"erewhile" poems
Away! the moor is dark beneath the moon,
Rapid clouds have drunk the last pale beam of even:
Away! the gathering winds will call the darkness soon,
And profoundest midnight shroud the serene lights of heaven.
Pause not! the time is past! Every voice cries, ‘Away!’
Tempt not with one last tear thy friend’s ungentle mood:
Thy lover’s eye, so glazed and cold, dares not entreat thy stay:
Duty and dereliction guide thee back to solitude.
Away, away! to thy sad and silent home;
Pour bitter tears on its desolated hearth;
Watch the dim shades as like ghosts they go and come,
And complicate strange webs of melancholy mirth.
The leaves of wasted autumn woods shall float around thine head,
The blooms of dewy Spring shall gleam beneath thy feet:
But thy soul or this world must fade in the frost that binds the dead,
Ere midnight’s frown and morning’s smile, ere thou and peace, may meet.
The cloud shadows of midnight possess their own repose,
For the weary winds are silent, or the moon is in the deep;
Some respite to its turbulence unresting ocean knows;
Whatever moves or toils or grieves hath its appointed sleep.
Thou in the grave shalt rest:—yet, till the phantoms flee,
Which that house and heath and garden made dear to thee erewhile,
Thy remembrance and repentance and deep musings are not free
From the music of two voices, and the light of one sweet smile.
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Erewhile, before the world was old,
When violets grew and celandine,
In Cupid's train we were enrolled:
Erewhile!
Your little hands were clasped in mine,
Your head all ruddy and sun-gold
Lay on my breast which was your shrine,
And all the tale of love was told:
Ah, God, that sweet things should decline,
And fires fade out which were not cold,
Erewhile.
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Let me not be the warhorse to this myth called love
That the wisest of men shall bow before me
Erewhile, that warm light, hid in the clouds above;
Its grim shadows casting my uncertainty
From the chambers of scorn, locked on my own;
Thou drewest near like a wildflower, setting me free
O my torn heart restored, thou hast carefully sewn
Thou art my rescue; and thy smile, the key
Unto every one that hath felt this enchantment,
Whose power turns timid souls into beasts
If this be fate’s scheme, or divine entrapment
In the court of doubts, I testify to its fulfillment
Cometh my love, and delve into thine own heart
I am but a humble man, if I may ask of thee
My beloved, canst thou be with me forever?
Yonder, not far from here, lies our happily ever after
Sep 30, 2014
Sep 30, 2014 at 4:53 AM UTC
*Conflated afore
Twofold elation
Betimes for melancholia
Insentient erewhile
Heretofore
We love semovedly
Together nowise
Enow*
Jul 2, 2015
Jul 2, 2015 at 11:52 AM UTC
Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon's shore,
Through seas where sail was never spread before,
Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast,
And waves her woods above the watery waste,
With prowess more than human forced their way
To the fair kingdoms of the rising day:
What wars they waged, what seas, what dangers passed,
What glorious empire crowned their toils at last,
Venturous I sing, on soaring pinions born,
And all my country's wars the song adorn;
What kings, what heroes of my native land
Thundered on Asia and Afric's strand:
Illustrious shades, who levelled in the dust
The idol-temples and the shrines of lust:
And where, erewhile, foul demons were revered,
To Holy Faith unnumbered altars reared
Illustrious names, with deathless laurels crowned,
While time rolls on in every clime renown'd!
Aug 7, 2014
Aug 7, 2014 at 6:24 AM UTC
I afore
So enamor'd of the thought
Did open up my heart
And let misguided light seep in
Mistaken was I
Though as touch'd by dying light
Trying much to hold on
To what was not
Affix'd was I
Hath grown fond of subtle pain
Did steal me of my strenth
And rob me of my hope
I thought I shan't allow such to pass again
No love is worth such sorrow
Alack and erewhile
And sun shines on the 'morrow
I thought I shan't allow such to pass again
Standing in the sun and in the rain
Whither I met you
And knew you as a friend
I wist and I am fain
Twixt the twain
The teen that what hath seen
I lief to love again
Mar 28, 2016
Mar 28, 2016 at 1:01 PM UTC