Night Adelaide Crapsey I have minded me Of the noon-day brightness, And the cricket’s drowsy Singing in the sunshine. . I have minded me Of the slim marsh-grasses That the winds at twilight, Dying, scarcely ripple. . And I cannot sleep. I have minded me...
Narcissus Adelaide Crapsey ‘Boy, lying Where the long grass Edges the pool’s brim, What do you watch There in the water? The blue Colour of Heaven Mirrored, repeated? the brown Tree-trunks and branches Waveringly imaged? These, Boy, do you watch?’ ‘Nay but mine eyes; Nay...
My Birds That Fly No Longer Adelaide Crapsey Have yet forgot, sweet birds, How near the heaven’s lie? Drooping, sick-pinioned, oh Have yet forgot the sky? The air that once I knew Whispered celestial things; I weep who hear no more Upward and rushing wings.
Milking Time Adelaide Crapsey Heard ye the maidens Went through the meadows, Early, O, early, While yet the dew was Wet on the grass? Heard ye the milk-maids Singing and singing? ‘Cushy cow bonny let down your milk, And I will give you a gown...
Mad Song Adelaide Crapsey Grey gaolers are my griefs That will not let me free; The bitterness of tears Is warder unto me. I may not leap or run; I may not laugh nor sing. ‘Thy cell is small,’ they say, ‘Be still thou captived...
Lo, All The Way Adelaide Crapsey Lo, All the Way, Look you, I said, the clouds will break, the sky Grow clear, the road Be easier for my travelling the field, So sodden and dead, Will shimmer with new green and starry bloom, And there...
John-A-Dreams Adelaide Crapsey A laggard in the rear of time’s swift feet, And one who loiters on an aimless way Through lands he knows not; lured by birds to stray In secret paths where silence holds the beat And rust ascending wings. Roads meet; He...
John Keats Adelaide Crapsey Meet thou the event And terrible happening of Thine end: for thou are come Upon the remote, cold place Of ultimate dissolution and With dumb, wide look Thou, impotent, dost feel Impotence creeping on Thy potent soul. Yea, now, caught in...
Incantation Adelaide Crapsey O mia Luna! Porta mi fortuna! (You must say it nine times, curtseying, and then wish.) In rose-pale, fading blue of twilight sky, See, the new moon’s thin crescent shining clear; Nine times I’ll curtsey murmuring mystic words, – And wish good...
Hypnos, God Of Sleep Adelaide Crapsey The shadowy boy of night Crosses the dusking land; He sows his poppy-seeds With steady, gentle hand. The shadowy boy of night Young husbandman of dreams, Garners his gracious blooms By far and moonlit streams.
