Delay

The radiance of the star that leans on me
Was shining years ago. The light that now
Glitters up there my eyes may never see,
And so the time lag teases me with how

Love that loves now may not reach me until
Its first desire is spent. The star's impulse
Must wait for eyes to claim it beautiful
And love arrived may find us somewhere else.

Elizabeth Jennings

Elizabeth Jennings was an English poet known for her lyric poetry and precision. She was part of the Movement, a group of British poets in the mid-20th century who championed a return to traditional verse forms and a clear, accessible style. Her work often explored themes of love, religion, and mental illness. Jennings' poetry was deeply personal and introspective, earning her both critical acclaim and a devoted readership. She also worked as a librarian and editor during her career.

Elizabeth Jennings

A Performance Of Henry V At Stratford-Upon-Avon

Elizabeth Jennings, Simple Poetry

Absence

Elizabeth Jennings, Simple Poetry

Friday

Elizabeth Jennings, Simple Poetry

The Enemies

Elizabeth Jennings, Simple Poetry

English

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Spring Star.

    I.


Over the lamp-lit street,
Trodden by hurrying feet,
Where mostly pulse and beat
    Life's throbbing veins,
See where the April star,
Blue-bright as sapphires are,
Hangs in deep heavens far,
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Strangely alive it seems,
Darting keen, dazzling gleams,
Veiling anon its beams,
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In the broad western sky
No orb may shine anigh,
No lesser radiancy
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Spring airs are blowing sweet:
Low in the dusky street
Star-beams and eye-beams meet.
    Rapt in his dreams,
All through the crowded mart
Poet with swift-stirred heart,
Passing beneath, must start,
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Naught doth he note anear,

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Other Stars.

The night is dark, and yet it is not quite:
Those stars are hid that other orbs may shine;
Twin stars, whose rays illuminate the night,
And cheer her gloom, but only deepen mine;
For these fair stars are not what they do seem,
But vanish'd eyes remember'd in a dream.

The night is dark, and yet it brings no rest;
Those eager eyes gaze on and banish sleep;
Though flaming Mars has lower'd his crimson crest,
And weary Venus pales into the deep,
These two with tender shining mock my woe
From out the distant heaven of long ago.

The night is dark, and yet how bright they gleam!
Oh! empty vision of a vanish'd light!
Sweet eyes! must you for ever be a dream
Deep in my heart, and distant from my sight?
For could you shine as once you shone before,
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Juliana Horatia Ewing

Starlight

O beautiful Stars, when you see me go
    Hither and thither, in search of love,
Do you think me faithless, who gleam and glow
    Serene and fixed in the blue above?
    O Stars, so golden, it is not so.

But there is a garden I dare not see,
    There is a place where I fear to go,
Since the charm and glory of life to me
    The brown earth covered there, long ago.
    O Stars, you saw it, you know, you know.

Hither and thither I wandering go,
    With aimless haste and wearying fret;
In a search for pleasure and love?    Not so,
    Seeking desperately to forget.
    You see so many, O Stars, you know.

Adela Florence Cory Nicolson

Flowers And Stars.

"Beloved! thou'rt gazing with thoughtful look
    On those flowers of brilliant hue,
Blushing in spring tide freshness and bloom,
    Glittering with diamond dew:
What dost thou read in each chalice fair,
    And what does each blossom say?
Do they not tell thee, my peerless one,
    Thou'rt lovelier far than they?"

"Not so - not so, but they whisper low
    That quickly will fade their bloom;
Soon will they withered lie on the sod,
    Ravished of all perfume;
They tell that youth and beauty below
    Are doomed, alas! to decay,
And I, like them, in life's flower and prime
    May pass from this earth away."

"Too sad thy thoughts! Look up at yon stars,
    That gleam in the sapphire skies;
Not clearer their radiance, best beloved,
 ...

Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon

Impatience.

        How can I wait until you come to me?
    The once fleet mornings linger by the way,
        Their sunny smiles touched with malicious glee
    At my unrest; they seem to pause, and play
    Like truant children, while I sigh and say,
    How can I wait?

        How can I wait? Of old, the rapid hours
    Refused to pause or loiter with me long;
        But now they idly fill their hands with flowers,
    And make no haste, but slowly stroll among
    The summer blooms, not heeding my one song,
    How can I wait?

        How can I wait? The nights alone are kind;
    They reach forth to a future day, and bring
        Sweet dreams of you to people all my mind;
    And time speeds by on light and airy wing.
    I feast upon your face, I no m...

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From The Sea

All beauty calls you to me, and you seem,
Past twice a thousand miles of shifting sea,
To reach me. You are as the wind I breathe
Here on the ships sun-smitten topmost deck,
With only light between the heavens and me.
I feel your spirit and I close my eyes,
Knowing the bright hair blowing in the sun,
The eager whisper and the searching eyes.

Listen, I love you. Do not turn your face
Nor touch me. Only stand and watch awhile
The blue unbroken circle of the sea.
Look far away and let me ease my heart
Of words that beat in it with broken wing.
Look far away, and if I say too much,
Forget that I am speaking. Only watch,
How like a gull that sparkling sinks to rest,
The foam-crest drifts along a happy wave
Toward the bright verge, the boundary of the wo...

Sara Teasdale