The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #105603   Message #2176802
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
22-Oct-07 - 06:05 PM
Thread Name: BS: Poems that speak to you.
Subject: RE: BS: Poems that speak to you.
Here's one I hunted down today, having come across the first verse a few times and been intrigued. Having read the whole poem I am still intrigued -

Unwelcome
        
WE were young, we were merry, we were very very wise,
And the door stood open at our feast,
When there passed us a woman with the West in her eyes,
And a man with his back to the East.

O, still grew the hearts that were beating so fast,
The loudest voice was still.
The jest died away on our lips as thy passed,
And the rays of July struck chill.

The cups of red wine turned pale on the board,
The white bread black as soot.
The hound forgot the hand of her lord,
She fell down at his foot.

Low let me lie, where the dead dog lies,
Ere I sit me down again at a feast,
When there passes a woman with the West in her eyes,
And a man with his back to the East.


Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861 – 1907)

(I've got a feeling James Thurber once used this in a cartoon, but that may be unfounded.)