| Dancing Dust |
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| Poems by Mollie Caird (1922-2000) |
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| Rondel: A nightingale in Wytham Woods |
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Never for pain, but for delight The nightingale sings all moon long; Old Greeks heard sorrow in the song And told a tale of grief and spite: Of Philomela’s woes to write They set all later poets wrong ― Never for pain, but for delight The nightingale sings all moon long. Forget the gruesome feast, the sight Of breast transfixed by thorny prong, Though Matthew Arnold pitched it strong. Sing sweet, sweet all dewy night, Never for pain, but for delight. Oxford Times, 20 May 1966 The Dancing Dust and other poems, 1983 |