 Poetry: July 23, 2014 Issue [#6450] |
  Poetry
This week: Alfred Austin Edited by: Stormy Lady  
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Love's Blindness
by Alfred Austin
Now do I know that Love is blind, for I
Can see no beauty on this beauteous earth,
No life, no light, no hopefulness, no mirth,
Pleasure nor purpose, when thou art not nigh.
Thy absence exiles sunshine from the sky,
Seres Spring's maturity, checks Summer's birth,
Leaves linnet's pipe as sad as plover's cry,
And makes me in abundance find but dearth.
But when thy feet flutter the dark, and thou
With orient eyes dawnest on my distress,
Suddenly sings a bird on every bough,
The heavens expand, the earth grows less and less,
The ground is buoyant as the ether now,
And all looks lovely in thy loveliness.
A November Note
by Alfred Austin
Why, throstle, do you sing
In this November haze?
Singing for what? for whom?
Deem you that it is Spring,
Or that your lonely lays
Will stave off Winter's gloom?
Then did the bird reply:
``I sing because I know
That Spring will surely come:
That is the reason why,
Though menaced by the snow,
Even now I am not dumb.
``But few are they that hear,
And fewer still that feel,
The meaning of my song,
Until the note be clear,
Re-echoed be the peal,
Early, and late, and long.
``But you have heard and owned
The sound of my refrain,
Yet tentative and low.
Thus, poet, be intoned
Your own foreshadowing strain,
Trusting that some will know:
``That some will know and say,
When greetings of the Spring
Wake Winter from its bed,
This is the self-same lay
We overheard him sing
When dead hearts deemed him dead.''
On May 30, 1835, Joseph and Mary Austin welcomed son Alfred Austin, into their family. Joseph Austin, was a merchant in the city of Leeds, Mary Austin was the sister of Joseph Locke, a member of Parliament and a civil engineer. The family lived in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Austin had a very Roman Catholic upbringing and a good childhood. He went to school first at Stoneyhurst College and then went on to St. Mary's College, Oscott. Austin studied law at the University of London where he received a B.A. in 1853. He became a barrister in 1857 before leaving law to concentrate on literature. His decision to leave law came on the heels of his father's death in 1861. His passing left Austin with the financial means to pursue what he really wanted to.
In 1855, he published “Randolph: A Poem in Two Cantos,” and three years later he published a novel, entitled “Five Years of It” Austin married Austin married Hester Jane Homan-Mulock On November 14, 1865. Jane proudly supported her husband throughout his career. He began his career as journalist in 1866, he worked as a foreign affairs writer for the London Standard. He was a correspondent during the Franco-German war in 1870. He then served as the German correspondent to Congress in Berlin in 1844.
During this time Austin published several political writings "Russia Before Europe" in 1861. He then wrote "Tory Horrors” published in 1876 followed by "England's Policy and Peril" in 1877.Austin founded the National Review in 1883 with William John Courthope, who was his co-editor until he retired. After that Austin became sole editor for the National Review. Austin’s only popular book “The Garden that I Love” was published in 1894, followed by Veronica's Garden in 1895. Three years later he published “Lamia's Winter Quarters” in 1898 and two year after that “Spring and Autumn in Ireland” in 1900.
Austin wrote many works over his lifetime. His last publications were "A Lesson in Harmony” published in 1904 followed by “The Poet's Diary” later that same year. “Sacred and Profane Love and Other Poems” was published in 1908. Then he wrote “The Bridling of Pegasus: Prose Papers on Poetry” published in 1910. In 1911 he wrote his autobiography “The Autobiography of Alfred Austin, Poet Laureate, 1835–1910.” Alfred Austin died on June 2, 1913 at the age of 78, in his home in Ashford, Kent, England.
The Evening Light
by Alfred Austin
I
Angels their silvery trumpets blow,
At dawn, to greet the Morning Glow,
And mortals lift adoring eyes
To see the glorious sun arise.
Then, winged by Faith, and spurred by Hope
Youth scans the hill, youth scales the slope.
Its pulses bound, its thoughts exult,
It finds no danger difficult,
Quickens its pace, disdaining ease
Victor before it comes and sees,
Feeling the Universe its own,
The Sovereign of a Self-made Throne.
II
Each hope fulfilled, obtained each prayer,
We glory in the Noonday Glare.
Welcome the blinding heat of strife,
Deeming resistance part of life.
We deal the blow, return the stroke,
Fighting our way through dust and smoke,
Until, our battle-banner furled,
We tower above a conquered World;
Whether one leads mankind along
By gift of speech or grace of song,
Seizes by forceful hand the helm,
Or adds an Empire to the Realm,
Confronts the sun with forehead bare,
Exulting in the Noonday Glare.
III
But, as the lengthening shadows glide
Silent towards the eventide,
And dew baptizes leaf and flower
In twilight's sanctuary hour,
A sacred Something haunts the air,
Tender as love, devout as prayer,
And in the lofty dome afar
Glimmers one bright outriding star,
Announcing to the watchful sight
Coming battalions of the Night.
Then Noonday Glare and Morning Glow
Fade into shadowy Long-ago.
One feels Earth's vain ambitions fade
Into the vanished dust they made.
All that the glow of dawn foretold,
And all the glare of noon unrolled,
Seem nothing to the quiet joy
No clamour mars, no cares destroy,
'Twixt restless day and restful night,
That cometh with the Evening Light.
Thank you all!
Stormy Lady
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The winner of "Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest" [ASR] is:
| |  | No Cure (E)
Finished 7/18/2014. Written for Stormy's Poetry Newsletter & Contest.
#2001062 by Lizzibear  |
Once I was your only lover
My tender heart’s love was in vain
You have left me for another
My fragile heart cries out in pain
My heart longs for you to be near
To tell you that my love is true
Though I can’t count but a single tear
Which my soul has shed over you
Despair etched firmly in my mind
My soul wants you to stay away
But my heart believes love is blind
And calls you to come back to stay
Because my heart loves you dearly
Hope overrides my soul and mind
The end I believe sincerely
Means no words of love will I find
You have been untrue to me love
I won’t beg for you to come back
So I plead to the God above
To turn my world away from black
No more tears for my broken heart
No more despair can I endure
For so long you have played your part
Now I am in love with no cure
Honorable mention:
| |  | Invalid Item
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#2001166 by Not Available. |
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