Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BALLADE OF WOMAN, by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE Poet's Biography First Line: A woman! Lightly the mysterious word Last Line: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! Subject(s): Women | ||||||||
A WOMAN! lightly the mysterious word Falls from our lips, lightly as though we knew Its meaning, as we say -- a flower, a bird, Or say the moon, the stream, the light, the dew, Simple familiar things, mysterious too; Or as a star is set down on a chart, Named with a name, out yonder in the blue: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! So lightly spoken, and so lightly heard, And yet, strange word, who shall thy sense construe? What sage hath yet fit designation dared? Yet I have sought the dictionaries through, And of thy meaning found me not a clue; Blessing and breaking still the firmest heart, So fairy false, yet so divinely true: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! Mother of God, and Circe, bosom-bared, That nursed our manhood, and our manhood slew; First dream, last sigh, all the long way we fared, Sweeter than honey, bitterer than rue; Thou fated radiance sorrowing men pursue, Thou art the whole of life -- the rest but part Of thee, all things we ever dream or do: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! ENVOI Princess, that all this craft of moonlight threw Across my path, this deep immortal smart Shall still burn on when winds my ashes strew: A woman -- and yet how much more thou art! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARISTOTLE TO PHYLLIS by JOHN HOLLANDER A WOMAN'S DELUSION by SUSAN HOWE JULIA TUTWILER STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN by ANDREW HUDGINS THE WOMEN ON CYTHAERON by ROBINSON JEFFERS TOMORROW by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD LADIES FOR DINNER, SAIPAN by KENNETH KOCH GOODBYE TO TOLERANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV A BALLAD OF LONDON (TO H.W. MASSINGHAM) by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE AFTER THE WAR by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE WHAT OF THE DARKNESS?; TO THE HAPPY DEAD PEOPLE by RICHARD THOMAS LE GALLIENNE |
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