Autumn woods, my heart is tired with wandering about
And all my courage fails,
O lovely woods draw close your coloured veils,
And shut the cold world out!
The little tangled branches catch my curls, the bracken makes
Strong nets to hold me fast,
But safe in Heaven my truant spirit makes
Her bright wings free at last!
From Country Life, Vol. 46, Iss. 1194, (Nov 22, 1919), p 649.
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In gorgeous plumage, azure, gold and green,
They trample the pale flowers, and their shrill cry
Troubles the garden’s bright tranquillity!
Proud birds of Beauty, splendid and serene,
Spreading their brilliant fans, screen after screen
Of burnished sapphire, gemmed with mimic suns–
Strange magic eyes that, so the legend runs,
Will bring misfortune to this fair demesne…
And my gay youth, that, vain and debonair,
Sits in the sunshine–tired at last of play
(A child, that finds the morning all too long),
Tempts with its beauty that disastrous day
When in the gathering darkness of despair
Death shall strike dumb the laughing mouth of song.
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The Inn of Dreams: Poems by Olive Custance
Edited, with a substantial biographical introduction by Edwin James King
Olive Custance was the beautiful wife of Lord Alfred Douglas, the disgraced lover of Oscar Wilde. Apart from that, the literary world knows little of her today. Her reputation lies very much in the shadow of the men who knew and loved her. And yet this woman was a gifted poet in her own right and a friend of many key figures of the ‘fin de siècle’.
In this edition of The Inn of Dreams, a selection of poems made by Custance herself in 1911, editor Edwin King casts new light on the woman and her work with a substantial biographical introduction.
It is about time for lovers of poetry for rediscover this charming girl who once wrote to her husband :”Like a shy child I bring you all my songs”.
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Olive Custance (Lady Alfred Douglas) 