Penshurst Place
BY DEREK MAHON
The bright drop quivering on a thorn
in the rich silence after rain,
lute music in the orchard aisles,
the paths ablaze with daffodils,
intrigue and venery in the air
à l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs,
the iron hand and the velvet glove —
come live with me and be my love.
A pearl face, numinously bright,
shining in silence of the night,
a muffled crash of smouldering logs,
bad dreams of courtiers and of dogs,
the Spanish ships around Kinsale,
the screech-owl and the nightingale,
the falcon and the turtle dove —
come live with me and be my love.
Derek Mahon, “Penshurst Place” from New Collected Poems. Copyright © 2011 by Derek Mahon. Reprinted by permission of The Gallery Press.
Source: Collected Poems (The Gallery Press, 2008)