Monday, January 14, 2013

"Poppies on Ludlow Castle" by Willa Cather.

I started reading April Twilights by Willa Cather as the first official title in my Willa Cather project. This poem stuck out to me (perhaps because we live very close to a street named Ludlow? Perhaps because I just love the mood of the poem?). I wanted to share, so you could have a little poetry to get through the day. Enjoy. :)

"Poppies on Ludlow Castle" by Willa Cather

Through halls of vanished pleasure,
And hold of vanished power,
And crypt of faith forgotten,
A came to Ludlow tower.
A-top of arch and stairway,
Of crypt and donjan cell,
Of council hall, and chamber,
Of wall, and ditch, and well,
 
High over grated turrets
Where clinging ivies run,
A thousand scarlet poppies
Enticed the rising sun,
 
Upon the topmost turret,
With death and damp below,--
Three hundred years of spoilage,--
The crimson poppies grow.
 
This hall it was that bred him,
These hills that knew him brave,
The gentlest English singer
That fills an English grave.
 
How have they heart to blossom
So cruel and gay and red,
When beauty so hath perished
And valour so hath sped?
 
When knights so fair are rotten,
And captains true asleep,
And singing lips are dust-stopped
Six English earth-feet deep?
 
When ages old remind me
How much hath gone for naught,
What wretched ghost remaineth
Of all that flesh hath wrought;
 
Of love and song and warring,
Of adventure and play,
Of art and comely building,
Of faith and form and fray--
 
I'll mind the flowers of pleasure,
Of short-lived youth and sleep,
That drunk the sunny weather
A-top of Ludlow keep.

4 comments:

  1. I've got Cather on my list (I just committed to The Classics Club) and this poem has me more excited -- I love her use of language -- sort of old-fashioned, but evocative.

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  2. Ah! A poem I can understand. A nice piece to read first thing in the morning. Thank you for sharing!

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  4. I really need to get my hands on one of this woman's books sometime soon. This is such a beautiful poem.

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