MacKenzie | "Bards of Old" | Love Poem | Images by Edmund Leighton and John Waterhouse

TEXT OF POEM IN DESCRIPTION BELOW
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By traditional lyric poet Joseph Charles MacKenzie, critically acclaimed Winner of the Society of Classical Poets Competition 2020, Winner of the Scottish International Open Poetry Competition 1994, Winner of the St. John's College Poetry Prize.

DESCRIPTION
Composed for the birthday of the poet's wife, the Italianate sonnet, "Bards of Old," links England's high tradition of lyric verse with its medieval origins.

Video and recitation of "Bards of Old" is copyrighted by Joseph Charles MacKenzie. All rights reserved. Images by Edmund Blair Leighton and John William Waterhouse.

BARDS OF OLD

Consider how the bards of old had sung
Before their numbers vanished with the years,
And how their harps delighted captive ears
When all the world was green and fancy young;

And how the meters of their antique tongue
Gave form and substance to our hopes and fears,
To passion gravity, to love its tears,
The chords with which our human hearts are strung.

Alas, my song cannot unburthen care
Nor life’s unceasing worriments remove;
And though my lays be lost on empty air,

Yet, days to come shall not these notes reprove,
Their sweetness imitates a single fair:
The music that is you, my one true love.


© Joseph Charles MacKenzie. All rights reserved. First published in the Society of Classical Poets, October 14, 2017.