Category W. H. Auden

On Sunday walks Past the shut gates of works The conquerors come And are handsome. Sitting all day By the open window Say what they say Know what to know Who brought and taught Unusual images And new tunes to…

Only the hands are living; to the wheel attracted, Are moved as deer trek desperately towards a creek Through the dust and scrub of the desert, or gently As sunflowers turn to the light. And, as the night takes up…

O Love, the interest itself in thoughtless Heaven, Make simpler daily the beating of man’s heart; within, There in the ring where name and image meet, Inspire them with such a longing as will make his thought Alive like patterns…

O had his mother, near her time, been praying Up to her crucifix and prayed too long? Until exhausted she grew stiff like wood; The future of herself hung dangerous and heavy From her uprightness like a malefactor, And in…

Now from my window-sill I watch the night, The church clock’s yellow face, the green pier light Burn for a new imprudent year; The silence buzzes in my ear; The jets in both the dormitories are out. Under the darkness…

Not from this life, not from this life is any To keep; sleep, day and play would not help there Dangerous to new ghost; new ghost learns from many Learns from old timers what death is, where. Who’s jealous of…

Please Make Yourself at Home Not as that dream Napoleon, rumour’s dread and centre, Before whose riding all the crowds divide, Who dedicates a column and withdraws, Not as that general favourite and breezy visitor To whom the weather and…

Nature is so near: the rooks in the college garden Like agile babies still speak the language of feeling; By the tower the river still runs to the sea and will run, And the stones in that tower are utterly…

Love had him fast but though he fought for breath He struggled only to possess Another, The snare forgotten in the little death, Till you, the seed to which he was a mother. That never heard of love, through love…

Love by ambition Of definition Suffers partition And cannot go From yes to no For no is not love; no is no The shutting of a door The tightening jaw A conscious sorrow; And saying yes Turns love into success,…