RavynReads

Ravyn

Night-shift calm readings for people who need their nervous system to unclench

  1. Aug 28

    "Tears, Idle Tears" by Lord Alfred Tennyson

    A reading of "Tears, Idle Tears" by Lord Alfred Tennyson — a poem about memory, loss, and the peculiar ache of realizing that some of the most beautiful parts of life survive only because they are gone. Recorded live. I read the romantic canon out loud — the works I felt I should read before I die — and you're welcome to come sit for the next one. Subscribe and ring the bell to catch the next live reading. THE POEM Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy Autumn-fields, And thinking of the days that are no more. Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail, That brings our friends up from the underworld, Sad as the last which reddens over one That sinks with all we love below the verge; So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more. Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds To dying ears, when unto dying eyes The casement slowly grows a glimmering square; So sad, so strange, the days that are no more. Dear as remembered kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned On lips that are for others; deep as love, Deep as first love, and wild with all regret; O Death in Life, the days that are no more. LISTEN Full episodes, wherever you get podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Lk6a6N... The reading room — letters, and the before-I-die list: ravynreads.substack.com RavynReads is poetry read aloud, plus Shelf Lives: hour-long conversations about the books that changed people's lives. Everywhere: @RavynReads #Tennyson #TearsIdleTears #poetry #victorianpoetry #darkacademia #poetryreading #booktok

  2. Aug 22

    "Spring Night" by Sara Teasdale (Remastered)

    A reading of "Spring Night" by Sara Teasdale — a poem about standing in a world so beautiful it ought to be enough, and discovering, almost painfully, that beauty cannot quiet the longing to be loved. Recorded live. I read the romantic canon out loud — the works I felt I should read before I die — and you're welcome to come sit for the next one. Subscribe and ring the bell to catch the next live reading. THE POEM The park is filled with night and fog, The veils are drawn about the world, The drowsy lights along the paths Are dim and pearled. Gold and gleaming the empty streets, Gold and gleaming the misty lake, The mirrored lights like sunken swords, Glimmer and shake. Oh, is it not enough to be Here with this beauty over me? My throat should ache with praise, and I Should kneel in joy beneath the sky. Oh, beauty, are you not enough? Why am I crying after love With youth, a singing voice and eyes To take earth's wonder with surprise? Why have I put off my pride, Why am I unsatisfied, I for whom the pensive night Binds her cloudy hair with light, I for whom all beauty burns Like incense in a million urns? Oh, beauty, are you not enough? Why am I crying after love? LISTEN Full episodes, wherever you get podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Lk6a6N... The reading room — letters, and the before-I-die list: ravynreads.substack.com RavynReads is poetry read aloud, plus Shelf Lives: hour-long conversations about the books that changed people's lives. Everywhere: @RavynReads #SaraTeasdale #SpringNight #poetry #darkacademia #poetryreading #booktok

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Night-shift calm readings for people who need their nervous system to unclench