(From Frise on the Somme in February, 1917, in answer to a letter saying: “I am just finishing my ‘Faun’s Holiday.’ I wish you were here to feed him with cherries.”)
Here by a snowbound river
In scrapen holes we shiver,
And like old bitterns we
Boom to you plaintively:
Robert, how can I rhyme
Verses for your desire-
Sleek fauns and cherry-time,
Vague music and green trees,
Hot sun and gentle breeze,
England in June attire,
And life born young again,
For your gay goatish brute
Drunk with warm melody
Singing on beds of thyme
With red and rolling eye,
Waking with wanton lute
All the Devonian plain,
Lips dark with juicy stain,
Ears hung with bobbing fruit?
Why should I keep him time?
Why in this cold and rime,
Where even to dream is pain?
No, Robert, there’s no reason:
Cherries are out of season,
Ice grips at branch and root,
And singing birds are mute.
(Robert Graves)
More Poetry from Robert Graves:
Robert Graves Poems based on Topics: Nature, Birds, Time, Pain, Dreams, Reasoning, Letters, England- A Rhyme Of Friends (Robert Graves Poems)
- The Picture Book (Robert Graves Poems)
- The God Called Poetry (Robert Graves Poems)
- Recalling War (Robert Graves Poems)
- Sullen Moods (Robert Graves Poems)
- The Voice Of Beauty Drowned (Robert Graves Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Time Poems, Nature Poems, Dreams Poems, Pain Poems, Birds Poems, Reasoning Poems, Letters Poems, England PoemsBased on Keywords: sleek, cherries, boom, attire, thyme, rime, juicy, grips, finishing, somme, fauns