Poems

By Theodore Maynard

This work is a collection of fascinating poems by English poet Theodore Maynard. Throughout the book, the beautiful sentiment of color runs like a thread, and there is barely a poem that does not repeat it. This may be because Mr. Maynard's whole motivation was the resurrection of the Middle Ages, as was common during his period. These are well-expressed poems with charming explanations comprising of several themes such as principles of life, color, spirituality, supernatural, and many more interesting ones.

In his poem, "Apocalypse," Maynard pictures a new supernatural world that would be more colorful and positive than the natural and not weaker and emptier. The collection also contains two important poems, one being the sequel to the other, namely, "To a Bad Atheist," a sequel to "To a Good Atheist."

Theodore Maynard (1890–1956) was an English poet, literary critic, and historian. Although he regarded himself mainly as a poet, during his lifetime, he was famous and more influential as a historian of Roman Catholicism, particularly in the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Nov 29, 2019
• ISBN: 4057664590022

Book preview

Theodore Maynard

Poems

Published by Good Press, 2022

[e-mail]

EAN 4057664590022

Table of Contents

POEMS

LAUGHS AND WHIFTS OF SONG

A SONG OF COLOURS

CECIDIT, CECIDIT BABYLON MAGNA!

APOCALYPSE

GHOSTS

PROCESSIONAL

A SONG OF LAUGHTER

BALLADE IN PRAISE OF ARUNDEL

THE TRAMP

THE WORLD’S MISER

EASTER

THE GLORY OF THE ORIFLAMME

TO A GOOD ATHEIST

TO A BAD ATHEIST

PALM SUNDAY

WHEN I RIDE INTO THE TOWN

REQUIEM

AVE ATQUE VALE!

ALADDIN

ADAM

THE ENGLISH SPRING

AT THE CRIB

THE MYSTIC

TO ANY SAINT

SUNSET ON THE DESERT

FOLLY

FOLLY

THE SHIPS

LAUGHTER

VOCATION

BLINDNESS

DRINKING SONG

THREE TRIOLETS

A NEW CANTERBURY TALE

IN MEMORIAM F. H. M. Killed in Action, April 9th, 1917

TO THE IRISH DEAD

JOHN REDMOND

BEAUTY

BEAUTY

FAITH’S DIFFICULTY

CHRISTMAS ON CRUSADE

THE ASCETIC

SONNET FOR THE FIFTH OF OCTOBER

WARFARE

TREASON

THERE WAS AN HOUR

NOCTURNE

PRIDE

BALLADE OF SHEEP BELLS

BALLADE OF A FEROCIOUS CATHOLIC

DAWN

SUNSET

PEACE

CARRION

THE BUILDING OF THE CITY

EDEN RE-OPENED

THE HOLY SPRING

VIATICUM

PUNISHMENT

AFTER COMMUNION

THE UNIVERSAL MOTHER

THE BOASTER

UNWED

WED

ENGLAND

LYRIC LOVE

DRUMS OF DEFEAT

THE FOOL

DON QUIXOTE

IRELAND

IN MEMORIAM

MATER DESOLATA To Margaret Pearse

THE STIRRUP CUP

THE ENSIGN

BALLADE OF ORCHARDS

A GREAT WIND

BIRTHDAY SONNET

SILENCE

AT YELVERTON

THE JOY OF THE WORLD

GRATITUDE

IN DOMO JOHANNIS

AT WOODCHESTER

FOR THEY SHALL POSSESS THE EARTH

BALLADE OF THE BEST SONG IN THE WORLD

TAIL-PIECE

AVE

A REPLY

JOB

THE SOIL OF SOLACE

TO THE DEAD

SPRING, 1916

THE RETURN

FULFILMENT

PROPHECY

THE SINGER TO HIS LADY

CERTAINTIES

FEAR

CHARITY

SIGHT AND INSIGHT

CHRISTMAS CAROL

A GARDEN ENCLOSED

THE LOVER

POEMS

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LAUGHS AND WHIFTS OF SONG

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A SONG OF COLOURS

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GOLD for the crown of Mary,

Blue for the sea and sky,

Green for the woods and meadows

Where small white daisies lie,

And red for the colour of Christ’s blood

When He came to the cross to die.

These things the high God gave us

And left in the world He made—

Gold for the hilt’s enrichment,

And blue for the sword’s good blade,

And red for the roses a youth may set

On the white brows of a maid.

Green for the cool, sweet gardens

Which stretch about the house,

And the delicate new frondage

The winds of Spring arouse,

And red for the wine which a man may drink

With his fellows in carouse.

Blue and green for the comfort

Of tired hearts and eyes,

And red for that sudden hour which comes

With danger and great emprise,

And white for the honour of God’s throne

When the dead shall all arise.

Gold for the cope and chalice,

For kingly pomp and pride,

And red for the feathers men wear in their caps

When they win a war or a bride,

And red for the robe which they dressed God in

On the bitter day He died.

CECIDIT, CECIDIT BABYLON MAGNA!

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THE aimless business of your feet,

Your swinging wheels and piston rods,

The smoke of every sullen street

Have passed away with all your Gods.

For in a meadow far from these

A hodman treads across the loam,

Bearing his solid sanctities

To that strange altar called his home.

I watch the tall, sagacious trees

Turn as the monks do, every one;

The saplings, ardent novices,

Turning with them towards the sun,

That Monstrance held in God’s strong hands,

Burnished in amber and in red;

God, His Own priest, in blessing stands;

The earth, adoring, bows her head.

The idols of your market place,

Your high debates, where are they now?

Your lawyers’ clamour fades apace—

A bird is singing on the bough!

Three fragile, sacramental things

Endure, though all your pomps shall pass—

A butterfly’s immortal wings,

A daisy and a blade of grass.

APOCALYPSE

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"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first

heaven and the first earth were passed away."—

Apoc.

. xxi,

I

.

SHALL summer woods where we have laughed our fill;

Shall all your grass so good to walk upon;

Each field which we have loved, each little hill

Be burnt like paper—as hath said Saint John?

Then not alone they die! For God hath told

How all His plains of mingled fire and glass,

His walls of hyacinth, His streets of gold,

His aureoles of jewelled light shall pass,

That He may make us nobler things than these,

And in her royal robes of blazing red

Adorn His bride. Yea, with what mysteries

And might and mirth shall she be diamonded!

And what new secrets shall our God disclose;

Or set what suns of burnished brass to flare;

Or what empurpled blooms to oust the rose;

Or what strange grass to glow like angels’ hair!

What pinnacles of silver tracery,

What dizzy rampired towers shall God devise

Of topaz, beryl and chalcedony

To make Heaven pleasant to His children’s