Visions and Illusions: Poems of love, loss and betrayal

By William Paley

These poems address their subjects through a Romantic lens unconstrained by formality but always with a human dimension and relevance to modern times. They are mostly rhymed, either strictly or sparsely, and some are lengthy enough to tell a story. Some poems are wistful or melancholic in nature, others address the beauty of life, light and darkness and tragedy or despair but do not omit the expressions of love and desire more eloquently expressed in poetry than in prose. Their focus is divided very roughly into several categories intended to suit the mood of the reader.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brown Dog Books
• Release date: Jun 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781839520501

Book preview

First published 2019

Copyright © David William Paley 2019

The right of David William Paley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Published under licence by Brown Dog Books and

The Self-Publishing Partnership, 7 Green Park Station, Bath BA1 1JB

www.selfpublishingpartnership.co.uk

ISBN printed book: 978-1-83952-049-5

ISBN e-book: 978-1-83952-050-1

Cover design by Andrew Prescott

Internal design by Jenny Watson Design

This book is printed on FSC certified paper

Printed and bound in the UK

Also by William Paley

Fiction

The Magic Canopy

Four Ways to Keep a Secret

Poetry

Anthologies in Kindle format

Original texts with English translations

101 French Poems

150 German Poems

Dedication

To the memory of

Gabrielle Laye

Visions and Illusions

Introduction

In this second edition of ‘Visions and Illusions’, I have added several new works as well as the poems previously published in ‘A Tribute to My Muse’. The content is now of ninety poems presented alphabetically by title as well as alphabetically by first line. I have also grouped them by theme which, very loosely, indicates their message.

Most poems are rhymed, some strictly but others are rather freely treated; and several are not rhymed at all. Subjects vary from despair to elation or are merely descriptive but always with a human dimension.

I hope that readers will gain an extra enjoyment now that the works are provided in a print version as well as an e-book edition.

Table of Contents

Alphabetical by Title

After Despair

Another Country

Awakening

Bedevere

Beyond the Day

Beyond the Sky

Casting the Burden

Churchyard

Clouds

Contemplation

Dancing

Dancing Through the Night

Dead Leaves

Declaration of Love

Desolation

Despondency

Dream Moon

Enid

Evening

Faded Away

Farewell

Farewell to Bright Eyes

Floating on the Wind

Fog

Gold

Golden Harvests

Goodbye to Winter

Homecoming

How Brief the Moon

Images

Introspection

Last Appeal

Last Voyage

Lives of No Importance

Lost Love

Lost Treasure

Memories

Memory

Moon

My Absent Muse

New Born Day

New Life

No Harbour

No Return

Our Sacred Grove

Passing On

Reaching the Harbour

Remember

Remnant of Spring

Return to the Old Abode

Revolution Dawn

Rise, O Moon

Roundabouts

Stream

That Night in May

The Artiste

The Crossing

The Curtain Falls

The Day of Reckoning

The Days That Were

The Dimensions of Love

The Distant Hills

The Doll’s House

The End of a Dream

The Face in the Frame

The Final Port of Call

The Flower

The Girl with the Ash Blonde Hair

The Land I Knew

The Lark

The Last Smile

The Lost Land

The Sinking Sun

The View from My Kitchen Window

The Warriors

The Welcome Tyrant

The Wind Defeated

The Wind on the Cliff

Thoughts of Mortality

Time

To Music

Too Far, Too Soon

Too Proud to Return

Transfigured Day

When Swallows Return

Whispers in the Dark

Will You Return?

Wind

Words

Yearning for the Past

Table of Contents

Alphabetical by Theme

Blossoms

Thoughts of new beginnings; thanksgiving for life, friends and family; optimism for the future and gratitude for our present state.

Elegiac

Sombre thoughts on the past and those whom we remember. Parting and observations on the brevity of life.

Lessons

Experiences of life as well as resolution gained; the example of others and how we can learn from them.

Pictures

Depictions of the world about us and of the people who inhabit it; self-criticism and determination for the future.

Reflections

Looking back over our lives, recovering from setbacks and yearning for the days of youth.

Regrets

The passing of life, dwelling on memory and wishing for an extension of time.

Table of Contents

Alphabetical by First Line

A cantata recited by a mezzo soprano

Across a field and through the wood,

Are you sleeping

Bathed in memories of long ago

Caravans crossed in the far beyond

Come, moon of star crossed lovers,

Days of childhood are no more

Do not leave me here to sigh alone; take me with you when you depart

Driven by winds of fury

From far beyond the waving corn,

From far within the forest depths,

Go mighty words! Take flight around the world;

Gone to seek your fortune in some far off land

Had blooms left in their bowers

Have joys now ceased

High beyond the sun, a small black spot against the white of cirrus

Hold forth in praise of bygone art

I drank to life when I fought for the right of kings

I felt the scent of churning seas

I heard the music through the dark

I hoped to find contentment

I listened to the siren voices and joined their world at play;

In that lost land that once was ours

In that other country

In the slumbering depths of the bourgeois town,

I saw you in my dreams and held you as before

Let chariots fly to far-off lands

Light invades the sprinkled dark

Long, low building with whitened walls

No further search for tresses curling from the heavens

No longer are we singing

No master can demand indenture

Now darkness falls upon the present to mark the parting day

No youthful bloom survives

Of warriors torn from hearth and home

Oh, wind of parted lovers!

Once more, the time has come

O Time, you hold us fast with ruthless talons

Our bold assurance leaves no doubt

Press against the sail you mighty wind subjecting oceans to your command.

Raindrops beat upon the window

Rise, O moon! Rise upon the starry heavens!

Silver was the water and golden was the moon

Summer yields to autumn to glisten in morning dew.

That first love that seared our souls

That proud monarch of the skies,

The bough that bent beneath the leaf

The finest painting by the greatest artist

The fleeting years of youth

The flower lives on through deepest snow to bloom again in spring

The flower that bloomed in spring is the one that I remember

The full moon is sailing; the crests and the troughs

The girl with the ash blonde hair

The horizon opened to the glow of day

The lovers consumed by the fire

The love that shone in full desire

The moonlight crosses my evening window

The rainbow fades after the rain,

There was a time when dawn was golden

The rusted gate now opens with a screech

The silken rope of life

The spark that flamed has flared and flown;

The sun peers over mountain heights

The trees grow bare but bud new green;

This faithful mirror, held in awe,

Those who work with field and plough

Through a window with Georgian bars

Today, I shall go to a distant land,

Too hasty were the words that assailed our fortress

To say goodbye is bittersweet

Tumble from faraway mountains

Water rolls in long, white horses

We are praised by the oppressed

Welcome, rest and quiet peace!

Welcome, rest and soft repose!

We lived for music and the dance

We play the merchant on a voyage

What mourners crowded here;

When he sang upon the stage,

When nightingales have ceased to sing

When the grief of mourning has lost the strength to freeze us

Where waters glisten as smooth as silk,

Where were you that night in May

Where winds blow over grass

Whether clouds be dark or the sky be bright,

With target fixed, I loosed my arrow

You black bowl of midnight ink

You, dear gods, who are gathered here

You do not take my name

You sought the solace of the gathering gloom

Blossoms

Awakening

Beyond The Day

Dancing

Declaration of Love

Golden Harvests

Homecoming

Lives of No Importance

New Born Day

Our Sacred Grove

That Night in May

The Dimensions of Love

The Girl with The Ash-Blonde Hair

The Lark

The Welcome Tyrant

The Wind Defeated

When Swallows Return

Words

Awakening

Whether clouds be dark or the sky be bright,

I am proof against all weather if your sun will shine.

Let the rain be falling or the snow be deep

I shall scorn the torrent and rejoice in the bite of winter

And care not that the wind may bend the trees to earth

Or night be casting darkness over light.

For we belong together as colours to the rainbow

And we will climb the heavens with approaching dawn

To fly on angel wings until the tint of twilight.

If the glow of sunset melts from view, can the stars be long to shine?

Then, when darkness veils the hour, you will be my golden moon

And silver heaven will not outshine your eyes

As you smile through moonlit night like the sparkling brook

That bears our treasure through the meadows to the sea.

And when the moon has yielded to the light of day,

The world will wake to see a dawn that rivals spring

To find you as a bluebell in the woodland glade

Or as a budding rose that leaps to skies above.

You will be my flower in bloom and never close your petals up

But will flourish like the rose that graces May forever,

When new formed blossom greets the joy of daytime

To dance within the welcome gleams of morning sun

That strikes a petal with beauty to banish night.

Dawn will lend a dazzling ray to a waking spirit

Whose open eyes return the measure of the crystal light

Glistening upon that flood of golden youth

That flows as silver streams beneath the radiant sky.

But should I forswear this perfect love

For fear that I may lose what cannot last?

Or shall I hold that flower from bud to reed

And treasure memories of the fragrant scent

That would waft through all our life to come?

Flowers may bloom and flowers may fade

And the blush of youth will not glow for ever

Within the orbit of that rosy cheek.

But no raging winter shall deface your beauty

While perpetual spring is clasped within my arms

Nor blazing summer tarnish your complexion

When you seek a refuge within my shade.

Has any bee sipped such nectar as lies upon your lips

Or any nightingale sung the sounds you speak?

Has any fairer blossom been seen in spring

Or any branch borne fuller fruit in summer?

But we need not wait for Eastertide

For the sky to pour its light upon us;

Seasons have no power to direct our lives

When heavens realm lies open within our grasp.

We will gather roses in our winter and pass the hours

In praise of everlasting love within our souls

As we glide on golden wings through all the years

And caress the moon from silver towers.

Beyond the Day

Do not leave me here to sigh alone; take me with you when you depart

We must be united not just until the dawn but far beyond the day.

Give me but the word and I will race at once with the speed of thought

And leap a chasm of any width that dares to open between our ways.

I will be the moon beneath the waters or the crest upon the wave

As eternal as the stars and as constant as the sea upon the shore.

Haul me from the depths of darkness into the sunshine of your world;

I will accept on any terms though fate decree our destination.

Whatever you are, I will make you more and throw away my freedom;

Cast my life upon your seas to thrust through distant waves in a boat of pearl;

Thread the reefs with you in shallow waters or skim the racing tides

Sails billowing with our quiet whispers even to the farthest oceans.

I seek no release from the silken threads in which I am entangled

But thrill to the joy of desperation felt in this enchanted bondage;

Neither shall I seek to cut the tethers when we reach our harbour

But bind myself in cheerful fetters that no man will put asunder.

If you should flee, I shall send a bird from paradise to seek you out;

A saintly envoy that will fly from north to south and search across the earth

To sing a song of long lost love that moves you to tears of sorrow

As you hasten to return with heaving heart charmed by its siren power;

I shall embrace you as a blessed spirit and guide you through the years

Or I shall weave a spell upon you and become your guardian angel,

And shield you in the glow of golden robes from far above the clouds

As I shine the