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This week: Alfred Noyes Edited by: Stormy Lady  
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This month I would like to share one of my favorite poems with you, I hope you enjoy it too.
The Highwayman
by Alfred Noyes
Part One
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inndoor.
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of claret velvet, and breeches of brown doeskin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dard inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like moldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and heard the robber say--
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.
Part Two
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red coat troop came marching--
marching--marching--
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two fo them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say--
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for rest!
Up, she stood to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? This horse-hoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him - with her death.
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew gray to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlords black-eyed daughter,
Had watched her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
Back, he spurred like a madman, shreiking a curse to the sky,
with the white road smoking behind him, and his rapier brain dished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat.
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cluody seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding--
Riding--riding--
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
Alfred and Amelie Adams Noyes welcomed son Alfred Noyes into their family September 16, 1880. The Noyes family lived in the town of Wolverhamton, England. His father was a teacher in Aberystwyth, Wales. Alfred went to college at Exeter College in Oxford, he left there before he earned his degree. At the young age of twenty-two Alfred published his first book of poetry, The Loom Years, in 1902.
Over the next few years, Alfred published five more volumes of poetry, including The Forest of Wild Thyme, in 1905 and The Flower of Old Japan and Other Poems, in 1907. In 1906, Noyes published Drake: An English Epic, this was a twelve book, two hundred page epic. During this same time period Noyes' most well know poem, The Highwayman, was published in his book of poems, Forty singing seamen and other poems in 1907.
Noyes married his first wife in 1907. They had three children and spent time living between Great Britain and the United States. Over the next seven years his popularity grew as he published more volumes of his poetry. In 1914, Noyes became a Professor of Modern English Literature at Princeton University. He taught there until 1923. He published Watchers of the Sky, the first of a three volume epic, The Torch Bearers, volume two The Book of Earth was published in 1925 and The Last Voyage, was published in 1930
In 1926, Noyes wife died and Noyes turned to Catholicism. Soon after that Noyes married his second wife, Mary Angela Mayne Weld-Blundell. In 1929, he moved his family to Lisle Combe, St. Lawrence, Isle of Wight. His growing religious themes were apparent in his later books such as, The Unknown God, published in 1934 and If Judgment Comes, published in 1941.
During the Second World War Noyes spent most of his time between Canada and the United States while being a strong advocate of the Allied effort. Noyes returned to Great Britain in 1949. His autobiography, Two Worlds for Memory, was published in 1953, in which he described his life living between the United States and Great Britain. Noyes published his last volume of poems, A Letter to Lucian, in 1956 and in 1957, his published his last book, The accusing ghost, or justice for Casement. Alfred Noyes died on June 25, 1958, and was buried on Isle of Wight, in the Roman Catholic cemetery at Freshwater.
A Song of Sherwood
by Alfred Noyes
Sherwood in the twilight, is Robin Hood awake?
Grey and ghostly shadows are gliding through the brake,
Shadows of the dappled deer, dreaming of the morn,
Dreaming of a shadowy man that winds a shadowy horn.
Robin Hood is here again: all his merry thieves
Hear a ghostly bugle-note shivering through the leaves,
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
Merry, merry England has kissed the lips of June:
All the wings of fairyland were here beneath the moon,
Like a flight of rose-leaves fluttering in a mist
Of opal and ruby and pearl and amethyst.
Merry, merry England is waking as of old,
With eyes of blither hazel and hair of brighter gold:
For Robin Hood is here again beneath the bursting spray
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
Love is in the greenwood building him a house
Of wild rose and hawthorn and honeysuckle boughs:
Love is in the greenwood, dawn is in the skies,
And Marian is waiting with a glory in her eyes.
Hark! The dazzled laverock climbs the golden steep!
Marian is waiting: is Robin Hood asleep?
Round the fairy grass-rings frolic elf and fay,
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
Oberon, Oberon, rake away the gold,
Rake away the red leaves, roll away the mould,
Rake away the gold leaves, roll away the red,
And wake Will Scarlett from his leafy forest bed.
Friar Tuck and Little John are riding down together
With quarter-staff and drinking-can and grey goose-feather.
The dead are coming back again, the years are rolled away
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
Softly over Sherwood the south wind blows.
All the heart of England his in every rose
Hears across the greenwood the sunny whisper leap,
Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?
Hark, the voice of England wakes him as of old
And, shattering the silence with a cry of brighter gold
Bugles in the greenwood echo from the steep,
Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?
Where the deer are gliding down the shadowy glen
All across the glades of fern he calls his merry men--
Doublets of the Lincoln green glancing through the May
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day--
Calls them and they answer: from aisles of oak and ash
Rings the Follow! Follow! and the boughs begin to crash,
The ferns begin to flutter and the flowers begin to fly,
And through the crimson dawning the robber band goes by.
Robin! Robin! Robin! All his merry thieves
Answer as the bugle-note shivers through the leaves,
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
Thank you all!
Stormy Lady
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The winner of "Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest" [ASR] is:
Reunion
The Christmas lights of the neighbor's houses
Had not been turned on yet.
My children and I sat in our old, cold car
As the sun had one hour to set.
Our destination was a long, slow trip
To visit the best grandparents alive.
And settle in, with all our clothes and things
Before a snow storm was predicted to arrive.
The children sat in silence,
Amazed at their first look at the forest so green.
Each tree seemed to touch the cloudy sky
With strength and beauty, they've never seen.
My homecoming was long overdue.
The destination was a strong call in my wounded heart.
A child was returning to her humble roots,
To a place that love had its wondrous start.
As I cruised up the familiar driveway,
Papa walked down the old wooden steps.
Mama opened the squeaky door so wide
With the smile each person knew they'd get.
The twinkle in excited Jasmine's eyes
The glow on shy Cedric's cheeks
The round, patched coat of sleeping baby Flo
Gave the grandparents the thrill that they did seek.
As if on cue a snowflake fell.
And it would become a blanket of pure white snow.
But it did not matter how long it would last
For the tears of joy from my parents showed that love would flow.
Honorable mention:
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Poetry: December 07, 2016 Issue [#8017]
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