David Mitchell Poems

Each year, on my birthday, I have had a birthday cake.
Each year I have had to blow the candles out, and make a wish.
I don't think I made any particular wishes when I was younger; at least, if I did, I don't remember it.
But today I made a wish.
...

The year is fading away
From us in December’s snow and cold;
But Christmas is coming soon—
What joy that season will bring!
...

I dreamed a dream a while ago —
What it was about I do not know;
For I woke up at the break of the day,
And all of my dreams were melted away.
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I cast my mind's eye to the mountaintop
And what do I see?
I see, beneath me, the world
Of quotidian existence,
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Time can only go forwards,
It may not pause;
It may not retrace its steps;
It may not speed up;
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The darkness of the imminent night
Will soon arrive, by spatial law;
The stars not yet their radiant light
Shine forth and compass us in awe.
...

What is the purpose of wasps, cats, and caravans?
The world would be so much happier
Without wasps, cats, caravans,
Unless you were a wasp of course,
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O Music, sent down from celestial spheres,
Thou sound of heaven that soothest mortal ears,
To which a man might listen ev’ry day,
And, in so doing, waste his life away,
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I thought I had passed through this. Was I wrong?
I have not wept as I have wept today
For long - months, certainly; perhaps a year;
And then I was a fool - am I so still?
...

The twilight hour arrives, the sun
Has sunk beneath the skies;
The birds now sing their merry song
And soon their music dies.
...