Animal/wildlife Poetry

Great poem, every child should learn it

Not heard that one before :)

One of my favourites is 'In Country Sleep' by Dylan Thomas, which contains many references to wildlife and is a kind of mystical/fairytale-esque exploration of the light and dark side of the countryside in general. Copyright regs mean I can't post it all here but here's the first stanza - there are LOTS more after this though. I memorised the first eight or so of them ages ago - used to recite them in my head when I was running on the treadmill at the gym :) ETA - edited because I remembered the last line wrong!

Never and never, my girl riding far and near

In the land of the hearthstone tales, and spelled asleep

Fear or believe that the wolf in a sheep-white hood

Loping and bleating roughly and blithely shall leap, my dear, my dear

Out of a lair in the flocked leaves in the dew-dipped year

To eat your heart in the house in the rosy wood.

I studied French and my fav poet was Baudelaire.

From his collection Les Fleurs du Mal, I loved this poem:

L'Albatros

Souvent, pour s'amuser, les hommes d'équipage
Prennent des albatros, vastes oiseaux des mers,
Qui suivent, indolents compagnons de voyage,
Le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers.

À peine les ont-ils déposés sur les planches,
Que ces rois de l'azur, maladroits et honteux,
Laissent piteusement leurs grandes ailes blanches
Comme des avirons traîner à côté d'eux.

Ce voyageur ailé, comme il est gauche et veule!
Lui, naguère si beau, qu'il est comique et laid!
L'un agace son bec avec un brûle-gueule,
L'autre mime, en boitant, l'infirme qui volait!

Le Poète est semblable au prince des nuées
Qui hante la tempête et se rit de l'archer;
Exilé sur le sol au milieu des huées,
Ses ailes de géant l'empêchent de marcher.

This is quite a good translation.

Albatrosses

Often our sailors, for an hour of fun,
Catch albatrosses on the after breeze
Through which these trail the ship from sun to sun
As it skims down the deep and briny seas.

Scarce have these birds been set upon the poop,
Than, awkward now, they, the sky's emperors,
Piteous and shamed, let their great white wings droop
Beside them like a pair of idle oars.

These wingèd voyagers, how gauche their gait!
Once noble, now how ludicrous to view!
One sailor bums them with his pipe, his mate
Limps, mimicking these cripples who once flew.

Poets are like these lords of sky and cloud,
Who ride the storm and mock the bow's taut strings,
Exiled on earth amid a jeering crowd,
Prisoned and palsied by their giant wings.

— Jacques LeClercq, Flowers of Evil

wow that is a dark one Aiki,

the one I posted is over 100 years old, author unknown, it is not bound by copy right.

Google have recently started transcribing old poetry where copy right no longer applies, thats how I found it again, I had been searching for it for a long time.

Go on get the others you know posted, I look forward to reading them :)

Powerful stuff folks !!

Cheers

AL

here's a not so dark one, from Spike Milligan... (think 'fair use' covers this short one, copyright-wise).

A lion is fierce.

His teeth can pierce

The skin on a postman's knee.

It serves him right

That, because of his bite,

He gets no letters, you see :)

You could use this on TJ's limerick thread too :)

Pip

Unknown said:

You could use this on TJ's limerick thread too :)

Pip

it's not a proper limerick though :(

I'm determined to think of a limerick of my own, but probably not tonight, my head's all fuzzy from staring into the sun and listening to jet engines all day!

aiki said:

here's a not so dark one, from Spike Milligan... (think 'fair use' covers this short one, copyright-wise).

A lion is fierce.

His teeth can pierce

The skin on a postman's knee.

It serves him right

That, because of his bite,

He gets no letters, you see :)

HaaHaaa nice one ! :)

aiki said:

You could use this on TJ's limerick thread too :)

Pip