The sun's shape vanished behind bright steel. Its light glowed a while, then all the sky turned to slate. I listened for thunder but none came. Swirls of cloud obscured the peak, while the mountainside had to wait for nightfall to hide it. When the forest was gone I closed the curtains.
The night is too still. What is it up to? Flinging bats about and snooping with its raccoons, I suppose. The usual. But when the moon is concealed there's no telling what might be happening.
I'm still listening for thunder, but only because the cold air feels like it needs to break free, not because I expect the storm to come early. I'm more likely to hear footsteps on the pavement. If I do, I hope the feet belong to deer.
Sunday Verse
by Edwin Morgan
It was so fine we lingered there for hours.
The long broad streets shone strongly after rain.
Sunset blinded the tremble of the crane
we watched from, dazed the heliport-towers.
The mile-high buildings flashed, flushed, greyed, went dark,
greyed, flushed, flashed, chameleons under flak
of cloud and sun. The last far thunder-sack
ripped and spilled its grumble. Ziggurat-stark,
a powerhouse reflected in the lead
of the old twilight river leapt alive
lit up at every window, and a boat
of students rowed past, slid from black to red
into the blaze. But where will they arrive
with all, boat, city, earth, like them, afloat?
The night is too still. What is it up to? Flinging bats about and snooping with its raccoons, I suppose. The usual. But when the moon is concealed there's no telling what might be happening.
I'm still listening for thunder, but only because the cold air feels like it needs to break free, not because I expect the storm to come early. I'm more likely to hear footsteps on the pavement. If I do, I hope the feet belong to deer.
Sunday Verse
Clydegrad
by Edwin Morgan
It was so fine we lingered there for hours.
The long broad streets shone strongly after rain.
Sunset blinded the tremble of the crane
we watched from, dazed the heliport-towers.
The mile-high buildings flashed, flushed, greyed, went dark,
greyed, flushed, flashed, chameleons under flak
of cloud and sun. The last far thunder-sack
ripped and spilled its grumble. Ziggurat-stark,
a powerhouse reflected in the lead
of the old twilight river leapt alive
lit up at every window, and a boat
of students rowed past, slid from black to red
into the blaze. But where will they arrive
with all, boat, city, earth, like them, afloat?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-16 11:06 pm (UTC)I also find some of them on Poets.org, Poetry Foundation, and other web sites.
You can also find many fee downloadable eBooks of public domain poetry at Google Books and in the text collections at The Internet Archive.
One great advantage of getting something from a web page is that I can copy and paste it. In fact the first time I did that it was because I was pressed for time, not because I was trying to broaden my selection beyond the poetry in my own book collection. I have ended up buying particular books after finding poems from them on the Internet, though.