Translations. - Three Pairs And One. (From Genestet.)

You have two ears--and but one mouth:
Let this, friend, be a token--
Much should be heard, and not so much
        Be spoken.

You have two eyes--and but one mouth:
That is an indication--
Much must you see, but little serves
        Relation.

You have two hands--and but one mouth:
Receive the hint you meet with--
For labour two, but only one
        To eat with.

George MacDonald

George MacDonald (1824–1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister best known for his fairy tales and fantasy novels. He was a pioneer in the fantasy genre, influencing notable writers such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. His major works include "Phantastes" and "Lilith," as well as numerous poems and other literary works. MacDonald's writings are characterized by their imaginative qualities and deep spiritual insight.

George MacDonald

Little Elfie.

George MacDonald, Simple Poetry

A Thanksgiving For F. D. Maurice

George MacDonald, Simple Poetry

When The Storm Was Proudest

George MacDonald, Simple Poetry

Morning Hymn

George MacDonald, 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.

Two In One

    Were thou and I the white pinions
    On some eager, heaven-born dove,
    Swift would we mount to the old dominions,
    To our rest of old, my love!

    Were thou and I trembling strands
    In music's enchanted line,
    We would wait and wait for magic hands
    To untwist the magic twine.

    Were we two sky-tints, thou and I,
    Thou the golden, I the red;
    We would quiver and glow and darken and die,
    And love until we were dead!

    Nearer than wings of one dove,
    Than tones or colours in chord,
    We are one--and safe, and for ever, my love,
    Two thoughts in the heart of one Lord.

George MacDonald

Translations. - Sayings Of Confucius. (From Schiller.)

I.

Threefold is of Time the tread:
Lingering comes the Future pacing hither;
Dartlike is the Now gone thither;
Stands the Past aye moveless, foot and head.

    No impatience wings its idle
Tread of leisurely delay;
Fear or doubt it cannot bridle
Should it headlong run away;
No remorse, no incantation
Moves the standing from its station.

    Wouldst thou end thy earthly journey
Wise and of good fortune full,
Make the Lingering thine attorney
Thee to counsel--not thy tool;
Not for friend the Flying take,
Nor thy foe the Standing make.


II.

Threefold is of Space the way:
    On unresting, without stay,
    Strives the Length into the distance;
    Ceaseless pours the Breadth's insistence
    Bottoml...

George MacDonald

Translations. - Part I. Sonnet Lix. (From Petrarch.)

I am so weary with the burden old
Of foregone faults, and power of custom base,
That much I fear to perish from the ways,
And fall into my enemy's grim fold.
True, a high friend, to free me, not with gold,
Came, of ineffable and utmost grace--
Then straightway vanished from before my face,
So that in vain I strive him to behold.
But his voice yet comes echoing below:
O ye that labour, the way open lies!
Come unto me lest some one shut the gate!
--What heavenly grace--what love will--or what fate--
The pinions of a dove on me bestow
That I may rest, and from the earth arise?

George MacDonald

Translations. - Milton's Italian Poems. Ii.

As in the twilight brown, on hillside bare,
Useth to go the little shepherd maid,
Watering some strange fair plant, poorly displayed,
Ill thriving in unwonted soil and air
Far from its native springtime's genial care;
So on my ready tongue hath Love assayed
In a strange speech to wake new flower and blade,
While I of thee, proud yet so debonair,
Sing songs whose sense is to my people lost--
Yield the fair Thames, and the fair Arno gain.
Love willed it so, and I, at others' cost,
Already knew Love never willed in vain:
Would my heart slow and bosom hard were found
To him who plants from heaven so fair a ground!

George MacDonald

Translations. - Knowledge. (From Schiller.)

In these epigrams I have altered the form, which in the original is the elegiac distich.


To this man, 'tis a goddess tall,
Who lifts a star-encircled head;
To that, a fine cow in a stall,
Which gives him butter to his bread.

George MacDonald

Translations. - Die Heimkehr. (From Heine.)

LX.

They have company this evening,
And the house is full of light;
Up there at the shining window
Moves a shadowy form in white.

Thou seest me not--in the darkness
I stand here below, apart;
Yet less, ah less thou seest
Into my gloomy heart!

My gloomy heart it loves thee,
Loves thee in every spot:
It breaks, it bleeds, it shudders--But
into it thou seest not!


LXII.

Diamonds hast thou, and pearls,
And all by which men lay store;
And of eyes thou hast the fairest--
Darling, what wouldst thou more?

Upon thine eyes so lovely
Have I a whole army-corps
Of undying songs composed--
Dearest, what wouldst thou more?

And with thine eyes so lovely
Thou hast tortured me very sore,
And ...

George MacDonald