A Dream within a Dream

A Dream within a Dream
by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet, if Hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it, therefore, the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

See more Beadshaper lampwork glass beads at http://www.beadshaper.com

Love's Philosophy

Love's Philosophy
by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—

See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?

The pendant pictured above and hand crafted by the Beadshaper is named for the poem by Shelley. Click http://www.beadshaper.com to see more of her creations.

I Loved You

 

I Loved You

by Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)

 

I loved you- even now I may confess Some embers of my love their fire retain But do not let it cause you more distress- I do not want to sadden you again. Hopeless and tongue-tied, yet, I loved you dearly With pangs the jealous the timid know So tenderly I loved you, so sincerely, I pray God grant another love you so. The hand made necklace and bracelet pictured aboove are named for the poem and can be found on the Beadshaper web site at http://www.beadshaper.com

 

 

Wondrous Moment

Wondrous Moment
by Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)

The wondrous moment of our meeting . . .
I well remember you appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.

In hopeless ennui surrounding
The worldly bustle, to my ear
For long your tender voice kept sounding,
For long in dreams came features dear.

Time passed. Unruly storms confounded
Old dreams, and I from year to year
Forgot how tender you had sounded,
Your heavenly features once so dear.

My backwoods days dragged slow and quiet —
Dull fence around, dark vault above —
Devoid of God and uninspired,
Devoid of tears, of fire, of love.
Sleep from my soul began retreating,
And here you once again appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.

In ecstasy the heart is beating,
Old joys for it anew revive;
Inspired and God-filled, it is greeting
The fire, and tears, and love alive.

The bracelet pictured above and named for the poem by Alexander Pushkin was hand crafted by the beadshaper. Click http://www.beadshaper.com to see more of the Beadshaper's creations.

My River

My River
by Emily Dickinson

My river runs to thee.
Blue sea, wilt thou welcome me?
My river awaits reply.
Oh! sea, look graciously.

I?ll fetch thee brooks
from spotted nooks.
Say, sea,
Take me!

The lampwork glass pendant bead hand crafted by the Beadshaper and pictured above is reminiscent of a beautiful river. More of the Beadshaper's work can be seen at http://www.beadshaper.com

Meeting at Night

Meeting at Night
by Robert Browning (1812-1889)

The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!

The pendant pictured above and named for the poem by Robert Browning was hand crafted by the beadshaper. Click http://www.beadshaper.com to see more of the Beadshaper's creations.

    

Bonnie Doon

The Banks Of Bonnie Doon
by Robert Burns (1759 -1796)

Yon banks and hills of bonnie Doon,
 How can you bloom so fresh and fair?
 And little birds, how can you chaunt
 With me so weary... full o' care?

 You'll break my heart, you warbling birds
 That wanton thru the flow'ry thorns
 You remind me of departed joys
 Departed... never to return.

 Oft did I rove by bonnie Doon
 To see the rose and woodbine twine
 And every bird sang of its love
 As fondly once I sang of mine.

 With lightsome heart I pulled a rose
 Full sweet from off its thorny tree
 But my first lover stole that rose
 And, ah! has left its thorns with me.

The pendant pictured above and named for the poem by Robert Burns was hand crafted by the beadshaper. Click http://www.beadshaper.com to see more of the Beadshaper's creations.

A Birthday

A Birthday by Christina Rosetti (1830-1894)

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose heart is in a watered shoot.
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit.
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea.
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates
And peacocks with a hundred eyes.
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleur-de-lis;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.

The necklace above named for the poem, A Birthday, was handcrafted by the Beadshaper. You can see more of her jewelry and bead creations at http://www.beadshaper.com

Flower of Love

Flower of Love by Claude McKay (1889 -1948)

The perfume of your body dulls my sense.
I want nor wine nor weed; your breath alone
Suffices. In this moment rare and tense
I worship at your breast. The flower is blown,
The saffron petals tempt my amorous mouth,
The yellow heart is radiant now with dew
Soft-scented, redolent of my loved South;
O flower of love! I give myself to you.
Uncovered on your couch of figured green,
Here let us linger indivisible.
The portals of your sanctuary unseen
Receive my offering, yielding unto me.
Oh, with our love the night is warm and deep!
The air is sweet, my flower, and sweet the flute
Whose music lulls our burning brain to sleep,
While we lie loving, passionate and mute.

The flower glass pendant on a bead crochet necklace pictured above was handcrafted by the Beadshaper. You can go to http://www.beadshaper.com to see more jewelry creations by the Beadshaper

O Mistress Mine

O Mistress Mine
by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)           
                

O Mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.

What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies not plenty;
Then, come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

To see more poetry inspired jewelry hand crafted by the Beadshaper click http://www.beadshaper.com

Farewell to Love

Farewell to Love
by Michael Drayton (1563 - 1631)                           

Since there's not help, come let us kiss and part;
Nay, I am done, you get no more of me;
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly I myself can free;
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows, 
And when we meet at any time again,
Be it not seen in either of our brows 
That we, one jot of former love retain.
Now, at the last gasp of love's latest breath,
When his pulse failing, passion speechless lies,
When faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And innocence is closing up his eyes,
Now, if thou woulds't, when all have given him over,
From death to life Thou might'st him yet recover.

The heart shaped lampwork glass bead wrapped in silver wire pictured above was hand crafted by the Beadshaper. You can see more of her work at http://www.beadshaper.com

Camomile Tea

Camomile Tea
by Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)

Outside the sky is light with stars;
There's a hollow roaring from the sea.
And, alas! for the little almond flowers,
The wind is shaking the almond tree.

How little I thought, a year ago,
In the horrible cottage upon the Lee
That he and I should be sitting so
And sipping a cup of camomile tea.

Light as feathers the witches fly,
The horn of the moon is plain to see;
By a firefly under a jonquil flower
A goblin toasts a bumble-bee.

We might be fifty, we might be five,
So snug, so compact, so wise are we!
Under the kitchen-table leg
My knee is pressing against his knee.

Our shutters are shut, the fire is low,
The tap is dripping peacefully;
The saucepan shadows on the wall
Are black and round and plain to see.

The viking knit bracelet pictured above was created by the Beadshaper. It as well as other bracelets are available at http://www.beadshaper.com

Eulalie

Eulalie by Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)

I dwelt alone 
In a world of moan
And my soul was a stagnant tide
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie 
    became my blushing bride- 
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie 
    became my smiling bride. 

Ah, less-- less bright 
Are the stars of night 
Than the eyes of the radiant girl! 
And never a flake 
That the vapor can make 
With the moon-tints of purple and pearl, 
Can vie with the modest Eulalie's 
     most unregarded curl- 
Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's 
    most humble and careless curl. 

Now Doubt-- now Pain 
Come never again, 
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh
And all day long 
Shines, bright and strong, 
Astarte within the sky, 
While ever to her dear Eulalie 
    upturns her matron eye- 
While ever to her young Eulalie 
    upturns her violet eye.

The Fashion Fish bead pictured above is named for Eulalie, Edgar Allen Poe's beloved bride. You can see more of the Beadshaper's hand crafted glass fish beads at http://www.beadshaper.com

Love Not Me

Love Not Me
by John Wilbey (1574-1638)   

Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,

Nor for any outward part:
No, nor for a constant heart!
For these may fail or turn to ill:
Should thou and I sever.

Keep, therefore, a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why!
So hast thou the same reason still
To dote upon me ever.

The heart bead pictured above was hand crafted by the Beadshaper. Click http://www.beadshaper.com to see more of her heart bead designs.

The Banks of Donnie Doon

The Banks of Donnie Doon
by Robert Burns

Yon banks and hills of bonnie Doon,
How can you bloom so fresh and fair?
And little birds, how can you chaunt
With me so weary... full o' care?

You'll break my heart, you warbling birds
That wanton thru the flow'ry thorns
You remind me of departed joys
Departed... never to return.

Oft did I rove by bonnie Doon
To see the rose and woodbine twine
And every bird sang of its love
As fondly once I sang of mine.

With lightsome heart I pulled a rose
Full sweet from off its thorny tree
But my first lover stole that rose
And, ah! has left its thorns with me.

You can see more beads like the one pictured above at http://www.beadshaper.com

Why Is the Rose So Pale

Why Is the Rose So Pale
by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

Oh Dearest, canst thou tell me why
The Rose should be so pale?
And why the azure Violet
Should wither in the vale?

And why the Lark should, in the cloud,
So sorrowfully sing?
And why from loveliest balsam-buds
A scent of death should spring?

And why the Sun upon the mead
So chillingly should frown?
And why the Earth should, like a grave,
Be mouldering and brown?

And why is it that I, myself,
So languishing should be?
And why is it, my Heart-of-Hearts,
That thou forsakest me?

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Whoever Loved that Not Loved at First Sight?

WHOEVER LOVED THAT NOT LOVED AT FIRST SIGHT?
by Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should love, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows; let it suffice
What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?

The heart pendant hand crafted by the Beadshaper pictured above is inspired by Marlowe's poem. To see more of the Beadshaper's work click http://www.beadshaper.com

Fire and Ice

by Robert Frost

1874-1963

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

See beads named for classic romantic poems at Beadshaper

The Lorelei

This bead is named for the poem, The Lorelei,
by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
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I know not the significance
Or the meaning of my sadness...
There's a fairy-tail from times past
A lingering portion of my madness.

The air is cool as light recedes
And calmly flows the Rhine;
The peak of a nearby mountain glows
In the gloaming sun's shine.

Above a chaste woman sits
Radiant and quite unaware;
With golden jewelry flashing
She combs her golden hair.

She strokes it with a glittering comb,
As she toils a song's befalling.
A mysterious song, an enchanting air
With a melody enthralling.

Her lay is heard by the boatmen near
Who are seized with woe and pain
And tho' there are dangerous rocks nearby
To her visage and song they strain.

So, the boat is lost and the boatmen, too
Engulfed, I do imply
By the beautiful face and enticing strain,
The song of the Lorelei.

The Lover's Song

The Lover's Song by Eliza Acton (1799-1859)

OH sooner shall yon star decline,
Which guides the wand'ring seaman's way,
Than thou shalt from the inmost shrine
Of this warm heart, be torn away:
No !--firm, as pure, my love shall be,
Though nurs'd for ever,--silently !
In vain for me the festal hall
Displays the wine-cup's blushing hue;
And music's swell, or faint, low fall,
Echoes, the vaulted chamber through:
Alike from song, and revelry,
I sorrowing turn me,--silently!

---

I gaze unmov'd, though Beauty's smile,
And Beauty's eyes, be near to bless;
I think with beating breast the while,
Of thy retiring loveliness:
And lonely, and afar from thee,
My tears fall fast but,--silently!
Ev'n when my swelling soul is full
Of those deep feelings, which arise,
When mid-night, calmly beautiful,
With starry splendour lights the skies,
O'er Nature's glorious charms I sigh,
And mourn thine absence,--silently!
To dwell eternally apart
From thee on earth, may be my lot,
With fading brow, and with'ring heart
To linger on, where thou art not;
Yet turning, with devotion high,
To thy bright image,--silently !--

---

Should it be thus,--when in the grave
My spirit finds its rest at last,
Wilt thou, who had'st no pow'r to save,
Weep for awhile o'er suff'ring past;
And sometimes, e'en when crowds are nigh,
Recall thy lost one,--silently!

--------------------------------------------

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I Love Thee

I Love Thee
by
Eliza Acton
(1799-1859)

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I love thee, as I love the calm
Of sweet, star-lighted hours!
I love thee, as I love the balm
Of early jes'mine flow'rs.
I love thee, as I love the last
Rich smile of fading day,
Which lingereth, like the look we cast,
On rapture pass'd away.
I love thee as I love the tone
Of some soft-breathing flute
Whose soul is wak'd for me alone,
When all beside is mute.

I love thee as I love the first
Young violet of the spring;
Or the pale lily, April-nurs'd,
To scented blossoming.
I love thee, as I love the full,
Clear gushings of the song,
Which lonely--sad--and beautiful--
At night-fall floats along,
Pour'd by the bul-bul forth to greet
The hours of rest and dew;
When melody and moonlight meet
To blend their charm, and hue.
I love thee, as the glad bird loves
The freedom of its wing,
On which delightedly it moves
In wildest wandering.

I love thee as I love the swell,
And hush, of some low strain,
Which bringeth, by its gentle spell,
The past to life again.
Such is the feeling which from thee
Nought earthly can allure:
'Tis ever link'd to all I see
Of gifted--high--and pure!

Beautiful Dreamer
by Stephen Foster (1826-1864)
See Fashion Fish



Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all pass'd a way!
Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,
List while I woo thee with soft melody;
Gone are the cares of life's busy throng, --
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea
Mermaids are chaunting the wild lorelie;
Over the streamlet vapors are borne,
Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.
Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart,
E'en as the morn on the streamlet and sea;
Then will all clouds of sorrow depart, --
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!

Bright Star

Bright Star
by John Keats (1795 - 1821)

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Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.