Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON REREADING CATULLUS, by HARRY HIBBARD KEMP Poet's Biography First Line: The flutes, the silver flutes began with dawn Last Line: Or birds that brought awakening to the flutes? Subject(s): Birds; Flutes; Music & Musicians | ||||||||
The flutes, the silver flutes began with dawn, With dawn the flutes and hidden birds began; All tremulous with stops the music ran Of light, skilled fingers lifted or laid on; The birds were practiced, too, and played upon Obedient throats that tracked no casual plan: For as they played they all looked up at Pan -- Nor had the flutes his leadership foregone. Then I saw altars gleaming, marble-pure, With fire -- or day -- too bright to shine in words; Again, I saw the satyrs' quick pursuits, The nymphs' delayed escapes, with yielding sure, While -- was it flutes that waked the hidden birds Or birds that brought awakening to the flutes? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LINER NOTES TO AN IMAGINARY PLAYLIST by TERRANCE HAYES VARIATIONS: 13 by CONRAD AIKEN BELIEVE, BELIEVE by BOB KAUFMAN ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT by BOB KAUFMAN MUSIC by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES THE POWER OF MUSIC by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES A SAILOR CHANTEY (ON BARK 'PESTALLOZI' OFF TRISTAN D'ACUNHA ISLANDS) by HARRY HIBBARD KEMP |
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