The Stranger (de la Mare, 1912)

The Stranger written by Walter de la Mare

The Listeners and Other Poems (1912)

Link to further information

Half-hidden in a graveyard,
  In the blackness of a yew,
Where never living creature stirs,
  Nor sunbeam pierces through,

Is a tomb, green and crooked, -
  Its faded legend gone, -
With but one rain-worn cherub's head
  Of smouldering stone.

There, when the dusk is falling,
  Silence broods so deep
It seems that every wind that breathes
  Blows from the field of sleep.

Day breaks in heedless beauty,
  Kindling each drop of dew,
But unforsaking shadow dwells
  Beneath this lonely yew.

And, all else lost and faded,
  Only this listening head
Keeps with a strange unanswering smile
  Its secret with the dead.

Works by this author are in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 69 years or less. cs | de | en | eo | es | fr | he | pl | ru | zh

  ▲ top