Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE TUNE by JOHN COWPER POWYS

First Line: I PLAYED A CRAZY TUNE
Last Line: AND THE SAME WATERS FLOW.
Subject(s): FLOWERS; LOVE; MOON; MUSIC & MUSICIANS; SINGING & SINGERS;

I played a crazy tune
To the river-weeds.
I played it to the moon,
And the sad dark reeds.

And the face that for so long
Has vexed me hour by hour
Like the rhyme of a lost song,
Like the scent of a dead flower,

Drew near me; and the cold
Lethean, lamentable
Lilt of my love-song old,
To give me her lips was able!

But I played a note too high
Or I played a note too low --
And the same moon looks down from the sky
And the same waters flow.



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