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James
Elroy Flecker (1884-1915)
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TO A POET A THOUSAND YEARS
HENCE
I who am dead a thousand years,
And wrote this sweet
archaic song,
Send you my words for messengers
The way I shall not pass
along.
I care not if you bridge the seas,
Or ride secure the cruel
sky,
Or build consummate palaces
Of metal or of
masonry.
But have you wine and music still,
And statues and
bright-eyed love,
And foolish thoughts of good and ill,
And prayers to
them that sit above?
How shall we conquer? Like a wind
That falls at
eve our fancies blow,
And ole Maconides the blind
Said it
three thousand years ago.
O friend unseen, unborn,
unknown,
Student of our sweet English tongue,
Read out my
words at night, alone:
I was a poet, I was young.
Since I can
never see your face,
And never shake you by the hand,
I send my soul
through time and space
To greet you. You will understand. |
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I am afraid
to think about my death,
When it
shall be, and whether in great pain
I shall
rise up and fight the air for breath
Or calmly
wait the bursting of my brain.
I am no
coward who could seek in fear
A folk-lore
solace or sweet Indian tales:
I know dead
men are deaf and cannot hear
The singing
of a thousand nightingales.
I know dead
men are blind and cannot see
The friend
that shuts in horror their big eyes,
And they are witless -- O, I'd rather be
A living
mouse than dead as a man dies.
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A
Short Bio Of This Poet
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Born November 5, 1884, in London, James Elroy Flecker received his education at
Uppingham and Trinity College, Oxford. He joined the Consular Service in 1908,
was posted to Constantinople in 1910, and he married Helle Skiadaressi, a Greek.
From 1911 to 1913 Flecker served as vice-consul at Beirut. Suffering from
tuberculosis, he moved to Switzerland where he died January 3, 1915. Influenced
both by his classical education and by his experiences in the Orient, he
published five books of poetry, The Bridge of Fire (1908), Thirty-six
Poems (1910), Forty-two Poems (1911), The Golden Journey to
Samarkand (1913), and The Old Ships (1915). He also brought out a
novel, The King of Alsander (1914), and two sucessful plays of his,
Hassan (1922) and Don Juan (1925), came out posthumously.
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Given name: James Elroy
Family name: Flecker
Birth
date: 5 November 1884
Death date: 3 January
1915
Nationality: English
Family relations
father: William Herman Flecker
mother: Sarah Flecker
wife: Helle Flecker (from May 1911)
Languages
English
Oriental languages
Education
Dean
Close School
Uppingham School: January 1901 to 1902
Trinity College, Oxford (B.A.): October 1902 to 1906
Cambridge:
1908 to 1910
Literary movement: French Parnassian
School
Literary period: Georgian
Occupations
Teacher: 1907
Vice-consul: 1910
Residences
Lewisham: 5 November 1884
London: 1907
Beirut: 1911 to
1913
Cause of death: Consumption (TB)
Buried at:
Cheltenham
Source: eir.library.utoronto.ca
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Attention: The poems
are property of the poet and are copyrighted. This
material can only be used for reading, studying
and teaching. They can not be used for commercial
use.
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