The Veteran
Here must I sit and stare,
Withered and wrinkled;
Knowing the spaces there
With blood are sprinkled.
Why in the smoky sky
Missed I the sad truth?
Why did I not die
Young with the blood of youth?
Why did I not die
Hot in the heat of noon?
Here must I sleep and lie
Under a cool moon.
Here must I die acage,
Pale in the pale light.
Cold in my icy age,
Cold in the icy night.
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The Jester in the Trench
"That just reminds me of a yarn," he said;
And look for the body of Lofty Lane
He had a thousand yarns inside his head.
They waited for him, ready with their mirth
And creeping smiles, - then suddenly turned pale,
Grew still, and gazed upon the earth.
They heard no tale. No further word was said.
And with his untold fun,
Half leaning on his gun,
They left him - dead.
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The Brothers
Do you remember how we crept
Across out bedroom to our bed,
Fearing the dark! And how you wept?
And on a sudden lay like lead?
And how I feared that you were dead,
But heard you breathing as you slept?
And now we're buried, buried deep,
And lie in silence head by head.
I neither hear you breathe nor weep.
We lie together in our bed.
I do not fear that you are dead.
I know that you are fast asleep.
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Through A Porthole
If you could lie upon this berth, this berth
whereon I lie,
If you could see a tiny peak uplift its
tingled tusk,
If you could see the purple hills against
the changing sky,
And see a shadowed pinnacle lying in the dusk;
If you could see the sabre-moon shining
on the deep;
You'd say the world was not unkind, but just
a sleeping child,
You'd say the world has gone to sleep.
And while it slept
it smiled.
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Memory
The tangled twilight of your hair
Blew soft against my face,
Ah! We were young and you were fair,
This was the time
And this the place.
The river wound its way along
Beside yon almond tree;
And ever its evening song
It sang to you;
It sang to me.
To-night they told me you were dead,
And watched for me to weep.
‘I’ll sit beside this stream.’ I said
‘I’ll dream awhile,
and then – I’ll sleep.’
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Goodbye
Waft on, thou upward breeze
From the warm south!
And on her wayward mouth
Imprint my far farewells
From these thy seas
And calm hr fears
By whispering in her ears
The sweetest tales that youthful summer tells.
Rush on, thou wintry wind,
From the high north!
Thy mightiness put forth,
And hurl the feathered foam
Afar behind.
Then, with the cries
Of birds in windy skies,
Oh bear me blithely to my southern home.
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Sights
I saw a singer singing to a crowd,-
Singing of laughing life,- and all the while
He sang in tones so shrilly loud,
Not one man had a smile.
I saw a fiddler from a broken plain
Playing his weeping fiddle,- sweet and clear.
He sang of Death and Cries and Pain,-
But no one shed a tear.
I saw a whistling soldier, still and wan,
Firing his rifle from a fearful place,-
But all the time a dying man
Looked long upon his face.
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Rapine
She came from some still mossiness
Of quiet ways; and stood with modest hands;
A warmth of body in a shy distress;
A white shell on the sands.
A slender shell she seemed;
And he, the sea
That rose and gathered, beat and dreamed
And longed so restlessly.
She saw him not this imminent, nor moved
Nor spoke. The hot sea swept;
And smothering her fears
It loosed and loved
And left her as she wept,
Wet with his clasp, and wet with all her tears.
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The Riddle Of The Sphinx
Thou gazing face above the shifting sands!
Oh, turn thy tearless eyes and answer me!
Will honour come to thee and to thy land.
That this should be?
Those swarthy adamantine breasts of stone
Are now matured beneath thine Egypt sun.
Wilt profit by this brood of iron bone
That this be done?
Oh answer me, thou silent gazing face,
All-gifted with the wisdom of the years,
These teeth of Jason, - will they bring thee grace,
Or bring thee tears?
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Before Action
We always had to do our work at night.
I wondered why we had to be so sly.
I wondered why we couldn't have our fight
Under the open sky.
I wondered why I always felt so cold.
I wondered why the orders seemed so slow,
So slow to come, so whisperingly told,
So whisperingly low.
I wondered if my packing-straps were tight,
And wondered why I wondered……Sound
went wild………
and order came…… I ran into the night,
wondering why I smiled.
poem by Leon Gellert
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!