[1240] The Night has a Thousand Eyes

Guest poem sent in by Mallika Chellappa <mchellappa@>

The night has a thousand eyes,
     And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
     With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
     And the heart but one:
Yet the light of a whole life dies
      When love is done.

	-- Francis William Bourdillon

This poem beautifully expresses the
psyche of someone who could go into a
decline and die of unrequited love.

Although I am not one of those, it
is only thanks to exposure to such poems
that I have developed a measure of
tolerance for people with more sensibility
(a la Jane Austen) than I.

Mallika

[If anyone has a biography, please do send it in. -- martin]

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From: "Seema Pai" <seemapai@>

http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poet33.html has a small biography
thats not too insightful but provides some rudimentary details at least...
Have heard this poem before but cant remember where... am not too fond of it
myself but remember that whoever introduced me to the poem really loved it.

From: "Kanan Ajmera" <kananajmera@>

Martin,

Attached below  is something I found on Francis William Bourdillon. The
Night has a Thousand Eyes'  is truly a beautiful poem especially after
Jalaluddin Rumi. Unfortunately I did not find much else in terms of his
biography. One more of his poems that caught my attention  was "On the South
Downs"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
A late Victorian English poet from Buddington, Sussex, Francis William
Bourdillon was born on March 22, 1852, educated at Worcester College,
Oxford, and acted as tutor to the Prince and the Princess Christian at
Cumberland Lodge. He published 13 volumes of poems from 1878 to 1921. One
poem of the nearly 500 he wrote secured his fame, "The Night Has a Thousand
Eyes." He also did scholarly editing of poems and chronicles from Old
French. His edition and translation of Aucassin & Nicolette came out in
1887. In 1906 the Bibliographical Society published his study, The Early
Editions of the Roman de la Rose. He died on January 13, 1921.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

You may not want to run it but for your reference.
                  "On the South Downs"

              1    Light falls the rain
              2    On link and laine,
              3After the burning day;
              4    And the bright scene,
              5    Blue, gold, and green,
              6Is blotted out in gray.


              7    Not so will part
              8    The glowing heart
              9With sunny hours gone by;
            10    On cliff and hill
            11    There lingers still
            12A light that cannot die.


            13    Like a gold crown
            14    Gorse decks the Down,
            15All sapphire lies the sea;
            16    And incense sweet
            17    Springs as our feet
            18Tread light the thymy lea.


            19    Fade, vision bright!
            20    Fall rain, fall night!
            21Forget, gray world, thy green!
            22    For us, nor thee,
            23    Can all days be
            24As though this had not been!

From: Aryeh Kosman <akosman@>

At 3:39 PM -0700 4/29/03, Martin Julian DeMello wrote:
>[If anyone has a biography, please do send it in. -- martin]

http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poet33.html

-- 
Aryeh


______________________________
Aryeh Kosman
John Whitehead Professor of Philosophy
Haverford College
Haverford, Pa 19041-1392
(610) 896-1072
Fax (610) 896-1495

739 College Ave
Haverford, Pa 19041-1392
(610) 896-7260

From: GSKqueenema@

ifirst read this poem in the eveningStandard newspaper in london hmmmmm 
dogsyears ago
iloved it so much that i memorised it
iwas then in my 20s, i am not in my 50s 
and istill remembered it
iwas afraid id forgotten it
and thought to do a search on it, not knowing/remembering the poet
im glad ifound you, the poem and the poet

<the light of a whole day dies with the setting sun> 
is how iremembered it, im glad to see the poem again, but 4give me, was i 
wrong after all these years?
sincerely
queenema

From: "puccgo40km" <puccgo40km@>

The night has a thousand eyes.........

This poem has special meaning for me, My father gave this poem to my
mother many years ago. it describes  the love between them....
They met on a blind date, after ww2, at a beach party on Long Island..
it was love at first sight for my mother, she knew she would marry, and
raise a family, with my father... they were married for 39 yrs, raised
five sons, and were true BEST friends.......  About a year before my
mother died she shared this poem with me, she kept it in her wallet, and
showed it to me with a special feeling..... after her death, this poem
was my most cherished possesion, until my wallet was stolen....
However, I had read  it, with care so many times, the poem is within my
mind and heart, although I no longer have the piece of paper it was
written on...  Matt