Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Chamber Music-VIII by James Joyce

Chamber Music-VIII

Who goes amid the green wood
With springtide all adorning her?
Who goes amid the merry green wood
To make it merrier?

Who passes in the sunlight
By ways that know the light footfall?
Who passes in the sweet sunlight
With mien so virginal?

The ways of all the woodland
Gleam with a soft and golden fire -- -
For whom does all the sunny woodland
Carry so brave attire?

O, it is for my true love
The woods their rich apparel wear -- -
O, it is for my own true love,
That is so young and fair.
--James Joyce


I have a little book of Jame Joyce's poetry that I've been reading a page or two a day out of lately. It's a very short book, and I'm not overly impressed by the poems, so I'm trying to get through it so that I can give it away without feeling guilty.

It's hard to say why I don't like most of the poems. I don't actively dislike them...it's just that they don't do much for me. Often, they start out with a promising line or image, then fall flat at the end -- and they're not even that long.

Anyway, here's one I did like.

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