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.
......
The Vision Of Judgment
by George Gordon Byron
I
Saint Peter sat by the celestial gate:
His keys were rusty, and the lock was dull,
So little trouble had been given of late;
Not that the place by any means was full,
But since the Gallic era 'eight-eight'
The devils had ta'en a longer, stronger pull,
And 'a pull altogether,' as they say
At sea — which drew most souls another way.
......
Adonais
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
I weep for Adonais -he is dead!
O, weep for Adonais! though our tears
Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head!
And thou, sad Hour, selected from all years
To mourn our loss, rouse thy obscure compeers,
And teach them thine own sorrow, say: "With me
Died Adonais; till the Future dares
Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be
An echo and a light unto eternity!"
......
Duino Elegies: The Tenth Elegy
by Rainer Maria Rilke
That some day, emerging at last from the terrifying vision
I may burst into jubilant praise to assenting angels!
That of the clear-struck keys of the heart not one may fail
to sound because of a loose, doubtful or broken string!
That my streaming countenance may make me more resplendent
That my humble weeping change into blossoms.
Oh, how will you then, nights of suffering, be remembered
with love. Why did I not kneel more fervently, disconsolate
sisters, more bendingly kneel to receive you, more loosely
surrender myself to your loosened hair? We, squanderers of
......
In Memoriam A. H. H.: Preface
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Strong Son of God, immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;
Thine are these orbs of light and shade;
Thou madest Life in man and brute;
Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made.
Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
Thou madest man, he knows not why,
......
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
......
