The Shepherd's Hut

Poems

Jonathan Bate

• Publisher: Unbound
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781783524310
• eBook ISBN: 9781783524303
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Poesia europea

Jonathan Bate believes that the slow, meditative reading of poetry – absorbing ourselves in the images of a poem, slowing to its beat, allowing our minds to rest in the pause of a line-ending – can bring us tranquility as we find echoes of our own experiences on the page. Experiences of beautiful places, strong feelings and moments that lift the human spirit

In The Shepherd's Hut, Bate introduces us to the diet of swans, the quest for inner peace in ancient Chinese poetry, the English seaside and the summer Mediterranean, a rose garden and a snow-covered moor. He reminds us what it is like to fall in love and to say goodbye.

These are poems of memory and of mourning; quick-fire thoughts and longer meditations inspired by the great poets of the past.

All author proceeds will be donated to ReLit, a small charitable foundation established by Jonathan Bate and his wife, author Paula Byrne, devoted to the act of reading as an invaluable form of stress relief in our busy world.

PASTORALS

The Swans on Our Lake

The diet of swans is mainly vegetarian:

pondweed, stonewort and widgeon grass,

sea arrow, salt marsh and eelgrass,

club-rush, milfoil and green algae.

But they occasionally indulge

in tadpole and mollusc.

Sometimes you see one fold its leg upon its back

to adjust body temperature,

rather as an elephant’s ear

absorbs the heat of the sun.

They sleep standing on one leg

or afloat with head tucked under wing.

The ungentlemanly behaviour depicted in the story of Leda

is uncharacteristic:

they mate for life and know the meaning of grief.

Some bereaved swans stay alone for the rest of their lives

while others take flight and rejoin their flock.

The other myth is true:

when they lie dying

they breathe their only song,

a long, low honk as air vacates their lungs.

They are said to be loyal servants of the queen.

The Man Who Had Not Written a Poem for Years

As the sand trickled through his fingers

The boy looked at the sea.

Spume flecks near, tanker hulks far.

The race was on.

All the sails working with the wind:

White, striped and zig-zag.

His heart racing, he ran along the sand.

As the sand trickled through the glass

The man looked at the lake.

Weir rustle near, bending tree far.

The words were flowing.

All his mind was working with the muse:

Poem, prose and letter.

His heart leaping, he was the boy again.

The Quad from Our Window

Forward and back

following string and peg

he mows the ancient quad

in concentric circles or

in waves like icons of signal strength

and across the steep banks they go

once it must have been with scythes

but now a Flymo is held on ropes

the team pulling together

perfection of the lines

clipped finish of the edge

all in an order echoing

to the symmetry of cloister

fanlight, keystone

architrave and tracery

an honouring of the old ways.

Banjaran

(FOR H. R. H.)

Paleozoic limestone

Geothermal hot springs

Cascades from the rainforest

You climb to the cave

holding the bamboo rail

and the heavy air is scented

When you look down

the steam rises from the pools

and it is your cares and duties that

evaporate

Tang Variations

Twelve improvisations on ancient Chinese poems by Wang Wei, Pei Di, Zu Young, Meng Haoran, Li Bai, Wang Zhihuan

1. Deer Enclosure

Empty mountain. Seeing nobody.

Only hearing the sound of voices.

Reflection: sunlight enters the deep forest

And shines again on green moss.

2. House in the Bamboo Grove

Sitting alone deep in a remote thicket

I pluck my lute and sing.

In this dark, unknown forest

The bright moon shines on me.

3. Goodbye

We go to the mountain for our farewell.

At sunset I close the door in the brushwood fence;

Next year the spring grass will be green

And you, prince among friends, will re...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• By the Same Author
• Dedication
• Contents
• Slow Reading
• Pastorals
• Amors
• Elegies
• Homages
• Carpe Diem
• Afterword
• About the Author
• About the Illustrator
• Acknowledgements
• Special Thanks
• Supporters
• Copyright