Poems

Chapter 28: JANGLING MEMORY

Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

A lyrical collection of short poems grouped by creative periods, ranging from intimate sketches of domestic and childhood moments to meditations on nature, the sea, love, loss, and memory. Many pieces blend concise, imagistic language with prose-like rhythms, alternating playful child verses and delicate elegies, and often evoke sensory detail—light, wind, flowers, and seaside landscapes—to explore fleeting moods and inward reflection. Several poems record quiet domestic scenes and grieving recollections, while others experiment with voice and form, producing both whimsical and mournful tones. The result is an intimate, varied sequence that emphasizes emotion, perception, and the small gestures that shape inner life.

JANGLING MEMORY

Heavens above! here’s an old tie of yours—
Sea-green dragons stamped on a golden ground.
Ha! Ha! Ha! What children we were in those days.

Do you love me enough to wear it now?
Have you the courage of your pristine glories?
Ha! Ha! Ha! You laugh and shrug your shoulders.

Those were the days when a new tie spelt a fortune:
We wore it in turn—I flaunted it as a waist-belt.
Ha! Ha! Ha! What easily satisfied babies.

“I think I’ll turn it into a piano duster.”
“Give it to me, I’ll polish my slippers on it!”
Ha! Ha! Ha! The rag’s not worth the dustbin.

“Throw the shabby old thing right out of the window;
Fling it into the faces of other children!”
Ha! Ha! Ha! We laughed and laughed till the tears came!

1911.