As I Walked Out One Evening by W.H. Auden
As I Walked Out One Evening
W.H. AudenAs I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
‘Love has no ending.‘I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,‘I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.‘The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.’But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
‘O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.‘In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.‘In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.‘Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver’s brilliant bow.‘O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you’ve missed.‘The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.‘Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.‘O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.‘O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.’It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.
SELECTED BY GILLIAN SZE
“As I Walked Out One Evening” by W.H. Auden was one of the first poems I had memorized by heart. I had come across it in this yellowed second-hand book entitled 20th Century Poetry & Poetics. I was immediately taken by the beautiful cadence, the storytelling, and sharp imagery. I was a teenager, but wow—what an introduction to these age-old themes of love, mortality, and time.
The hyperbole and intensity of stanzas 3 and 4 are gorgeous. I once read them as if they belonged to me, but after I had my children, I utter those lines to them because that’s where they belong.
ABOUT GILLIAN SZE
Gillian Sze is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Concordia University. She is the author of multiple poetry books and picture books. Her latest poetry collection, Quiet Night Think, received the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. ECW Press will publish her next book, An Orange, A Syllable, this fall.
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This poem appeared in 20th-Century Poetry & Poetics by Gary Geddes, published by Oxford University Press, 1973. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“20th Century Poetry and Poetics is considered the most important teaching anthology published in Canada for poetry courses at the college and university market. The greatly anticipated fourth edition of the anthology was published in the Spring of 1996 and the number of poets included was expanded by more than fifty per cent. The twenty-five poets new to this edition – – twelve women and thirteen men – are from Canada, the UK, the United States, and the Commonwealth. The list of new poets include Nobel Prize winner Dereck Walcott; well-known American poets Sharon Olds, Louise Gluck, Denise Levertov, Galway Kinnell, Robert Hass, Robert Bly, John Ashbery, Philip Levine, and Rita Dove; Irish poet Eavan Boland; Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy; and Canadians Patrick Lane, Sharon Thesen, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Don McKay, Daphne Marlatt, Gary Geddes, Bronwen Wallace, Robert Kroetsch, Lorna Crozier, Tim Lilburn, Roo Borson, and bpNichol. The book provides in-depth selections from the work of each poet, and where possible, places the poems in the significant context of the poets’ own views on poetics. In addition, there are useful biographies and comments on the poets in the form of headnotes that appear at the beginning of each poet’s work.” (Source)
ABOUT W.H. AUDEN
Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, England, on February 21, 1907. In 1928, Auden’s collection, Poems, was privately printed, but it wasn’t until 1930, when another collection titled Poems (though its contents were different) was published, that Auden was established as the leading voice of a new generation. Ever since, Auden has been admired for his unsurpassed technical virtuosity and an ability to write poems in nearly every imaginable verse form. He died in Vienna on September 29,… (more)
Read more poems by W.H. Auden • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- This is Day 60 of Poems We Carry, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Read A Little Poetry—a living archive I’ve nurtured for two decades. For this milestone series, I invited writers I deeply admire to share poems that have meant something to them over time.
- Explore other works in pursuit of: mortality • time • love • Or browse the index
- If this work resonates with you, please consider supporting the archive. Thank you for reading.
