Retro Reads discussion

& the poem that inspired this folder.

I fave recently read Thornyhold with Tadiana's Mary Stewart group. Poet Sidney Keyes was mentioned, & I was delighted to find this example of his work.

Elegy
(In memoriam SKK)

April again, and it’s a year again
Since you walked out and slammed the door
Leaving us tangled in your words. Your brain
Lives in the bank-book and your eyes look up
Laughing from the carpet on the floor:
And we still drink from your silver cup.

It is a year again since they poured
The dumb ground into your mouth:
And yet we know, by some recurring word
Or look caught unawares, that you still drive
Our thoughts like the smart cobs of your youth –
When you and the world were alive.

A year again, and we have fallen on bad times
Since they gave you to the worms.
I am ashamed to take delight in these rhymes
Without grief; but you need no tears.
We shall never forget nor escape you, nor make terms
With your enemies, the swift departing years.

Written when Keyes was only 16, as a tribute to the grandfather who brought him up.

I like all the ambivalence and tensions between contradictory feelings in that. Very sophisticated for a 16-year-old!

Yes, imagine if Keyes had survived WW2! He was believed to still be writing poetry when on active duty, but none of it survived. :(

I had not heard of Sidney Keyes - one to look up!
I do love the lines -
''Leaving us tangled in your words.''
''With your enemies, the swift departing years.''