Ophelia Poems

Ophelia

POEMS ABOUT OPHELIA

Ophélie (“Ophelia”)
by Arthur Rimbaud
translation by Michael R. Burch

On pitiless black waves unsinking stars abide
while pale Ophelia, a lethargic lily, drifts by.
Here, tangled in her veils, she floats on the tide.
Far-off, in the woods, we hear the strident bugle’s cry.

For a thousand years, or more, sad Ophelia,
This albescent phantom, has rocked here, to and

My Sweet-Candid Ophelia

My Sweet-Candid Ophelia

Hamlet did loveth your fairness yet frailness
You showed him and the World that Love's pure through your playful kindness
The sweet haunting of your departing has taught us a happy yet bittersweet lesson.
William did giveth you a mercy ending for all the pain in the world.
You'll forever remain in Hamlet's heart
For which you're bounded

Ophelia: the Evergreen Heroine of Shakespearean Tragedy

The quintessential of nyctophilia, wrapped in bridal attire, slowly and slowly as in somnambulism there goes the heroine of timeless tragedy to supersede her lovers feigned insanity.

Her beloved father is no more, being killed by her suitor's intrigued tyranny;
ignored to be drowned, to burn in the flame of plotted felony.

Jilted, to be startled by the

For Ophelia

Dappled light plays on a mossy bank
as the tranquil waters of an idle stream
meander dreamlike through summer, 
thick with nature's bounty. The only sound
on the pregnant air is the stirring of a 
dragonfly's wing as it sings it's summer
song on this long, lazy day. Along the way 
a maiden chances and dances, barefoot
among the camomile,

Safe Harbor

Safe Harbor
by Michael R. Burch

for Kevin N. Roberts

The sea at night seems
an alembic of dreams—
the moans of the gulls,
the foghorns’ bawlings.

A century late
to be melancholy,
I watch the last shrimp boat as it steams
to safe harbor again.

In the twilight she gleams
with a festive light,
done with her trawlings,
ready to sleep...

Deep, deep, in delight
glide the creatures of night,
elusive

A Metaphor

“Only in his hometown and in his own household is a prophet without honor.” Matthew 13:57

Sometimes, when I go shopping, I meet a strange woman.
Barefoot, 
dressed only in a garland of dried flowers and an old sheet stained with bird droppings, 
with last year’s nest on the head and ecstatic glint in the eyes,
she gets

Holding the Bag

Reading Shakespeare, I used to smoke Ophelia’s garland for a better understanding: crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. Fingers caused hypnogogic hallucinations, daisies – hypnopompic ones. Alas, crow-flowers and nettles didn’t work, but on the plus side, it

Blasphemy of Course

Blasphemy of course, the blood seekers wailed.
Afraid of her God, Baal, terrified of her tantric sexuality
She was all the things they feared the most.
Assertive, calm, self-pronounced, meditative,
Thoughtful. She would turn the women into thinkers!
She was golden to their pretend silver.
Fear encouraged them to plot her demise and death
She is a jezebel, one who had been

Ophelia

ACT 1, SCENE 1
Opening night of a new West End Production called
‘Shakespeare: Ode to a Character’
Curtain rises
Enter BENEDICK (in full costume as Ophelia from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’)


BENEDICK:
‘An Ode to Ophelia’

I have a heart,
Which is bound in its own chains,
Arteries crystallised in bleak light.

I want to love,
I want to be loved in return –
More than anything, I

Ophelia Boobies

Ophelia had cancerous breasts
According to all of the tests
But old Doctor Kaiser
Was simply a miser
Who plundered the most treasured chests

Ophelia Walks

while you wondered, to be or not to be
I already knew my truth 
to walk this world alone, my love
confused and mad with grief
water it calls to me, I ask
how deep do I drown my sorrows
for a man who never loved me
never wiped my tears, never held my hand
I knew my fate before anyone
to drift

Hurricane Ophelia

umbrella graveyard
broken spines, dead in the street
hurricane hits hard

We are currently in the grips of the aftermath of hurricane Ophelia - there has been some damage on our little Island but so far everyone is safe although there have been several fatalities in Ireland where the storm seems to be centered:-(

10/16/17

Ophelia

"No more romance" she said
A seductive brunette trying to hide her age
And get what she wants
Come as a guest
Leave as a paramour

It's not my fault
No, no, no way. Look at her
She have already ransomed her fault
Notorious and lonely at the same time

I believe in godesses, yeah I do
Oh my God, you are real
I see you

Ophelia

O luckless maid! such beauteous 
blush with modest blandishments
did'st flash to woo a Prince
o'erthrown, in madness' grasp!

Still-born, ne'er meant to flourish,
true love was the hapless prey,
Polonius lay cold, extinguish'd
by the Dane's misguided sway.

It drove thee mindless, to a frenzy,
death thy only destination,
borne by rippling river's eddy
to thy final resting place.

Ophelia Re-Post

O luckless maid! such beauteous 
blush with modest blandishments
did'st flash to woo a Prince
o'erthrown, in madness' grasp!

Still-born, ne'er meant to flourish,
true love was the hapless prey,
Polonius lay cold, extinguish'd
by the Dane's misguided sway.

It drove thee mindless, to a frenzy,
death thy only destination,
borne by rippling river's eddy
to thy final resting place.

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