Elegy Poems
Duino Elegies: The First Elegy
by Rainer Maria Rilke
Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'
hierarchies? and even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
And so I force myself, swallow and hold back
the surging call of my dark sobbing.
......
Elegy Iii: Change
by John Donne
Although thy hand and faith, and good works too,
Have seal'd thy love which nothing should undo,
Yea though thou fall back, that apostasy
Confirm thy love; yet much, much I fear thee.
Women are like the Arts, forc'd unto none,
Open to'all searchers, unpriz'd, if unknown.
If I have caught a bird, and let him fly,
Another fouler using these means, as I,
May catch the same bird; and, as these things be,
Women are made for men, not him, nor me.
......
Love Elegy, To Laura
by Amelia Opie
Too heedless friend, why thus augment the flame
That glows resistless in my beating breast?
Why with thy praises grace his fatal name,
Who robs thy Emma's hapless heart of rest?
Why needest thou dwell on Henry's graceful ease;
Why praise the timid worth his glance reveals;
Why speak enraptured of his power to please,
Whose power to wound my aching bosom feels?
......
O Captain! My Captain!
by Walt Whitman
O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills; 10
......
Elegy
by Dylan Thomas
Too proud to die; broken and blind he died
The darkest way, and did not turn away,
A cold kind man brave in his narrow pride
On that darkest day, Oh, forever may
He lie lightly, at last, on the last, crossed
Hill, under the grass, in love, and there grow
Young among the long flocks, and never lie lost
Or still all the numberless days of his death, though
......
War on Fertile Ground
by Abdulazeez Garba
Beneath the lake, in Gray-town's hollow,
A fertile field once breathed and grew
A place of plenty, whispered immortality,
Where no grave ever took root.
It sounded so nice,
Yet sad to see:
Pain and sorrow are strewn across the world,
Colonies and states come to pass.
......
The Elegy: Raila Amolo Odinga
by Aloo Denish Obiero
The titan has departed.
The legend has entered the hall of heroes.
The enigma has joined the pantheon of immortals.
Kenya’s torchbearer of democracy has crossed over.
Africa’s voice of conscience has become one with eternity.
The world’s statesman has slipped the surly bonds of earth.
His voice is stilled, yet his dream roars still.
His body is silent, yet his vision breathes on.
......
The Death of a Man
by Ajay Tamla
It is not the body
that withers with time,
but the spirit within,
no longer stirred
by the simple joy of life.
Man dies not once,
but twice—
first in the body,
and then in memory,
......
We Dead
by Joe Cyr
(epanalepsis)
We Dead are amassed in a vortex of Hate:
Enshrined underneath Towers of Light are we dead;
Collected from the Pentagon walls were we dead;
Scorched fields mark more sacrifices by we dead;
Joined by bomb targets in Israel are we dead;
Souls from West Bank reprisals merge with we dead;
Victims of terrorism and revenge are we dead;
......
Release
by Joe Cyr
(double inverted nonet)
see
the clouds
without form
all wander free
Heaven must be thus
looking over our world
waxing and waning at will
......
