabaret
We sit together and talk, or smoke in silence.You say (but use no words) 'this night is passingAs other nights when we are dead will pass . ...
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Turns And Movies: Violet Moore And Bert Moore
He thinks her little feet should passWhere dandelions star thickly grass;Her hands should lift in sunlit airSea-wind should tangle up her hair.Green..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Herman Melville
‘My towers at last!’—What meant the wordfrom what acknowledged circuit sprungand in the heart and on the tongueat sight of few familiar birdswhen..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Duval's Birds
The parrot, screeching, flew out into the darkness,Circled three times above the upturned facesWith a great whir of brilliant outspread wings,And..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Complete
I.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
Miracles
Twilight is spacious, near things in it seem far,And distant things seem near.Now in the green west hangs a yellow star.And now across old waters you..
© Conrad Potter Aiken