Songs of Joy by William Henry Davies

Songs of Joy by William Henry Davies Sing out, my soul, thy songs of joy; Sing as a happy bird will sing Beneath a rainbow’s lovely arch In the spring. Think not of death in thy young days; Why shouldst thou that grim tyrant fear? And fear him not when thou art old, And he […]

Seeking Beauty by William Henry Davies

Seeking Beauty by William Henry Davies Cold winds can never freeze, nor thunder sour The cup of cheer that Beauty draws for me Out of those Azure heavens and this green earth — I drink and drink, and thirst the more I see. To see the dewdrops thrill the blades of grass, Makes my whole […]

Sadness and Joy by William Henry Davies

Sadness and Joy by William Henry Davies I pray you, Sadness, leave me soon, In sweet invention thou art poor! Thy sister, Joy can make ten songs While thou art making four. One hour with thee is sweet enough; But when we find the whole day gone And no created thing is left — We […]

Rich or Poor by William Henry Davies

Rich or Poor by William Henry Davies With thy true love I have more wealth Than Charon’s piled-up bank doth hold; Where he makes kings lay down their crowns And life-long misers leave their gold. Without thy love I’ve no more wealth Than seen upon that other shore; That cold, bare bank he rows them […]

Rich Days by William Henry Davies

Rich Days by William Henry Davies Welcome to you rich Autumn days, Ere comes the cold, leaf-picking wind; When golden stocks are seen in fields, All standing arm-in-arm entwined; And gallons of sweet cider seen On trees in apples red and green. With mellow pears that cheat our teeth, Which melt that tongues may suck […]

No Master by William Henry Davies

No Master by William Henry Davies Indeed this is the sweet life! my hand Is under no proud man’s command; There is no voice to break my rest Before a bird has left its nest; There is no man to change my mood, When I go nutting in the wood; No man to pluck my […]

Nell Barnes by William Henry Davies

Nell Barnes by William Henry Davies They lived apart for three long years, Bill Barnes and Nell his wife; He took his joy from other girls, She led a wicked life. Yet ofttimes she would pass his shop, With some strange man awhile; And, looking, meet her husband’s frown With her malicious smile. Until one […]

Money by William Henry Davies

Money by William Henry Davies When I had money, money, O! I knew no joy till I went poor; For many a false man as a friend Came knocking all day at my door. Then felt I like a child that holds A trumpet that he must not blow Because a man is dead; I […]

Leisure by William Henry Davies

Leisure by William Henry Davies What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, […]

Laughing Rose by William Henry Davies

Laughing Rose by William Henry Davies If I were gusty April now, How I would blow at laughing Rose; I’d make her ribbons slip their knots, And all her hair come loose. If I were merry April now, How I would pelt her cheeks with showers; I’d make carnations, rich and warm, Of her vermillion […]

Joy and Pleasure by William Henry Davies

Joy and Pleasure by William Henry Davies Now, joy is born of parents poor, And pleasure of our richer kind; Though pleasure’s free, she cannot sing As sweet a song as joy confined. Pleasure’s a Moth, that sleeps by day And dances by false glare at night; But Joy’s a Butterfly, that loves To spread […]

William Henry Davies – William Henry Davies

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In the Country by William Henry Davies

In the Country by William Henry Davies This life is sweetest; in this wood I hear no children cry for food; I see no woman, white with care; No man, with muscled wasting here. No doubt it is a selfish thing To fly from human suffering; No doubt he is a selfish man, Who shuns […]

In May by William Henry Davies

In May by William Henry Davies Yes, I will spend the livelong day With Nature in this month of May; And sit beneath the trees, and share My bread with birds whose homes are there; While cows lie down to eat, and sheep Stand to their necks in grass so deep; While birds do sing […]

Days Too Short by William Henry Davies

Days Too Short by William Henry Davies When primroses are out in Spring, And small, blue violets come between; When merry birds sing on boughs green, And rills, as soon as born, must sing; When butterflies will make side-leaps, As though escaped from Nature’s hand Ere perfect quite; and bees will stand Upon their heads […]

Come, Let Us Find by William Henry Davies

Come, Let Us Find by William Henry Davies Come, let us find a cottage, love, That’s green for half a mile around; To laugh at every grumbling bee, Whose sweetest blossom’s not yet found. Where many a bird shall sing for you, And in your garden build its nest: They’ll sing for you as though […]

Charms by William Henry Davies

Charms by William Henry Davies She walks as lightly as the fly Skates on the water in July. To hear her moving petticoat For me is music’s highest note. Stones are not heard, when her feet pass, No more than tumps of moss or grass. When she sits still, she’s like the flower To be […]

April’s Charms by William Henry Davies

April’s Charms by William Henry Davies When April scatters charms of primrose gold Among the copper leaves in thickets old, And singing skylarks from the meadows rise, To twinkle like black stars in sunny skies; When I can hear the small woodpecker ring Time on a tree for all the birds that sing; And hear […]

All in June by William Henry Davies

All in June by William Henry Davies A week ago I had a fire To warm my feet, my hands and face; Cold winds, that never make a friend, Crept in and out of every place. Today the fields are rich in grass, And buttercups in thousands grow; I’ll show the world where I have […]

Ale by William Henry Davies

Ale by William Henry Davies Now do I hear thee weep and groan, Who hath a comrade sunk at sea? Then quaff thee of my good old ale, And it will raise him up for thee; Thoul’t think as little of him then As when he moved with living men. If thou hast hopes to […]

A Plain Life by William Henry Davies

A Plain Life by William Henry Davies No idle gold — since this fine sun, my friend, Is no mean miser, but doth freely spend. No prescious stones — since these green mornings show, Without a charge, their pearls where’er I go. No lifeless books — since birds with their sweet tongues Will read aloud […]

A Greeting by William Henry Davies

A Greeting by William Henry Davies Good morning, Life–and all Things glad and beautiful. My pockets nothing hold, But he that owns the gold, The Sun, is my great friend– His spending has no end. Hail to the morning sky, Which bright clouds measure high; Hail to you birds whose throats Would number leaves by […]

A Great Time by William Henry Davies

A Great Time by William Henry Davies Sweet Chance, that led my steps abroad, Beyond the town, where wild flowers grow — A rainbow and a cuckoo, Lord, How rich and great the times are now! Know, all ye sheep And cows, that keep On staring that I stand so long In grass that’s wet […]

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 […]

Love Sonnet XXV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

I know no miracle so manifest As that you wrought upon me yesterday, Filling with love my chalice of pure clay From fragrant fountains of your own dear breast. Beaten and sad, with aching eyes I pressed Close unto you, and, as my body lay, Broken with pain and grief, you murmured, “Stay, I am […]

Love Sonnet LIV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

What have you more than I, who crave you so? Have I not hands and feet and thoughts to tell? All my sweet senses and fine dreams that swell Rich with contentments that the star-winds blow? Yet do I need you everywhere I go, As if you held me in some stinging spell; And nothing […]

Sonnet Of Motherhood XXXI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

  Beloved, I who shall be mother soon Need mothering myself this tired hour, As heavily the sweet and precious power Weighs on my heart till I am near to swoon. Console me, soothe me, Dearest, with the boon Of your firm strength, and little comforts shower Soft on the drifting doubtings that devour Patience […]

Sonnet Of Motherhood XXVII poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

O, not alone I weave this miracle Of glowing spirit from my body’s zone. With every moment of the life unknown You feed the glory of a growing cell. All day I think of you, and night must tell Dreams of my dreams unto your heart alone; So, seeing you, I take you, O my […]

Sonnet Of Motherhood XXIX poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

  How strangely lone unto myself I grow, Listening and looking for I know not what; Turning my head with terror cold and hot At wandering whispers of a music low! Familiar pieces of my being flow Far, far away, to thymy hill and plot, While chained to patience in this close-shut spot I sit […]

Sonnet Of Motherhood XXIV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

How many holy women mothered me And brought me to perfection for this hour, When from my being all the living power Of sweetest woman should at last flow free? Aeons on Aeons on a loving knee Some woman rocked me in her scented bower, Till my soul bloomed an everlasting flower Calling with fragrance […]

Sonnet Of Motherhood XL poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

A miracle of miracles is here. Take off your shoes. This place is holy ground. No man-child ours like that the shepherd found By dreaming Mary when the Star burned clear. Our God has given us a woman, dear, 390ഊWith satin skin her dimpling shoulders round. No pinkest shell with sea-blown bubbles crowned Could match […]

Sonnet Of Motherhood X poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

I walked among the flowers that bend their heads Low to the earth and back again to light, Hearing them prattle of their blue and white— Violet and jasmine in the bordered beds. They whispered them of every wing that weds 388ഊFragrance to fragrance in the dusky night; And, seeing them, I knew another sight, […]

Sonnet Of Motherhood VIII poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

Make me the melody of meeting palms, The roundelay of little running feet. Strike me a measure to a trembling sweet Of the mouth’s laughter and the fingers’ psalms. I know of music in the ocean calms— A siren singing where the long tides meet. I know of lyrics in the leaf’s long beat, But […]

Sonnet Of Motherhood VI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

I’d have you love my body as my soul, Praise it and magnify it night and day, Knowing its sweetness blossoms out of clay With tremulous movement to its spirit goal. These arms perchance have clambered branch and bole, These feet have run from many beasts of prey; But Love has led them to a […]

Memory poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

Late, late last night, when the whole world slept, Along to the garden of dreams I crept. And I pulled the bell of an old, old house Where the moon dipped down like a little white mouse. I tapped the door and I tossed my head: “Are you in, little girl? Are you in?” I […]

Love Sonnet XXXV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

I cannot find a fault in you; and yet I think you are not perfect many ways. I have seen lips more meet for maiden praise And eyes less shadowed with a grey regret. But pure perfection of your love has let The tenant mirrors of my mind such rays, All other men reflect a […]

Love Sonnet XXVIII poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

Give me a child!! Dear Heart, we have loved long, Draining each other’s sweetness to the last Wild drops of honeyed madness falling fast Upon our limbs in ecstasies of song. “More love,” we cried. “More, and still more.” And, strong And fierce, the tide of passion filled the vast Immeasured space of our desire, […]

Love Sonnet XXVI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

O my Beloved, when to-day you said: “All this must perish and we two will go Soulless and senseless, to the dust below!” I could but smile and fondle your dear head. I could but catch your fingers as they fled Over my throbbing breasts and whisper low, “Whence came this breast to lure your […]

Love Sonnet XXIX poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

Dearest, there is no part of us, but air And earth are counterparts. Your fragrant eyes Touching my own, some essence of the skies Instil therein, and all your warm, brown hair Smells of the sun’s slow passion, fine and fair. I cannot touch your hands but I surprise Some element of summer; and the […]

Love Sonnet XXI poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems

If there should be a moon above the hill To-night, dip down with me into the sea Of our first passion, and, with naked glee, Breathe its ripe wonder to our beings’ fill. O, as the moonbeams on the violets spill Rivers of uncontrolled felicity, We’ll tune our bodies to a melody And set our […]