Drum-Taps. by Walt Whitman
1 FIRST, O songs, for a prelude, Lightly strike on the stretch’d tympanum, pride and joy in my city, How she led the rest to arms—how she gave the cue, How at once with lithe limbs, unwaiting a moment, she sprang; (O superb! O Manhattan, my own, my peerless! O strongest you in the hour […]
Dresser, The. by Walt Whitman
1 AN old man bending, I come, among new faces, Years looking backward, resuming, in answer to children, Come tell us, old man, as from young men and maidens that love me; Years hence of these scenes, of these furious passions, these chances, Of unsurpass’d heroes, (was one side so brave? the other was equally […]
Chanting the Square Deific. by Walt Whitman
1 CHANTING the square deific, out of the One advancing, out of the sides; Out of the old and new—out of the square entirely divine, Solid, four-sided, (all the sides needed)… from this side JEHOVAH am I, Old Brahm I, and I Saturnius am; Not Time affects me—I am Time, old, modern as any; Unpersuadable, […]
Behold this Swarthy Face. by Walt Whitman
BEHOLD this swarthy face—these gray eyes, This beard—the white wool, unclipt upon my neck, My brown hands, and the silent manner of me, without charm; Yet comes one, a Manhattanese, and ever at parting, kisses me lightly on the lips with robust love, And I, on the crossing of the street, or on the ship’s […]
As At Thy Portals Also Death. by Walt Whitman
AS at thy portals also death, Entering thy sovereign, dim, illimitable grounds, To memories of my mother, to the divine blending, maternity, To her, buried and gone, yet buried not, gone not from me, (I see again the calm benignant face fresh and beautiful still, I sit by the form in the coffin, I kiss […]
A poem to mankind by Walter William Safar
A poem to mankind by Walter William Safar When I love, I fly with the wind Into the magic land below the rainbow of the human heart; When I love, A tear is a blessing, not a curse, Because those who never cried don’t know what love is. When I love, Even death removes its […]
To His Love When He Had Obtained Her by Sir Walter Raleigh
To His Love When He Had Obtained Her by Sir Walter Raleigh Now Serena be not coy, Since we freely may enjoy Sweet embraces, such delights, As will shorten tedious nights. Think that beauty will not stay With you always, but away, And that tyrannizing face That now holds such perfect grace Will both changed […]
His Pilgrimage by Sir Walter Raleigh
His Pilgrimage by Sir Walter Raleigh GIVE me my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope’s true gage; And thus I’ll take my pilgrimage. Blood must be my body’s balmer; No other balm will there be given: […]
The Land Beyond the Rainbow by Walter William Safar
The Land Beyond the Rainbow by Walter William Safar You are calling out for me, road of dreams, To the land beyond the rainbow, where everyone has the right to await Freedom, like all the beautiful mornings that don’t have two cold eyes scathingly looking at Freedom; You are calling out for me, road of […]
Against All Streams by Walter William Safar
Against All Streams by Walter William Safar My dear mister banker, You want to push me into the wild river, To swim downstream, But I’m a strange kind of animal, My hunter, I’ve always been swimming against all streams; When death emerges from its judicial seat To be kissed by solitude, The morning shall start, […]
A Poem to my Beloved by Walter William Safar
A Poem to my Beloved by Walter William Safar If I had to lie down Onto the black hearse instead of our love, I would agree to die right away, But hope is the last thing to die, Yes, my golden one, I am living with hope That Your tear, like the beautiful moon, shall […]
A Day on the Beach of War by Tony Stringfellow
A Day on the Beach of War by Tony Stringfellow A DAY ON THE BEACH OF WAR Soft and dry, The sand is warm under foot, Each step sinks like broken dreams And there are many footsteps behind them. This hot sand rubs between the toes And scratches under the eyelids. Lips are dry, Closed […]
Eccentricity by Washington Allston
Alas, my friend! what hope have I of fame, Who am, as Nature made me, still the same? And thou, poor suitor to a bankrupt muse, How mad thy toil, how arrogant thy views! What though endued with Genius’ power to move The magick chords of sympathy and love, The painter’s eye, the poet’s fervid […]
Greater Love by Wilfred Owen
Red lips are not so red As the stained stones kissed by the English dead. Kindness of wooed and wooer Seems shame to their love pure. O Love, your eyes lose lure When I behold eyes blinded in my stead! Your slender attitude Trembles not exquisite like limbs knife-skewed, Rolling and rolling there Where God […]
The Littlle Black-Eyed Rebel by Will McKendree Carleton
A boy drove into the city, his wagon loaded down With food to feed the people of the British-governed town; And the little black-eyed rebel, so innocent and sly, Was watching for his coming from the corner of her eye. His face looked broad and honest, his hands were brown and tough, The clothes he […]
Thanksgiving Day by Will McKendree Carleton
‘Tis in the thriftful Autumn days, When earth is overdone, And forest trees have caught the blaze Thrown at them by the sun, When up the gray smoke puffs and curls From cottage chimney-lips, And oft the driving storm unfurls The black sails of his ships, Or Indian Summer, dimly fair, May walk the valleys […]
Over The Hill From The Poor-House by Will McKendree Carleton
I, who was always counted, they say, Rather a bad stick any way, Splintered all over with dodges and tricks, Known as “the worst of the Deacon’s six;” I, the truant, saucy and bold, The one black sheep in my father’s fold, “Once on a time,” as the stories say, Went over the hill on […]
One And Two by Will McKendree Carleton
I. If you to me be cold, Or I be false to you, The world will go on, I think, Just as it used to do; The clouds will flirt with the moon, The sun will kiss the sea, The wind to the trees will whisper, And laugh at you and me; But the sun […]
Untitled XIX by Yunus Emre
Go and let it be known to all lovers: I am the man who gave his heart to love. I turn into a wild duck of passion, I am the one who takes the swiftest dive. From the waves of the sea I take water And offer it all the way to the skies. In […]
Keepe On Your Maske (Version for his Mistress) by William Strode
Keepe On Your Maske (Version for his Mistress) by William Strode Keepe on your maske and hide your eye For in beholding you I dye. Your fatall beauty Gorgon-like Dead with astonishment doth strike. Your piercing eyes that now I see Are worse than Basilisks to me. Shut from mine eyes those hills of snow, […]
A Lover To His Mistress by William Strode
A Lover To His Mistress by William Strode Ile tell you how the Rose did first grow redde, And whence the Lilly whitenesse borrowed: You blusht, and then the Rose with redde was dight: The Lillies kissde your hands, and so came white: Before that time each Rose had but a stayne, The Lilly nought […]
Fairy Land iii by William Shakespeare
COME unto these yellow sands, And then take hands: Court’sied when you have, and kiss’d,– The wild waves whist,– Foot it featly here and there; And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear. Hark, hark! Bow, wow, The watch-dogs bark: Bow, wow. Hark, hark! I hear The strain of strutting chanticleer Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow! ————— The End And […]
Carpe Diem by William Shakespeare
O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O stay and hear! your true-love’s coming That can sing both high and low; Trip no further, pretty sweeting, Journey’s end in lovers’ meeting– Every wise man’s son doth know. What is love? ’tis not hereafter; Present mirth hath present laughter; What’s to come is still unsure: In […]
A Lover’s Complaint by William Shakespeare
FROM off a hill whose concave womb reworded A plaintful story from a sistering vale, My spirits to attend this double voice accorded, And down I laid to list the sad-tuned tale; Ere long espied a fickle maid full pale, Tearing of papers, breaking rings a-twain, Storming her world with sorrow’s wind and rain. Upon […]
Sonnet 128: How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st by William Shakespeare
How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st, Upon that blessèd wood whose motion sounds With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway’st The wiry concord that mine ear confounds, Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap To kiss the tender inward of thy hand, Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap, […]
Sonnet 143: Lo, as a careful huswife runs to catch by William Shakespeare
Lo, as a careful huswife runs to catch One of her feathered creatures broke away, Sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch In pursuit of the thing she would have stay, Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase, Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent To follow that which flies […]
Sonnet 33: Full many a glorious morning have I seen by William Shakespeare
Full many a glorious morning have I seen Flatter the mountaintops with sovereign eye, Kissing with golden face the meadows green, Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy; Anon permit the basest clouds to ride With ugly rack on his celestial face, And from the forlorn world his visage hide, Stealing unseen to west with this […]
Sonnet CXXVIII by William Shakespeare
How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st, Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway’st The wiry concord that mine ear confounds, Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap To kiss the tender inward of thy hand, Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap, […]
Sonnet CXLIII by William Shakespeare
Lo! as a careful housewife runs to catch One of her feather’d creatures broke away, Sets down her babe and makes an swift dispatch In pursuit of the thing she would have stay, Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase, Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent To follow that which flies […]
Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare
Lo, here the gentle lark, weary of rest, From his moist cabinet mounts up on high, And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast The sun ariseth in his majesty; Who doth the world so gloriously behold That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish’d gold. Venus salutes him with this fair good-morrow; “O thou clear god, […]
Three Songs by William Shakespeare
Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands: Court’sied when you have, and kiss’d,– The wild waves whist– Foot it featly here and there; And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear. Hark, hark! Bow, wow, The watch-dogs bark: Bow, wow. Hark, hark! I hear The strain of strutting chanticleer Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow! –from The Tempest Tell […]
The West Wind by William Cullen Bryant
The West Wind by William Cullen Bryant Beneath the forest’s skirts I rest, Whose branching pines rise dark and high, And hear the breezes of the West Among the threaded foliage sigh. Sweet Zephyr! why that sound of wo? Is not thy Home among the flowers? Do not the bright June roses blow, To meet […]
Summer Wind by William Cullen Bryant
Summer Wind by William Cullen Bryant It is a sultry day; the sun has drank The dew that lay upon the morning grass, There is no rustling in the lofty elm That canopies my dwelling, and its shade Scarce cools me. All is silent, save the faint And interrupted murmur of the bee, Settling on […]
A Song of Pitcairn’s Island by William Cullen Bryant
A Song of Pitcairn’s Island by William Cullen Bryant Come, take our boy, and we will go Before our cabin door; The winds shall bring us, as they blow, The murmurs of the shore; And we will kiss his young blue eyes, And I will sing him, as he lies, Songs that were made of […]
The Best Friend by William Henry Davies
The Best Friend by William Henry Davies Now shall I walk Or shall I ride? “Ride”, Pleasure said; “Walk”, Joy replied. Now what shall I — Stay home or roam? “Roam”, Pleasure said; And Joy — “stay home.” Now shall I dance, Or sit for dreams? “Sit,” answers Joy; “Dance,” Pleasure screams. Which of ye […]
A Fleeting Passion by William Henry Davies
A Fleeting Passion by William Henry Davies Thou shalt not laugh, thou shalt not romp, Let’s grimly kiss with bated breath; As quietly and solemnly As Life when it is kissing Death. Now in the silence of the grave, My hand is squeezing that soft breast; While thou dost in such passion lie, It mocks […]
Red Hanrahan’s Song About Ireland by William Butler Yeats
The old brown thorn-trees break in two high over Cummen Strand, Under a bitter black wind that blows from the left hand; Our courage breaks like an old tree in a black wind and dies, But we have hidden in our hearts the flame out of the eyes Of Cathleen, the daughter of Houlihan. The […]
Never Give All The Heart by William Butler Yeats
Never give all the heart, for love Will hardly seem worth thinking of To passionate women if it seem Certain, and they never dream That it fades out from kiss to kiss; For everything that’s lovely is But a brief, dreamy. Kind delight. O never give the heart outright, For they, for all smooth lips […]
Baile And Aillinn by William Butler Yeats
ARGUMENT. Baile and Aillinn were lovers, but Aengus, the Master of Love, wishing them to he happy in his own land among the dead, told to each a story of the other’s death, so that their hearts were broken and they died. I hardly hear the curlew cry, Nor thegrey rush when the wind is […]
A Cradle Song by William Butler Yeats
The angels are stooping Above your bed; They weary of trooping With the whimpering dead. God’s laughing in Heaven To see you so good; The Sailing Seven Are gay with His mood. I sigh that kiss you, For I must own That I shall miss you When you have grown. ————— The End And that’s […]