Charles Kingsley Poems

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by Kingsley, Charles

 I GO down from the hills half in gladness, and half with a pain I depart,
Where the Mother with gentlest breathing made music on lip and in heart;
For I know that my childhood is over: a call comes out of the vast,
And the love that I had in the old time, like beauty in twilight, is past.


I am fired...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 With all my will, but much against my heart, 
We two now part. 
My Very Dear, 
Our solace is, the sad road lies so clear. 
It needs no art,
With faint, averted feet 
And many a tear, 
In our opposèd paths to persevere. 
Go thou to East, I West. 
We will not say 
There 's any hope, it is so...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,
 Thy tribute wave deliver:
No more by thee my steps shall be,
 For ever and for ever.

Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,
 A rivulet then a river:
Nowhere by thee my steps shall be
 For ever and for ever.

But here will sigh thine alder tree
 And here thine aspen shiver;
And here by thee...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 ONLY in my deep heart I love you, sweetest heart.
 Many another vesture hath the soul, I pray
Call me not forth from this. If from the light I part
 Only with clay I cling unto the clay.


And ah! my bright companion, you and I must go
 Our ways, unfolding lonely glories, not out own,
Nor from each other gathered, but...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 I

My fairest child, I have no song to give you; 
No lark could pipe to skies so dull and grey: 
Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you 
For every day. 

II 

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; 
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long: 
And so make life, death, and...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 A FLOATING, a floating 
Across the sleeping sea, 
All night I heard a singing bird 
Upon the topmast tree. 

“Oh, came you from the isles of Greece 
Or from the banks of Seine; 
Or off some tree in forests free, 
Which fringe the western main?” 

“I came not off the old world 
Nor yet from off the new—
But I...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; 
Oh, the pleasant sight to see 
Shires and towns from Airly Beacon, 
While my love climbed up to me! 

Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; 
Oh, the happy hours we lay 
Deep in fern on Airly Beacon, 
Courting through the summer's day! 

Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; 
Oh, the weary haunt for me, 
All alone on Airly Beacon,...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 I cannot tell what you say green leaves, 
I cannot tell what you say : 
But I know that there is a spirit in you, 
And a word in you this day. 

I cannot tell what you say, rosy rocks, 
I cannot tell what you say : 
But I know that there is a spirit in you, 
And a...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 “ARE you ready for your steeplechase, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorree? 
Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Baree. 
You’re booked to ride your capping race to-day at Coulterlee, 
You’re booked to ride Vindictive, for all the world to see, 
To keep him straight, and keep him first, and win the run for me.” 
Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Baree. 

She...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 Welcome, wild Northeaster! 
Shame it is to see 
Odes to every zephyr; 
Ne'er a verse to thee. 
Welcome, black Northeaster! 
O'er the German foam; 
O'er the Danish moorlands, 
From thy frozen home. 
Tired are we of summer, 
Tired of gaudy glare, 
Showers soft and steaming, 
Hot and breathless air. 
Tired of listless dreaming, 
Through the lazy day-- 
Jovial wind...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 1 Oh! that we two were Maying
2 Down the stream of the soft spring breeze;
3 Like children with violets playing
4 In the shade of the whispering trees.

5 Oh! that we two sat dreaming
6 On the sward of some sheep-trimmed down,
7 Watching the white mist steaming
8 Over river and mead and town.

9 Oh! that we two lay sleeping
10 In our...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 OH, England is a pleasant place for them that ’s rich and high; 
But England is a cruel place for such poor folks as I; 
And such a port for mariners I ne’er shall see again, 
As the pleasant Isle of Avès, beside the Spanish main. 

There were forty craft in Avès that were both swift and stout, 
All...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 1 "O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
2 And call the cattle home,
3 And call the cattle home
4 Across the sands of Dee";
5 The western wind was wild and dank with foam,
6 And all alone went she.

7 The western tide crept up along the sand,
8 And o'er and o'er the sand,
9 And round and round the sand,
10 As...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 1 Three fishers went sailing away to the west,
2 Away to the west as the sun went down;
3 Each thought on the woman who loved him the best,
4 And the children stood watching them out of the town;
5 For men must work, and women must weep,
6 And there's little to earn, and many to keep,
7 Though the harbour bar...Read more of this...

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by Kingsley, Charles

 1 When all the world is young, lad,
2 And all the trees are green;
3 And every goose a swan, lad,
4 And every lass a queen;
5 Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
6 And round the world away!
7 Young blood must have its course, lad,
8 And every dog his day.

9 When all the world is old, lad,
10 And all the...Read more of this...

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