Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
The House Of Dust: Part 04: 01: Clairvoyant
'This envelope you say has something in itWhich once belonged to your dead son—or somethingHe knew, was fond of? Something he remembers?—The soul..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 01
The girl in the room beneathBefore going to bedStrums on a mandolinThe three simple tunes she knows.How inadequate they are to tell how her heart..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 12: Witches' Sabbath
Now, when the moon slid under the cloudAnd the cold clear dark of starlight fell,He heard in his blood the well-known bellTolling slowly in heaves of..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 10: Letter
From time to time, lifting his eyes, he seesThe soft blue starlight through the one small window,The moon above black trees, and clouds, and..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 04: Nightmare
'Draw three cards, and I will tell your future . . .Draw three cards, and lay them down,Rest your palms upon them, stare at the crystal,And think of..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 04
On the day when my uncle and I drove to the cemetery,Rain rattled on the roof of the carriage;And talkng constrainedly of this and thatWe refrained..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 03
The first bell is silver,And breathing darkness I think only of the long scythe of time.The second bell is crimson,And I think of a holiday night..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 10: Sudden Death
'Number four—the girl who died on the table—The girl with golden hair—'The purpling body lies on the polished marble.We open the throat, and lay the..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Shaemus
We will go no more to Shaemus, at the Nip,for sly innuendo and an Oporto Flip,the rough but tender voice, the wide-mouthed grin,the steady-unsteady..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 02: The Screen Maiden
You read—what is it, then that you are reading?What music moves so silently in your mind?Your bright hand turns the page.I watch you from my window..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Turns And Movies: Zudora
Here on the pale beach, in the darkness;With the full moon just to rise;They sit alone, and look over the sea,Or into each other's eyes. . .She pokes..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 06: Portrait Of One Dead
This is the house. On one side there is darkness,On one side there is light.Into the darkness you may lift your lanterns—O, any number—it will still..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 08: The Box With Silver Handles
Well,—it was two days after my husband died—Two days! And the earth still raw above him.And I was sweeping the carpet in their hall.In number..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 02: 02: The Fulfilled Dream
More towers must yet be built—more towers destroyed—Great rocks hoisted in air;And he must seek his bread in high pale sunlightWith gulls about him..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 01: 07: Midnight; Bells Toll, And Along The Cloud-High Towers
Midnight; bells toll, and along the cloud-high towersThe golden lights go out . . .The yellow windows darken, the shades are drawn,In thousands of..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 12
How many times have we been interruptedJust as I was about to make up a story for you!One time it was because we suddenly saw a fireflyLighting his..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Multitudes Turn In Darkness
The half-shut doors through which we heard that musicAre softly closed. Horns mutter down to silence,The stars wheel out, the night grows..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 02
I stood for a long while before the shop windowLooking at the blue butterflies embroidered on tawny silk.The building was a tower before me,Time was..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
North Infinity Street
The alarm clocks tick in a thousand furnished rooms,tick and are wound for a thousand separate dooms;all down both sides of North Infinity Streetyou..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 03: 04: Illicit
Of what she said to me that night—no matter.The strange thing came next day.My brain was full of music—something she played me—;I couldn't remember..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 14
Like an old tree uprooted by the windAnd flung down cruellyWith roots bared to the sun and starsAnd limp leaves brought to earth —Torn from its house..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
Improvisations: Light And Snow: 06
It is now two hours since I left you,And the perfume of your hands is still on my hands.And though since thenI have looked at the stars, walked in..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 01: 03: One, Where The Pale Sea Foamed At The Yellow Sand
One, where the pale sea foamed at the yellow sand,With wave upon slowly shattering wave,Turned to the city of towers as evening fell;And slowly..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The Grasshopper
Grasshoppergrasshopperall day longwe hear your scrapingsummer songlikerustyfiddlesinthegrassas throughthe meadowpathwe passsuch funny legssuch funny..
© Conrad Potter Aiken
The House Of Dust: Part 01: 01: The Sun Goes Down In A Cold Pale Flare Of Light
The sun goes down in a cold pale flare of light.The trees grow dark: the shadows lean to the east:And lights wink out through the windows, one by..
© Conrad Potter Aiken