“

Now reading

Nightingale

Muse of musicians and poets
whose song is taken to be
song itself, how is it
such melody

originates in a creature
whose name, read word for word,
is a hard time to weather
for any bird?

What does the shutters' rattling,
what does the night wind's wail
have to do with your music,
night in gale ?

By what Hermetic method
is a nocturnal storm
incorporated into
your twilit form;

by what unconscious measure
tuned to the song that I
am here in hopes of hearing
by and by?

41,493

poems

4,155

poets

207

poetic terms

Browse the collection

Explore the archive →

Selected

Poems worth returning to

The glossary

The language about poetry

From aubade to zuihitsu, 207 definitions of the forms, figures, and schools that shape the line.

Explore the glossary→