A Sleepless Night
by Philip Levine
April, and the last of the plum blossoms
scatters on the black grass
before dawn. The sycamore, the lime,
the struck pine inhale
the first pale hints of sky.
An iron day,
I think, yet it will come
dazzling, the light
rise from the belly of leaves and pour
burning from the cups
of poppies.
The mockingbird squawks
from his perch, fidgets,
and settles back. The snail, awake
for good, trembles from his shell
and sets sail for China. My hand dances
in the memory of a million vanished stars.
A man has every place to lay his head.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Robert Burns: The Birks Of Aberfeldy:
- The Hermit poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- The Rose by Sara Teasdale
- Robert Burns: Compliments Of John Syme Of Ryedale: Lines sent with a Present of a Dozen of Porter.
- Night by Sidney Lanier
- Владимир Маяковский – Стабилизация быта
- The Old Poet poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sonnet CXXXIX by William Shakespeare
- Владимир Маяковский – Сказка о Пете, толстом ребенке, и о Симе, который тонкий
- They are Cruel by Rixa White
- The Courage Of Shutting-Up by Sylvia Plath
- As Vanquish’d Erin by Thomas Moore
- Recessional by Rudyard Kipling
- Backtracking by Satish Verma
- River poem – Yuyutsu Sharma poems | Poetry Monster
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
Philip Levine ( 1928 – 2015) was an American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for more than thirty years in the English department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well. He served on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets from 2000 to 2006, and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011–2012