Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PROLOGUE FOR THE SILVERDALE VILLAGE PLAYERS: EASTER 1922, by GORDON BOTTOMLEY Poet's Biography First Line: Neighbours and friends, we come to-night Last Line: Before you all another year. Subject(s): Actors & Actresses; Actresses | ||||||||
NEIGHBOURS and friends, we come tonight To tell a tale and shew a sight That never since our Silverdale Was first built up among the pale Old rocks and woods of oak and fir And heaths of gorse and juniper, Nor since the sea first left the land Then took it back with the other hand, Has been attempted here as now We have a mind to try and shew. We call ourselves the Village Players, And acting is our game -- like theirs Who, half a thousand years ago, Before the towns began to grow, Kept the high feasts of their own places With plays and dances, painted faces And lovely clothes and lively tunes And hearts as eager and light as June's With all the quiver of Springtime in it And Summer coming every minute. The world has changed too much since then, But, if we like, we later men Can do as much as anyone Who ever drew from wind and sun, From earth and heaven, such life as ours. We never half explore our powers Of joy, discovery and delight, We never get the good we might Out of our spell of being alive: It does not matter how much we thrive If, when there are no more days to live, Beauty has something still to give. Beauty of colours and shapes and sounds And words -- by these our life abounds In things worth having, and there's no way Of getting them that beats a play. And all the better we shall get them If for ourselves we try to net them, And play ourselves instead of paying Other people to do our playing As townsfolk do, and spread the tale Of Silverdale folk for Silverdale. So listen well to us to-night, And if we do not do it right Be judges moved to lenience; Remember 'tis our first offence, And bind us over to appear Before you all another year. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MOVIE STAR IN THE PROJECTION ROOM by EVE MERRIAM DO YOU WANT TO BE EXCELLENT AN ACTRESS NO NOT THAT EITHER by ALICE NOTLEY HOMAGE TO SHARON STONE (1) by LYNN EMANUEL HOMAGE TO SHARON STONE (2) by LYNN EMANUEL POST-MODERNISM by JAMES GALVIN FILM AND FLESH by CLARENCE MAJOR MOVIE STAR PETER AT THE SUPPER FOR STREET PEOPLE by DAVID FERRY BALLADE OF DEAD ACTORS by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY |
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