Favourite Poem

[athersgeo]

So...that poetry meme going around...thought I'd contribute. This is, believe it or not, one I studied for GCSE Eng Lit, and while that turned me sour on Romeo and Juliet (and forced me to read the utterly plotless Great Expectations), it did turn me onto some very good poetry. Dylan Thomas was a favourite of just about everyone (I suspect the exam board got probably somewhere in the region of 40 out of 60 exam essays on Fern Hill!), but this was my favourite...

Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience

I had a silver penny
And an apricot tree
And I said to the sailor
On the white quay

Sailor O sailor
Will you bring me
If I give you my penny
And my apricot tree

A fez from Algeria
An Arab drum to beat
A little gilt sword
And a parakeet?'

And he smiled and he kissed me
As strong as death
And I saw his red tongue
And I felt his sweet breath

'You may keep your penny
And your apricot tree
And I'll bring your presents
Back from the sea.'

O the ship dipped down
On the rim of the sky
And I waited while three
Long summers went by

Then one steel morning
On the white quay
I saw a grey ship
Come in from the sea

Slowly she came
Across the bay
For her flashing rigging
Was shot away

All round her wake
The seabirds cried
And flew in and out
Of the hole in her side

Slowly she came
In the path of the sun
And I heard the sound
Of a distant gun

And a stranger came running
Up to me
From the deck of the ship
And he said, said he

'O are you the boy
Who would wait on the quay
With the silver penny
And the apricot tree?

I've a plum-coloured fez
And a drum for thee
And a sword and a parakeet
From over the sea.'

'O where is the sailor
With the bold red hair?
And what is that volley
On the bright air?

O where are the other
Girls and boys?
And why have you brought me
Children's toys?'

CHARLES CAUSLEY

Comments

[antigone-ks.livejournal.com]

Ah, dude. That's all bittersweet and kinda weepy.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

And also, as every good nursery rhyme should be, vaguely creepy, too - the more you look into it :) I've read poems before but this is one of the few that I can come back to time and time again and see something new or different in it.

[antigone-ks.livejournal.com]

Creepy indeed- like why is the sailor tongue-kissing a little kid?

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

i like dylan thomas. very nice!

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

I should clarify; the poem I've posted ISN'T by Dylan Thomas - because I am contrary :)

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

hmmm. if i actually READ the letters at the bottom, i would have figured it out myself. damn you, letters! {shakes fist}

regardless, i like dylan thomas, and i like the poem you posted. which, after reading all the letters in your post, i know are two different things.

[athersgeo.livejournal.com]

*hugs* It's OK - I'm the moron for writing an incoherent post.