In the Glad Month of May / Coningsby Dawson

In the Glad Month of May

In the glad month of May,
When morning was breaking,
She rose from her body
And vanished away.

From a tree cloaked in gray
A shrill bird kept calling,
"Come quick. God is waiting.
He cannot delay."

We had no heart to pray,
But, seeing her glory,
Said, "Go, little sister;
God needs you to-day."

Very stilly she lay:
The bird had ceased calling —
We let in the morning
And kissed her dear clay.

~~
Coningsby Dawson (1883-1959)
from A Vision of Florence, and other poems, 1916

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

Coningsby Dawson biography

I can remember / Stephan Pickering

I can remember ... אני יכול לזכור

I. 

in the ashes of Auschwitz
February 2018 / Shevat 5778
there exists no
kol hachavvyot,
the Infinite One bring/ing
all of reality into be-ing.

there is no 'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh
who formed Light,
who created Darkness.

II. 

the candles of the Vanished
World are no longer
sown in the seasons of breath.

in 1920 Vilna, Yehu'dit bones
were excavated for horses
to be buried,
all by the tongue of a priest
covered in ambergris.

in 2018 Cyberia alleys,
the malefactor mime cries
as Long Island parhelia
flicker in the seasonal
ice around his little girls.

III. 

the cypress of the
Kingdom of Night are
amidst natz'ri house gardens,
marking in the mouths of
opus dei children the straws
of Poland.

long after midnight we seek
solace in One-Eyed Paritus's
Meditations obliques,
where Sol Nazerman's
zoharic midrashim of
Shabtai Zisel are
narrated by Claude Lanzmann.

the quantum nonlocality
of the corpse of
ha'Kodesh Barukh hu
is the Hollerith tracking
number.

IV. 

Nach uraltem, aengstlich beheutetem
Klostergeheimnis lernen selbst Greise
muehelos Kavier spielen.
– Max Ernst

~~
this is to the memories z"l of 
Rod Steiger 14 April 1925-9 July 2002 
Roman Vischniac 19 August 1897-22 January 1990 
Rose Leamel Ziebell (1933-2007) 
Dottie Sutton (1922-2015) 
and to the Presence of two of my children in Yisra'el 
and the memories of two sons z"l 

STEPHAN PICKERING / חפץ ח"ם בן אברהם
© 3 February 2018 / 18 Shevat 5778 - slightly revised 14 April 2019 / 9 Nisan 5779

[All rights reserved - used with permission]

Child survivors at Auschwitz, 1945. Photo by Alexander Voroncov. 

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Penny's Top 20 / April 2019

Penny's Top 20
The most-visited poems on  The Penny Blog in April 2019:

  1.  The Bright Extensive Will, AE Reiff
  2.  Calmly We Walk through This April's Day, Delmore Schwartz
  3.  Philomela, Philip Sidney
  4.  Angel Standing in the Sun, AE Reiff
  5.  A Russian Easter, Marya Zaturenska
  6.  Spring's Sacrament, Harold E. Goad
  7.  Berkshires in April, Clement Wood
  8.  Under the April Moon, Bliss Carman
  9.  Esthetique du Mal, Wallace Stevens
10.  The Thrush's Song, James Lewis Milligan

11.  Welcome to Spring, Ring Lardner
12.  Waiting, Charles Hanson Towne
13.  Songs, Demonspawn
14.  The March Orchard, Ethelwyn Wetherald
15.  News, AE Reiff
16.  The Dwarf, Wallace Stevens
17.  Icicle Drops, Arthur John Lockhart
18.  Penny; or, Penny's Hat, George J. Dance
19.  February's Forgotten Mitts, Raymond Knister
20.  Written in March, William Wordsworth

Source: Blogger, "Stats"

Under the April Moon / Bliss Carman

Under the April Moon

Oh, well the world is dreaming
Under the April moon,
Her soul in love with beauty,
Her senses all a-swoon!

Pure hangs the silver crescent
Above the twilight wood,
And pure the silver music
Wakes from the marshy flood.

O Earth, with all thy transport,
How comes it life should seem
A shadow in the moonlight,
A murmur in a dream?

~~
Bliss Carman (1861-1929)
from April Airs: A book of New England lyrics, 1916

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Bliss Carman biography

"Under the April Moon" read by Richard Mitchley. Courtesy Richard Mitchley - Topic.

The Thrush's Song / James Lewis Milligan

The Thrush's Song

The wind is cold, but its frosty sting
Is drawn, for the air is sweet and fresh;
And in my nostrils I scent the spring,
My spirit rejoices in the flesh!

Not one spring only, but all the springs
Yea, chiefly those that are farthest fled
Are in and about me, the thrush that sings
In yon naked tree is a thrush long dead.

Long dead ah, this is no mournful rhyme,
I sing, like the thrush, a song of hope;
He knows that death is a trick of time,
That a planet is God's kaleidoscope !

Sing, feather'd bard, till I learn your lay,
Your song of the past and the fair to be;
Spin on, bright planet, and bring that day
The summer day that is calling me !

~~
James Lewis Milligan (1876-1961)
from Songs in Time's Despite, 1910

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

James Lewis Milligan biography

A Russian Easter / Marya Zaturenska

A Russian Easter

In the great cathedral with blue windows,
In the great cathedral of Moscow,
They will kneel before the holy ikons.

The Mother is dressed in blue and gold,
And the Child’s eyes are of blue jewels;  
And golden and blue are the robes of the high priest.

Natasha will be there in a scarlet cloak,
And Irena’s gown will be embroidered in crimson.
Sergei will be there, and Igor
Will gaze with mystic Slav-eyes at the gold altar.

They will weep before the altar for their sins;
They will beat their breasts and pray for pardon;
They will arise shrived and forgiven!

When the priest unlooses the tiny white doves —
They will weep for joy.      

All will arise and embrace one another,
Crying, “Hail, brother, hail!”—
Crying, “Hail, sister, hail!”

Christ is arisen, Christ is arisen! Christ
Has arisen from his grave!      

Igor will chant sonorously,
“Peace and brotherhood and love
Have arisen with the white Christ!”

All will take up the cry
Peace and brotherhood and love!      

Let there be peace and love
Since Christ is arisen, Christ is arisen,
Christ is arisen from the dead!

Irena’s lover will kiss her on the lips,
Wild with the love of God.    
Natasha’s lover will kiss her forehead
Reverently as the hands of the high priest.

But I shall be alone weeping:
I shall weep remembering the blue cathedral;
I shall be sad in a strange country,    
Thinking of Igor, Natasha and Sergei,
Irena, and the singing multitude.

~~
Marya Zaturenska (1902-1982)
from Poetry, April 1920

[Poem is in the public domain in the United States]

Marya Zaturenska biography

Yuri D.K., St. Basil's  Cathedral, Moscow, 2025. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Spring's Sacrament / Harold E. Goad

Spring's Sacrament

'Lift up your hearts!’ The holy dews
    Asperge the woodland throng;
Dawn after dawn the lark renews
    His miracle of song;
While taper-like the crocus pricks
    Athwart the yearning sod;
The primrose lifts his golden pyx,
    And God looks forth to God.

The symbols blind, the visions fail,
    Our souls strain out to Thee;
Within the leaf, the light, the veil,
    Is Thy Felicity.
O Heart of all the world’s desire,
    Breathe from around, above,
The mystic kiss of Fire to fire
    That Love will yield to love!

~~
Harold E. Goad (1878-1956)
from the Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse, 1917

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

Harold E. Goad biography