Give Me Back My Rags #1 by Vasko Popa
Give me back my rags My rags of pure dreaming Of silk smiling of striped foreboding Of my cloth of lace My rags of spotted hope Of burnished desire of chequered glances Of skin from my face Give me back my rags Give me when I ask you nicely ————— The End And that’s the […]
Between Games by Vasko Popa
Nobody rests This one constantly shifts his eyes Hangs them on his head And whether he wants it or not starts walking backwards He puts them on the soles of his feet And whether he wants it or not returns walking on his head This one turns into an ear He hears all that won’t […]
Anne Pennington by Vasko Popa
Until her last breath she enlarges Her Oxford house Built in Slavonic Vowels and consonants She polishes the corner-stones Until their Anglo-Saxon shine Begins to sing Her death is like a short breath-stop Under the distant limetrees of her friends ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by […]
Give Me Back My Rags #11 by Vasko Popa
I’ve wiped your face off my face Ripped your shadow off my shadow Leveled the hills in you Turned your plains into hills Set your seasons quarreling Turned all the ends of the world from you Wrapped the path of my life around you My impenetrable my impossible path Just try to meet me now […]
Give Me Back My Rags #12 by Vasko Popa
Enough chattering violets enough sweet trash I won’t hear anything know anything Enough enough of all I’ll say the last enough Fill my mouth with earth Grit my teeth To break off you skull guzzler To break off once for all I’ll just be what I am Without root without branch without crown I’ll lean […]
The Prisoners Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
Open little box We kiss your bottom and cover Keyhole and key The whole world lies crumpted in you It resembles everything Except itself Not even your clear-sky mother Would recognize it anymore The rust will eat your key Our world and us there inside And finally you too We kiss your four sides And […]
The Craftsmen Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
Don’t open the little box Heaven’s hat will fall out of her Don’t close her for any reason She’ll bite the trouser-leg of eternity Don’t drop her on the earth The sun’s eggs will break inside her Don’t throw her in the air Earth’s bones will break inside her Don’t hold her in your hands […]
Before The Game by Vasko Popa
Shut one eye then the other Peek into every corner of yourself See that there are no nails no thieves See that there are no cuckoo’s eggs Shut then the other eye Squat and jump Jump high high high On top of yourself Fall then with all your weight Fall for days on end deep […]
Far Within Us #1 by Vasko Popa
We raise our arms The street climbs into the sky We lower our eyes The roofs go down into the earth From every pain We do not mention Grows a chestnut tree That stays mysterious behind us From every hope We cherish Sprouts a star That moves unreachable before us Can you hear a bullet […]
The Benefactors Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
We’ll return the little box Into the arms Of her inconspicuously honest properties We won’t do anything Against her will We’ll simply take her apart We’ll crucify her On her own cross Piece her bloated emptiness And let ooze All the blue cosmic blood she gathered We’ll sweet her clean of stars And anti-stars And […]
The Enemies Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
Don’t box down to the little box Which supposedly contains everything Your star and all other stars Empty yourself In her emptiness Take two nails out of her And give them to the owners To eat Make a hold in her middle And stick on your clapper Fill her with blueprints And the skin of […]
Hide-And-Seek by Vasko Popa
Someone hides from someone else Hides under his tongue The other looks for him under the earth He hides on his forehead The other looks for him in the sky He hides inside his forgetfulness The other looks for him in the grass Looks for him looks There’s no place he doesn’t look And looking […]
The Owners Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
Line the inside of the little box With your precious skin And make yourself cozy Just as you would in your own home Make space voyages inside her Gather stars make time squirt its milk And sleep in the clouds Just don’t go around pretending You’re more important than her length And wiser than her […]
The Little Box by Vasko Popa
The little box gets her first teeth And her little length Little width little emptiness And all the rest she has The little box continues growing The cupboard that she was inside Is now inside her And she grows bigger bigger bigger Now the room is inside her And the house and the city and […]
Race by Vasko Popa
Some bite from the others A leg an arm or whatever Take it between their teeth Run out as fast as they can Cover it up with earth The others scatter everywhere Sniff look sniff look Dig up the whole earth If they are lucky and find an arm Or leg or whatever It’s their […]
In The Village Of My Ancestors by Vasko Popa
Someone embraces me Someone looks at me with the eyes of a wolf Someone takes off his hat So I can see him better Everyone asks me Do you know how I’m related to you Unknown old men and women Appropriate the names Of young men and women from my memory I ask one of […]
Last News About The Little Box by Vasko Popa
The little box which contains the world Fell in love with herself And conceived Still another little box The little box of the little box Also fell in love with herself And conceived Still another little box And so it went on forever The world from the little box Ought to be inside The last […]
Give Me Back My Rags by Vasko Popa
Just come to my mind My thoughts will scratch out your face Just come into my sight My eyes will start snarling at you Just open your mouth My silence will smash your jaws Just remind me of you My remembering will paw up the ground under your feet That’s what it’s come to between […]
Far Within Us #5 by Vasko Popa
The nights are running out of darkness Steel branches grasp The arms of passers-by Only anonymour chimneys Are free to walk the streets Which slice across our sleeplessness In the gutters our stars decay ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — […]
Far Within Us #4 by Vasko Popa
Green gloves rustle On the avenue’s branches The evening carries us under its arm By a path which leaves no trace The rain falls on its knees Before the fugitive windows The yards come out of their gates And stand looking after us ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, […]
A Forgetful Number by Vasko Popa
Once upon a time there was a number Pure and round like the sun But alone very much alone It began to reckon with itself It divided multiplied itself It subtracted added itself And remained always alone It stopped reckoning with itself And shut itself up in its round And sunny purity Outside were left […]
A Conceited Mistake by Vasko Popa
Once upon a time there was a mistake So silly so small That no one would even have noticed it It couldn’t bear To see itself to hear of itself It invented all manner of things Just to prove that it didn’t really exist It invented space To put its proofs in And time to […]
Upon a Lady’s Fall Over a Stile, Gotten by Running From Her Love by William Wycherley
My Heart held out, against your Face, and Eyes, But cou’d no more, against your Breech, and Thighs, Which they, both took, and wounded, by Surprize; Who, till then, did (as ’twere,) in Ambush ly, For my poor Life, at least, my Liberty; So secret Enemies, more Mischief do, The less still they, […]
To his Indifferent Mistress by William Wycherley
I. Ah! Dear, proud Charmer, cou’d you prove At once more Cruel, or less Fair, Your Cruelty wou’d speak some Love, In turning Mine to strong Despair; For luke-warm Love, or cold Indifference, Keeps with more Pain my Flame in more Suspence. II. To make me Yours, you still disdain, Yet can’t consent to let […]
The Poor Lover to His Rich Mistress about to Marry His Coxcombly Rival by William Wycherley
He av’n is not gain’d with Wealth, or Bribes, we know, So (Divine Thing!) I nothing bid for you, No Shining Dirt, as my Rich Rivals do; Tho’ Di’monds, Pearl, may purchas’d be with Gold, Your Eyes, Teeth, at a Higher Rate I hold; My Precious, and Inestimable Dear! He who wou’d buy thy Love […]
Sleep and Death by William Wycherley
O Sleep! thou dost thy healing Virtues lend, At once t’instruct our Nature, and befriend. Do’st to our wearied Limbs fresh Strength supply, And giv’st Ideas what ’twill be to die. Brother of Death! In Office how the same! Both lent us to repair our shatter’d Frame; Yet diff’ring here, that Sleep at best can […]
On a Sea Fight, Which the Author was in, Betwixt the English and Dutch by William Wycherley
Pluto himself did tremble in his Hell, Pale Ghosts look’d paler, to hear new Ghosts tell What was in Neptune ‘s Empire done above By Two great Fleets, that for Hell’s Empire strove. Each Side, like Fiends, in Fire and Smoke did fight, And put the Dev’l himself into a Fright; For both dispatch’d to […]
Love and Wine by William Wycherley
In vain I Drunkenness forswore, Because by That made Sick and Blind; Since tho’ I have the Flask giv’n o’er, Love still intoxicates my Mind. If then for either Sottishness, Alike Man’s Sense is in Disguise; No matter which way, sure, it is, By sparkling Wine, or sparkling Eyes. Yet most debauch’d the Lovers shew, […]
In Praise of Laziness by William Wycherley
O God-like State! thou Heav’nly Laziness! Which, in thy Rags, canst thy Professors Bless, Ensure their Innocence, Peace, Ease, or Rest, Ev’n here, with Poverty, to make ’em Blest; Their Faith, and Honour, best dost justifie, Securing their Good Name, and Liberty, From Scandal, Care, Fear, Pain, and Slavery; Blest State on Earth! […]
Drinking-Song, A. To a Formal, Proud, Sober Coxcomb by William Wycherley
I. Let the Dull, Sober, and the Grave, But fit for drudging, Bus’ness have; Let sitting still, my Hand employ, My busie Tongue, not thoughtless Head; Employment, which wou’d Cares destroy, Not such, by which, more still are bred; II. Let all Ambitious Sots flie high, To make their Steps more slippery, Whilst I, with […]
A Consolation to Cuckholds by William Wycherley poems
Injurious, spightful, and ill-judging Town, To cry the Trade of Cuckold-making down! When by it half your Sons to Honours rise, And raise their Fortunes, and their Families: Why then should that be deem’d Disgrace, or Shame, To which so many owe their Wealth and Name And so gain Honour, ev’n in Spight of Fame? […]
What Reward? by Winifred Mary Letts
You gave your life. Boy. And you gave a limb: But he who gave his precious wits, Say, what regard for him? One had his glory, One has found his rest. But what of this poor babbler here With chin sunk on his breast? Flotsam of battle, With brain bemused and dim, O God, for […]
To A Soldier In Hospital by Winifred Mary Letts
Courage came to you with your boyhood’s grace Of ardent life and limb. Each day new dangers steeled you to the test, To ride, to climb, to swim. Your hot blood taught you carelessness of death With every breath. So when you went to play another game You could not but be brave: An Empire’s […]
To A May Baby by Winifred Mary Letts
To come at tulip time how wise! Perhaps you will not now regret The shining gardens, jewel set, Of your first home in Paradise Nor fret Because you might not quite forget. To come at swallow-time how wise! When every bird has built a nest; Now you may fold your wings and rest And watch […]
Tim, An Irish Terrier by Winifred Mary Letts
It’s wonderful dogs they’re breeding now: Small as a flea or large as a cow; But my old lad Tim he’ll never be bet By any dog that he ever met, Come on ‘says he’for I’m not kilt yet! No matter the size of the dog he’ll meet, Tim trails his coat the length o’the […]
The Spires Of Oxford by Winifred Mary Letts
I saw the spires of Oxford As I was passing by, The gray spires of Oxford Against the pearl-gray sky. My heart was with the Oxford men Who went abroad to die. The years go fast in Oxford, The golden years and gay, The hoary Colleges look down On careless boys at play. But when […]
The Kerry Cow by Winifred Mary Letts
IT’S in Connacht or in Munster that yourself might travel wide, And be asking all the herds you’d meet along the countryside, But you’d never meet a one could shew the likes of her till now, Where she’s grazing in a Leinster field my little Kerry cow. If herself went to the cattle fairs she’d […]
The Harbour by Winifred Mary Letts
I think if I lay dying in some land Where Ireland is no more than just a name, My soul would travel back to find that strand From whence it came. I’d see the harbour in the evening light, The old men staring at some distant ship, The fishing boats they fasten left and right […]
The Deserter by Winifred Mary Letts
There was a man, – don’t mind his name, Whom Fear had dogged by night and day. He could not face the German guns And so he turned and ran away. Just that – he turned and ran away, But who can judge him, you or I ? God makes a man of flesh and […]
The Connaught Rangers by Winifred Mary Letts
I SAW the Connaught Rangers when they were passing by, On a spring day, a good day, with gold rifts in the sky. Themselves were marching steadily along the Liffey quay An’ I see the young proud look of them as if it were to-day! The bright lads, the right lads, I have them in […]