In this World by Wendell Berry
In this World by Wendell Berry The hill pasture, an open place among the trees, tilts into the valley. The clovers and tall grasses are in bloom. Along the foot of the hill dark floodwater moves down the river. The sun sets. Ahead of nightfall the birds sing. I have climbed up to water the […]
In A Motel Parking Lot, Thinking Of Dr. Williams by Wendell Berry
In A Motel Parking Lot, Thinking Of Dr. Williams by Wendell Berry I. The poem is important, but not more than the people whose survival it serves, one of the necessities, so they may speak what is true, and have the patience for beauty: the weighted grainfield, the shady street, the well-laid stone and the […]
For The Future by Wendell Berry
For The Future by Wendell Berry Planting trees early in spring, we make a place for birds to sing in time to come. How do we know? They are singing here now. There is no other guarantee that singing will ever be. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. […]
Do not be ashamed by Wendell Berry
Do not be ashamed by Wendell Berry You will be walking some night in the comfortable dark of your yard and suddenly a great light will shine round about you, and behind you will be a wall you never saw before. It will be clear to you suddenly that you were about to escape, and […]
A Meeting by Wendell Berry
A Meeting by Wendell Berry In a Dream I meet my dead friend. He has, I know, gone long and far, and yet he is the same for the dead are changeless. They grow no older. It is I who have changed, grown strange to what I was. Yet I, the changed one, ask: “How […]
1991-II by Wendell Berry
1991-II by Wendell Berry The ewes crowd to the mangers; Their bellies widen, sag; Their udders tighten. Soon The little voices cry In morning cold. Soon now The Garden must be worked, Laid off in rows, the seed Of life to come brought down Into the dark to rest, Abide awhile alone, And rise. Soon, […]
1991-I by Wendell Berry
1991-I by Wendell Berry The year begins with war. Our bombs fall day and night, Hour after hour, by death Abroad appeasing wrath, Folly, and greed at home. Upon our giddy tower We’d oversway the world. Our hate comes down to kill Those whom we do not see, For we have given up Our sight […]
Up The Line by Will McKendree Carleton
Through blinding storm and clouds of night, We swiftly pushed our restless flight; With thundering hoof and warning neigh, We urged our steed upon his way Up the line. Afar the lofty head-light gleamed; Afar the whistle shrieked and screamed; And glistening bright, and rising high, Our flakes of fire bestrewed the sky, Up the […]
Uncle Sammy by Will McKendree Carleton
Some men were born for great things, Some were born for small; Some–it is not recorded Why they were born at all; But Uncle Sammy was certain he had a legitimate call. Some were born with a talent, Some with scrip and land; Some with a spoon of silver, And some with a different brand; […]
The New Church Organ by Will McKendree Carleton
They ‘ve got a brand-new organ, Sue, For all their fuss and search; They’ve done just as they said they’d do, And fetched it into church. They’re bound the critter shall be seen, And on the preacher’s right They’ve hoisted up their new machine, In every body’s sight. They’ve got a chorister and choir, Ag’in’ […]
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 […]
The House Where We Were Wed by Will McKendree Carleton
I’ve been to the old farm-house, good-wife, Where you and I were wed; Where the love was born to our two hearts That now lies cold and dead. Where a long-kept secret to you I told, In the yellow beams of the moon, And we forged our vows out of love’s own gold, To be […]
The Fading Flower by Will McKendree Carleton
There is a chillness in the air– A coldness in the smile of day; And e’en the sunbeam’s crimson glare Seems shaded with a tinge of gray. Weary of journeys to and fro, The sun low creeps adown the sky; And on the shivering earth below, The long, cold shadows grimly lie. But there will […]
The Editor’s Guests by Will McKendree Carleton
The Editor sat in his sanctum, his countenance furrowed with care, His mind at the bottom of business, his feet at the top of a chair, His chair-arm an elbow supporting, his right hand upholding his head, His eyes on his dusty old table, with different documents spread: There were thirty long pages from Howler, […]
The Country Doctor by Will McKendree Carleton
There’s a gathering in the village, that has never been outdone Since the soldiers took their muskets to the war of ’61, And a lot of lumber wagons near the church upon the hill, And a crowd of country people, Sunday dressed and very still. Now each window is preempted by a dozen heads or […]
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 […]
Our Army Of The Dead by Will McKendree Carleton
By the edge of the Atlantic, where the waves of Freedom roar, And the breezes of the ocean chant a requiem to the shore, On the Nation’s eastern hill-tops, where its corner-stone was laid, On the mountains of New England, where our fathers toiled and prayed, Mid old Key-stone’s rugged riches, which the miner’s hand […]
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 […]
Johnny Rich by Will McKendree Carleton
Raise the light a little, Jim, For it’s getting rather dim, And, with such a storm a-howlin’, ’twill not do to douse the glim. Hustle down the curtains, Lu; Poke the fire a little, Su; This is somethin’ of a flurry, mother, somethin’ of a–whew! Goodness gracious, how it pours! How it beats ag’in the […]
Autumn Days by Will McKendree Carleton
Yellow, mellow, ripened days, Sheltered in a golden coating; O’er the dreamy, listless haze, White and dainty cloudlets floating; Winking at the blushing trees, And the sombre, furrowed fallow; Smiling at the airy ease Of the southward-flying swallow. Sweet and smiling are thy ways, Beauteous, golden, Autumn days! Shivering, quivering, tearful days, Fretfully and sadly […]
Apple-Blossoms by Will McKendree Carleton
Underneath an apple-tree Sat a maiden and her lover; And the thoughts within her he Yearned, in silence, to discover. Round them danced the sunbeams bright, Green the grass-lawn stretched before them; While the apple-blossoms white Hung in rich profusion o’er them. Naught within her eyes he read That would tell her mind unto him; […]
Two Songs Of Advent by Yvor Winters
I On the desert, between pale mountains, out cries — Far whispers creeping through an ancient shell. II Coyote, on delicate mocking feet, Hovers down the canyon, among the mountains, His voice running wild in the wind’s valleys. Listen! Listen! for I enter now your thought. ————— The End And that’s the End of the […]
On Teaching The Young by Yvor Winters
The young are quick of speech. Grown middle-aged, I teach Corrosion and distrust, Exacting what I must. A poem is what stands When imperceptive hands, Feeling, have gone astray. It is what one should say. Few minds will come to this. The poet’s only bliss Is in cold certitude— Laurel, archaic, rude. ————— The End […]
Dark spring by Yvor Winters
My mother Foresaw deaths And walked among Chrysanthemums, Winecolored, Withered rose, The earthy blossoms. My very breath Disowned In nights of study, And page by page I came on spring. The rats run on the roof, These words come hard—- Sadder than cockcrow In a dreamless, earthen sleep. The Christ, eternal In the scented cold; […]
Where My Sight Goes by Yvor Winters
Who knows Where my sight goes, What your sight shows – Where the peachtree blows? The frogs sing Of everything And children run As leaves swing. And many women pass Dressed in white, As thoughts of noon pass From sea to sea. And all these things would take My life from me. ————— The End […]
To Emily Dickinson by Yvor Winters
Dear Emily, my tears would burn your page, But for the fire-dry line that makes them burn— Burning my eyes, my fingers, while I turn Singly the words that crease my heart with age. If I could make some tortured pilgrimage Through words or Time. or the blank pain of Doom And kneel before you […]
To A Young Writer by Yvor Winters
Achilles Holt, Stanford, 1930 Here for a few short years Strengthen affections; meet, Later, the dull arrears Of age, and be discreet. The angry blood burns low. Some friend of lesser mind Discerns you not; but so Your solitude’s defined. Write little; do it well. Your knowledge will be such, At last, as to dispel […]
Time And The Garden by Yvor Winters
The spring has darkened with activity. The future gathers in vine, bush, and tree: Persimmon, walnut, loquat, fig, and grape, Degrees and kinds of color, taste, and shape. These will advance in their due series, space The season like a tranquil dwelling-place. And yet excitement swells me, vein by vein: I long to crowd the […]
The Slow Pacific Swell by Yvor Winters
Far out of sight forever stands the sea, Bounding the land with pale tranquillity. When a small child, I watched it from a hill At thirty miles or more. The vision still Lies in the eye, soft blue and far away: The rain has washed the dust from April day; Paint-brush and lupine lie against […]
The Moralists by Yvor Winters
You would extend the mind beyond the act, Furious, bending, suffering in thin And unpoetic dicta; you have been Forced by hypothesis to fiercer fact. As metal singing hard, with firmness racked, You formulate our passion; and behind In some harsh moment nowise of the mind Lie the old meanings your advance has packed. No […]
The Journey by Yvor Winters
Snake River Country I now remembered slowly how I came, I, sometime living, sometime with a name, Creeping by iron ways across the bare Wastes of Wyoming, turning in despair, Changing and turning, till the fall of night, Then throbbing motionless with iron might. Four days and nights! Small stations by the way, Sunk far […]
The Fable by Yvor Winters
Beyond the steady rock the steady sea, In movement more immovable than station, Gathers and washes and is gone. It comes, A slow obscure metonymy of motion, Crumbling the inner barriers of the brain. But the crossed rock braces the hills and makes A steady quiet of the steady music, Massive with peace. And listen, […]
The Empty Hills by Yvor Winters
The grandeur of deep afternoons, The pomp of haze on marble hills, Where every white-walled villa swoons Through violence that heat fulfills, Pass tirelessly and more alone Than kings that time has laid aside. Safe on their massive sea of stone The empty tufted gardens ride. Here is no music, where the air Drives slowly […]
Sir Gawaine And The Green Knight by Yvor Winters
Reptilian green the wrinkled throat, Green as a bough of yew the beard; He bent his head, and so I smote; Then for a thought my vision cleared. The head dropped clean; he rose and walked; He fixed his fingers in the hair; The head was unabashed and talked; I understood what I must dare. […]
One Ran Before by Yvor Winters
I could tell Of silence where One ran before Himself and fell Into silence Yet more fair. And this were more A thing unseen Than falling screen Could make of air. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository […]
On A View Of Pasadena From The Hills by Yvor Winters
From the high terrace porch I watch the dawn. No light appears, though dark has mostly gone, Sunk from the cold and monstrous stone. The hills Lie naked but not light. The darkness spills Down the remoter gulleys; pooled, will stay Too low to melt, not yet alive with day. Below the windows, the lawn, […]
Night Of Battle by Yvor Winters
Europe: 1944 as regarded from a great distance Impersonal the aim Where giant movements tend; Each man appears the same; Friend vanishes from friend. In the long path of lead That changes place like light No shape of hand or head Means anything tonight. Only the common will For which explosion spoke; And stiff on […]
Much In Little by Yvor Winters
Amid the iris and the rose, The honeysuckle and the bay, The wild earth for a moment goes In dust or weed another way. Small though its corner be, the weed Will yet intrude its creeping beard; The harsh blade and the hairy seed Recall the brutal earth we feared. And if no water touch […]
Moonrise by Yvor Winters
The branches, jointed, pointing up and out, shine out like brass. Upon the heavy lip of earth the dog at moments is possessed and screams: The rising moon draws up his blood and hair. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — […]