If I Could Tell You
Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.
If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.
There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.
The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.
Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.
Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.
W H Auden
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Over the heather the wet wind blows, I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose The rain comes pattering out of the sky, I'm a Wall soldier,
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Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come
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Around them boomed the rhetoric of time, The smells and furniture of the known Where conscience worshipped an aesthetic And what was unsuccessful was condemned;
In Praise Of Limestone
If it form the one landscape that we, the inconstant ones, Are consistently homesick for, this is Because it dissolves in water Mark these rounded slopes With their surface fragrance of thyme and, beneath, A secret system of caves a...
