Ralph Hodgson

"Time, you old gipsy man, Will you not stay, Put up your caravan Just for one day?"

"'Twould ring the bells of Heaven The wildest peal for years, If Parson lost his senses And people came to theirs, And he and they together Knelt down with angry prayers For tamed and shabby tigers And dancing dogs and bears, And wretched, blind, pit ponies, And little hunted hares."

"Reason has moons, but moons not hers Lie mirror'd on her sea, Confounding her astronomers, But, O! delighting me."

"I saw with open eyes, Singing birds sweet, Sold in the shops, For the people to eat, Sold in the shops of, Stupidity Street."

"God loves an idle rainbow, Not less than labouring seas."

"Hodgson, a man of steadfast integrity and strong personality, possessed true distinction."

"'...one of those men who seem commonplace when first met but then prove to be completely original both in their work and their lives... Apparently slight and unpretentious, his work has a queer magic, which is what I want from poetry."