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Katharine Tynan Poems

A collection of select Katharine Tynan famous poems that were written by Katharine Tynan or written about the poet by other famous poets. PoetrySoup is a comprehensive educational resource of the greatest poems and poets on history.

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by Tynan, Katharine
 Here in the garden-bed, 
Hoeing the celery, 
Wonders the Lord has made 
Pass ever before me.
I see the young birds build, 
And swallows come and go, 
And summer grow and gild, 
And winter die in snow. 

Many a thing I note,
And store it in my mind, 
For all my ragged coat 
That scarce will stop the wind. 
I light...Read more of this...



by Tynan, Katharine
 Thy kingdom come ! Yea, bid it come! 
But when Thy kingdom first began 
On earth, Thy kingdom was a home,
A child, a woman, and a man. 

The child was in the midst thereof, 
O, blessed Jesus, holiest One! 
The centre and the fount of love 
Mary and Joseph's little Son. 

Wherever on the earth shall be 
A child,...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 I am the pillars of the house;
The keystone of the arch am I.
Take me away, and roof and wall
Would fall to ruin me utterly.

I am the fire upon the hearth,
I am the light of the good sun,
I am the heat that warms the earth,
Which else were colder than a stone.

At me the children warm their hands;
I am their light...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 God bless the little orchard brown 
Where the sap stirs these quickening days. 
Soon in a white and rosy gown 
The trees will give great praise. 

God knows I have it in my mind, 
The white house with the golden eaves. 
God knows since it is left behind 
That something grieves and grieves. 

God keep the small house in...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 Bring flowers to strew His way, 
Yea, sing, make holiday; 
Bid young lambs leap, 
And earth laugh after sleep. 

For now He cometh forth
Winter flies to the north, 
Folds wings and cries 
Amid the bergs and ice. 

Yea, Death, great Death is dead, 
And Life reigns in his stead;
Cometh the Athlete 
New from dead Death's defeat. 

Cometh the Wrestler,...Read more of this...



by Tynan, Katharine
 So I have sunk my roots in earth 
Since that my pretty boys had birth; 
And fear no more the grave and gloom, 
I, with the centuries to come. 

As the tree blossoms so bloom I, 
Flinging wild branches to the sky; 
Renew each year my leafy suit, 
Strike with the years a deeper root. 

Shelter a thousand birds...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 Where are ye now, O beautiful girls of the mountain,
Oreads all ?
Nothing at all stirs here save the drip of the fountain;
Answers our call
Only the heart-glad thrush, in the Vale of Thrushes;
Stirs in the brake
But the dew-bright ear of the hare in his couch of rushes
Listening, awake....Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 Our father, ere he went 
Out with his brother, Death, 
Smiling and well-content 
As a bridegroom goeth, 
Sweetly forgiveness prayed 
From man or beast whom he 
Had ever injured
Or burdened needlessly. 

'Verily,' then said he,
'I crave before I pass 
Forgiveness full and free
Of my little brother, the ass.
Many a time and oft, 
When winds and ways were hot, 
He...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 I saw three ships a-sailing, 
A-sailing on the sea, 
The first her masts were silver,
Her hull was ivory. 
The snows came drifting softly, 
And lined her white as wool; 
Oh, Jesus, Son of Mary, 
Thy Cradle beautiful! 

I saw three ships a-sailing, 
The next was red as blood, 
Her decks shone like a ruby, 
Encrimsoned all her wood. 
Her...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 All in the April evening, 
April airs were abroad; 
The sheep with their little lambs 
Passed me by on the road. 

The sheep with their little lambs 
Passed me by on the road; 
All in the April evening 
I thought on the Lamb of God. 

The lambs were weary and crying 
With a weak, human cry.
I thought on the...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 O year, grow slowly. Exquisite, holy,
The days go on
With almonds showing the pink stars blowing 
And birds in the dawn. 

Grow slowly, year, like a child that is dear,
Or a lamb that is mild,
By little steps, and by little skips,
Like a lamb or a child....Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 Little sisters, the birds: 
We must praise God, you and I­ 
You, with songs that fill the sky, 
I, with halting words. 

All things tell His praise,
Woods and waters thereof sing, 
Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring, 
And the night and days. 

Yea, and cold and heat,
And the sun and stars and moon,
Sea with her monotonous tune,
Rain and hail and sleet,...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 'O spare my cherries in the net,'
Brother Benignus prayed; 'and I 
Summer and winter, shine and wet,
Will pile the blackbirds' table high.' 

'O spare my youngling peas,' he prayed,
'That for the Abbot's table be; 
And every blackbird shall be fed;
Yea, they shall have their fill,' said he. 

His prayer, his vow, the blackbirds heard, 
And spared his shining garden-plot....Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 Out upon the sand-dunes thrive the coarse long grasses;
Herons standing knee-deep in the brackish pool;
Overhead the sunset fire and flame amasses
And the moon to eastward rises pale and cool.
Rose and green around her, silver-gray and pearly, 
Chequered with the black rooks flying home to bed; 
For, to wake at daybreak, birds must couch them early: 
And the day's a...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 The house where I was born,
Where I was young and gay, 
Grows old amid its corn, 
Amid its scented hay. 

Moan of the cushat dove, 
In silence rich and deep; 
The old head I love 
Nods to its quiet sleep. 

Where once were nine and ten 
Now two keep house together; 
The doves moan and complain 
All day in...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 The night darkens fast & the shadows darken,
Clouds & the rain gather about mine house,
Only the wood-dove moans, hearken, O hearken!
The moan of the wood-dove in the rain-wet boughs. 

Loneliness & the night! The night is lonely
Star-covered the night takes to a tender breast
Wrapping them in her veil these dark hours only
The weary, the bereaved, the dispossessed. 

When will...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 A splendid place is London, with golden store, 
For them that have the heart and hope and youth galore; 
But mournful are its streets to me, I tell you true, 
For I'm longing sore for Ireland in the foggy dew. 

The sun he shines all day here, so fierce and fine, 
With never a wisp of mist at all...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 Such innocent companionship 
Is hers, whether she wake or sleep, 
'Tis scarcely strange her face should wear 
The young child's grave and innocent air. 

All the night long she hath by her 
The quiet breathing, the soft stir, 
Nor knows how in that tender place 
The children's angels veil the face. 

She wakes at dawn with bird and child
To...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 She kneels by the cradle 
Where Jesus doth lie; 
Singing, Lullaby, my Baby! 
But why dost Thou cry? 

The babes of the village 
Smile sweetly in sleep; 
And lullaby, my Baby, 
That ever dost weep! 

I've wrapped Thee in linen, 
The gift of the Kings; 
And wool, soft and fleecy, 
The kind Shepherd brings. 

Now smile, little Jesus, 
Whom...Read more of this...

by Tynan, Katharine
 There's music in my heart all day,
I hear it late and early,
It comes from fields are far away,
The wind that shakes the barley.

Above the uplands drenched with dew
The sky hangs soft and pearly,
An emerald world is listening to
The wind that shakes the barley.

Above the bluest mountain crest
The lark is singing rarely,
It rocks the singer into rest,
The wind that shakes...Read more of this...


Book: Shattered Sighs