"To touch the cup ...."

 

To touch the cup with eager lips and taste, not drain it;

To woo and tempt and court a bliss – and not attain it;

To fondle and caress a joy, yet hold it lightly,

Lest it become a necessity and cling too tightly;

To watch the sun set in the west without regretting;

To hail its advent in the east – the night forgetting;

To smother care in happiness and grief in laughter;

To hold the present close – not questioning hereafter;

To have enough to share – to know the joy of giving;

To thrill with all the sweets of life – is living.

Anonymous

"Retreat"

 

Retreat 

Let there be silence sometimes,

A space of starless night –

A silence, a space of forgetfulness

Away from seething of lives,

The rage of struggle.

Let there be a time of retreat,

A hiding of the sun and all colours,

For the soul to ride at ease in darkness;

For the coldness of no-life

To soothe life’s burning.

Let there be rest 

For wearied eyes to ease their labour

And wander across great distances,

For the spirit to slip the chain of hours

And drift in Atlantic waves of time.

Grant peace;

For a space let there be no roar

Of wheels and voices, no din

Of steel and stone and fire.

Let us cleanse ourselves from the sweat and dirt,

Let us be hushed, let us breathe

The cold sterile wind from colourless space.

Richard Aldington