Riddles Of Merlin

As I was walking
    Alone by the sea,
"What is that whisper?"
    Said Merlin to me.
"Only," I answered,
    "The sigh of the wave"--
"Oh, no," replied Merlin,
    "'Tis the grass on your grave."

As I lay dreaming
    In churchyard ground
"Listen," said Merlin,
    "What is that sound?"
"The green grass is growing,"
    I answered; but he
Chuckled, "Oh, no!
    'Tis the sound of the sea."

As I went homeward
    At dusk by the shore,
"What is that crimson?"
    Said Merlin once more.
"Only the sun," I said.
"Sinking to rest"--
"Sunset for East," he said,
    "Sunrise for West."

Alfred Noyes

Alfred Noyes was an English poet, short-story writer, and playwright, best known for his ballads, particularly "The Highwayman" (1906). Born on September 16, 1880, in Wolverhampton, he published his first collection of poems, "The Loom of Years," in 1902. His narrative poetry and works often evoked strong imagery and emotion. Noyes also lectured in various universities across the United States. He passed away on June 25, 1958.

Alfred Noyes

The Reward Of Song

Alfred Noyes, Simple Poetry

The Realms Of Gold

Alfred Noyes, Simple Poetry

Peace

Alfred Noyes, Simple Poetry

The Road Through Chaos

Alfred Noyes, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Merlin And The Gleam

I.
O young Mariner,
You from the haven
Under the sea-cliff,
You that are watching
The gray Magician
With eyes of wonder,
I am Merlin,
And I am dying,
I am Merlin
Who follow The Gleam.

II.
Mighty the Wizard
Who found me at sunrise
Sleeping, and woke me
And learnd me Magic!
Great the Master,
And sweet the Magic,
When over the valley,
In early summers,
Over the mountain,
On human faces,
And all around me,
Moving to melody,
Floated The Gleam.

III.
Once at the croak of a Raven who crost it,
A barbarous people,
Blind to the magic,
And deaf to the melody,
Snarld at and cursed me.
A demon vext me,
The light retreated,
The landskip darkend,
The melody deadend,

Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Riddlers

"Thou solitary!" the Blackbird cried,
"I, from the happy Wren,
Linnet and Blackcap, Woodlark, Thrush,
Perched all upon a sweetbrier bush,
Have come at cold of midnight-tide
To ask thee, Why and when
Grief smote thy heart so thou dost sing
In solemn hush of evening,
So sorrowfully, lovelorn Thing -
Nay, nay, not sing, but rave, but wail,
Most melancholic Nightingale?
Do not the dews of darkness steep
All pinings of the day in sleep?
Why, then, when rocked in starry nest
We mutely couch, secure, at rest,
Doth thy lone heart delight to make
Music for sorrow's sake?"
A Moon was there. So still her beam,
It seemed the whole world lay in dream,
Lulled by the watery sea.
And from her leafy night-hung nook
Upon this stranger soft did look

Walter De La Mare

Michael Oaktree

Under an arch of glorious leaves I passed
Out of the wood and saw the sickle moon
Floating in daylight o'er the pale green sea.

It was the quiet hour before the sun
Gathers the clouds to prayer and silently
Utters his benediction on the waves
That whisper round the death-bed of the day.
The labourers were returning from the farms
And children danced to meet them. From the doors
Of cottages there came a pleasant clink
Where busy hands laid out the evening meal.
From smouldering elms around the village spire
There soared and sank the caw of gathering rooks.
The faint-flushed clouds were listening to the tale
The sea tells to the sunset with one sigh.
The last white wistful sea-bird sought for peace,
And the last fishing-boat stole o'er the bar,
And fr...

Alfred Noyes

The Little Salamander

TO MARGOT


When I go free,
I think 'twill be
A night of stars and snow,
And the wild fires of frost shall light
My footsteps as I go;
Nobody - nobody will be there
With groping touch, or sight,
To see me in my bush of hair
Dance burning through the night.




VOICES


Who is it calling by the darkened river
    Where the moss lies smooth and deep,
And the dark trees lean unmoving arms,
    Silent and vague in sleep,
And the bright-heeled constellations pass
    In splendour through the gloom;
Who is it calling o'er the darkened river
        In music, "Come!"?

Who is it wandering in the summer meadows
    Where the children stoop and play
In the green faint-scented flowers, spinning
 ...

Walter De La Mare

The Little Roads

The great roads are all grown over
    That seemed so firm and white.
The deep black forests have covered them.
    How should I walk aright?
How should I thread these tangled mazes,
    Or grope to that far off light?
I stumble round the thickets, and they turn me
    Back to the thickets and the night.

Yet, sometimes, at a word, an elfin pass-word,
    (O, thin, deep, sweet with beaded rain!)
There shines, through a mist of ragged-robins,
    The old lost April-coloured lane,
That leads me from myself; for, at a whisper,
    Where the strong limbs thrust in vain,
At a breath, if my heart help another heart,
    The path shines out for me again.

A thin thread, a rambling lane for lovers
    To the light of the world's one May,
Where the ...

Alfred Noyes

The Old Fool In The Wood

"If I could whisper you all I know,"
    Said the Old Fool in the Wood,
"You'd never say that green leaves grow.
    You'd say, 'Ah, what a happy mood
The Master must be in today,
    To think such thoughts,'
That's what you'd say."

"If I could whisper you all I've heard,"
    Said the Old Fool in the fern,
"You'd never say the song of a bird.
    You'd say, 'I'll listen, and p'raps I'll learn
One word of His joy as He passed this way,
    One syllable more,'
That's what you'd say."

"If I could tell you all the rest,"
    Said the Old Fool under the skies,
"You'd hug your griefs against your breast
    And whisper with love-lit eyes,
'I am one with the sorrow that made the may,
    And the pulse of His heart,'
That's what you'd ...

Alfred Noyes