The Breaking Point by Stephen Vincent Benet
The Breaking Point by Stephen Vincent Benet It was not when temptation came, Swiftly and blastingly as flame, And seared me white with burning scars; When I stood up for age-long wars And held the very Fiend at grips; When all my mutinous body rose To range itself beside my foes, And, like a greyhound […]
Talk by Stephen Vincent Benet
Talk by Stephen Vincent Benet Tobacco smoke drifts up to the dim ceiling From half a dozen pipes and cigarettes, Curling in endless shapes, in blue rings wheeling, As formless as our talk. Phil, drawling, bets Cornell will win the relay in a walk, While Bob and Mac discuss the Giants’ chances; Deep in a […]
Road and Hills by Stephen Vincent Benet
Road and Hills by Stephen Vincent Benet I shall go away To the brown hills, the quiet ones, The vast, the mountainous, the rolling, Sun-fired and drowsy! My horse snuffs delicately At the strange wind; He settles to a swinging trot; his hoofs tramp the dust. The road winds, straightens, Slashes a marsh, Shoulders out […]
Rain After a Vaudeville Show by Stephen Vincent Benet
Rain After a Vaudeville Show by Stephen Vincent Benet The last pose flickered, failed. The screen’s dead white Glared in a sudden flooding of harsh light Stabbing the eyes; and as I stumbled out The curtain rose. A fat girl with a pout And legs like hams, began to sing “His Mother”. Gusts of bad […]
Portrait of a Boy by Stephen Vincent Benet
Portrait of a Boy by Stephen Vincent Benet After the whipping he crawled into bed, Accepting the harsh fact with no great weeping. How funny uncle’s hat had looked striped red! He chuckled silently. The moon came, sweeping A black, frayed rag of tattered cloud before In scorning; very pure and pale she seemed, Flooding […]
Portrait of a Baby by Stephen Vincent Benet
Portrait of a Baby by Stephen Vincent Benet He lay within a warm, soft world Of motion. Colors bloomed and fled, Maroon and turquoise, saffron, red, Wave upon wave that broke and whirled To vanish in the grey-green gloom, Perspectiveless and shadowy. A bulging world that had no walls, A flowing world, most like the […]
Poor Devil! by Stephen Vincent Benet
Poor Devil! by Stephen Vincent Benet Well, I was tired of life; the silly folk, The tiresome noises, all the common things I loved once, crushed me with an iron yoke. I longed for the cool quiet and the dark, Under the common sod where louts and kings Lie down, serene, unheeding, careless, stark, Never […]
Nos Immortales by Stephen Vincent Benet
Nos Immortales by Stephen Vincent Benet Perhaps we go with wind and cloud and sun, Into the free companionship of air; Perhaps with sunsets when the day is done, All’s one to me — I do not greatly care; So long as there are brown hills — and a tree Like a mad prophet in […]
Music by Stephen Vincent Benet
Music by Stephen Vincent Benet My friend went to the piano; spun the stool A little higher; left his pipe to cool; Picked up a fat green volume from the chest; And propped it open. Whitely without rest, His fingers swept the keys that flashed like swords, . . . And to the brute drums […]
May Morning by Stephen Vincent Benet
May Morning by Stephen Vincent Benet I lie stretched out upon the window-seat And doze, and read a page or two, and doze, And feel the air like water on me close, Great waves of sunny air that lip and beat With a small noise, monotonous and sweet, Against the window — and the scent […]
Love in Twilight by Stephen Vincent Benet
Love in Twilight by Stephen Vincent Benet There is darkness behind the light — and the pale light drips Cold on vague shapes and figures, that, half-seen loom Like the carven prows of proud, far-triumphing ships — And the firelight wavers and changes about the room, As the three logs crackle and burn with a […]
Lonely Burial by Stephen Vincent Benet
Lonely Burial by Stephen Vincent Benet There were not many at that lonely place, Where two scourged hills met in a little plain. The wind cried loud in gusts, then low again. Three pines strained darkly, runners in a race Unseen by any. Toward the further woods A dim harsh noise of voices rose and […]
Going Back to School by Stephen Vincent Benet
Going Back to School by Stephen Vincent Benet The boat ploughed on. Now Alcatraz was past And all the grey waves flamed to red again At the dead sun’s last glimmer. Far and vast The Sausalito lights burned suddenly In little dots and clumps, as if a pen Had scrawled vague lines of gold across […]
Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum by Stephen Vincent Benet
Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum by Stephen Vincent Benet Here, where men’s eyes were empty and as bright As the blank windows set in glaring brick, When the wind strengthens from the sea — and night Drops like a fog and makes the breath come thick; By the deserted paths, the vacant halls, One may […]
Elegy for an Enemy by Stephen Vincent Benet
Elegy for an Enemy by Stephen Vincent Benet (For G. H.) Say, does that stupid earth Where they have laid her, Bind still her sullen mirth, Mirth which betrayed her? Do the lush grasses hold, Greenly and glad, That brittle-perfect gold She alone had? Smugly the common crew, Over their knitting, Mourn her — as […]
Dinner in a Quick Lunch Room by Stephen Vincent Benet
Dinner in a Quick Lunch Room by Stephen Vincent Benet Soup should be heralded with a mellow horn, Blowing clear notes of gold against the stars; Strange entrees with a jangle of glass bars Fantastically alive with subtle scorn; Fish, by a plopping, gurgling rush of waters, Clear, vibrant waters, beautifully austere; Roast, with a […]
Dedication by Stephen Vincent Benet
Dedication by Stephen Vincent Benet To W. R. B. And so, to you, who always were Perseus, D’Artagnan, Lancelot To me, I give these weedy rhymes In memory of earlier times. Now all those careless days are not. Of all my heroes, you endure. Words are such silly things! too rough, Too smooth, they boil […]
Colors by Stephen Vincent Benet
Colors by Stephen Vincent Benet (For D. M. C.) The little man with the vague beard and guise Pulled at the wicket. “Come inside!” he said, “I’ll show you all we’ve got now — it was size You wanted? — oh, dry colors! Well” — he led To a dim alley lined with musty bins, […]
Before an Examination by Stephen Vincent Benet
Before an Examination by Stephen Vincent Benet The little letters dance across the page, Flaunt and retire, and trick the tired eyes; Sick of the strain, the glaring light, I rise Yawning and stretching, full of empty rage At the dull maunderings of a long dead sage, Fling up the windows, fling aside his lies; […]
Alexander VI Dines with the Cardinal of Capua by Stephen Vincent Benet
Alexander VI Dines with the Cardinal of Capua by Stephen Vincent Benet Next, then, the peacock, gilt With all its feathers. Look, what gorgeous dyes Flow in the eyes! And how deep, lustrous greens are splashed and spilt Along the back, that like a sea-wave’s crest Scatters soft beauty o’er th’ emblazoned breast! A strange […]
A Minor Poet by Stephen Vincent Benet
A Minor Poet by Stephen Vincent Benet I am a shell. From me you shall not hear The splendid tramplings of insistent drums, The orbed gold of the viol’s voice that comes, Heavy with radiance, languorous and clear. Yet, if you hold me close against the ear, A dim, far whisper rises clamorously, The thunderous […]
The Pleasures Of Friendship by Stevie Smith
The Pleasures Of Friendship by Stevie Smith The pleasures of friendship are exquisite, How pleasant to go to a friend on a visit! I go to my friend, we walk on the grass, And the hours and moments like minutes pass. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems […]
The Jungle Husband by Stevie Smith
The Jungle Husband by Stevie Smith Dearest Evelyn, I often think of you Out with the guns in the jungle stew Yesterday I hittapotamus I put the measurements down for you but they got lost in the fuss It’s not a good thing to drink out here You know, I’ve practically given it up dear. […]
Tenuous And Precarious by Stevie Smith
Tenuous And Precarious by Stevie Smith Tenuous and Precarious Were my guardians, Precarious and Tenuous, Two Romans. My father was Hazardous, Hazardous Dear old man, Three Romans. There was my brother Spurious, Spurious Posthumous, Spurious was Spurious, Was four Romans. My husband was Perfidious, He was Perfidious Five Romans. Surreptitious, our son, Was Surreptitious, He […]
Sunt Leones by Stevie Smith
Sunt Leones by Stevie Smith The lions who ate the Christians on the sands of the arena By indulging native appetites played was now been seen a Not entirely negligible part In consolidating at the very start The position of the Early Christian Church. Initiatory rights are always bloody In the lions, it appears From […]
Pad, Pad by Stevie Smith
Pad, Pad by Stevie Smith I always remember your beautiful flowers And the beautiful kimono you wore When you sat on the couch With that tigerish crouch And told me you loved me no more. What I cannot remember is how I felt when you were unkind All I know is, if you were unkind […]
Our Bog Is Dood by Stevie Smith
Our Bog Is Dood by Stevie Smith Our Bog is dood, our Bog is dood, They lisped in accents mild, But when I asked them to explain They grew a little wild. How do you know your Bog is dood My darling little child? We know because we wish it so That is enough, they […]
Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith
Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he’s dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They said. […]
Nor We Of Her To Him by Stevie Smith
Nor We Of Her To Him by Stevie Smith He said no word of her to us Nor we of her to him, But oh it saddened us to see How wan he grew and thin. We said: she eats him day and night And draws the blood from him, We did not know but […]
Never Again by Stevie Smith
Never Again by Stevie Smith Never again will I weep And wring my hands And beat my head against the wall Because Me nolentem fata trahunt But When I have had enough I will arise And go unto my Father And I will say to Him: Father, I have had enough. ————— The End And […]
My Heart Was Full by Stevie Smith
My Heart Was Full by Stevie Smith My heart was full of softening showers, I used to swing like this for hours, I did not care for war or death, I was glad to draw my breath. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. […]
My Heart Goes Out by Stevie Smith
My Heart Goes Out by Stevie Smith My heart goes out to my Creator in love Who gave me Death, as end and remedy. All living creatures come to quiet Death For him to eat up their activity And give them nothing, which is what they want although When they are living they do not […]
Mother, Among The Dustbins by Stevie Smith
Mother, Among The Dustbins by Stevie Smith Mother, among the dustbins and the manure I feel the measure of my humanity, an allure As of the presence of God, I am sure In the dustbins, in the manure, in the cat at play, Is the presence of God, in a sure way He moves there. […]
Infelice by Stevie Smith
Infelice by Stevie Smith Walking swiftly with a dreadful duchess, He smiled too briefly, his face was pale as sand, He jumped into a taxi when he saw me coming, Leaving my alone with a private meaning, He loves me so much, my heart is singing. Later at the Club when I rang him in […]
In The Night by Stevie Smith
In The Night by Stevie Smith I longed for companionship rather, But my companions I always wished farther. And now in the desolate night I think only of the people i should like to bite. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster […]
I Remember by Stevie Smith
I Remember by Stevie Smith It was my bridal night I remember, An old man of seventy-three I lay with my young bride in my arms, A girl with t.b. It was wartime, and overhead The Germans were making a particularly heavy raid on Hampstead. What rendered the confusion worse, perversely Our bombers had chosen […]
I Do Not Speak by Stevie Smith
I Do Not Speak by Stevie Smith I do not ask for mercy for understanding for peace And in these heavy days I do not ask for release I do not ask that suffering shall cease. I do not pray to God to let me die To give an ear attentive to my cry To […]
Happiness by Stevie Smith
Happiness by Stevie Smith Happiness is silent, or speaks equivocally for friends, Grief is explicit and her song never ends, Happiness is like England, and will not state a case, Grief, like Guilt, rushes in and talks apace. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and […]
Freddy by Stevie Smith
Freddy by Stevie Smith Nobody knows what I feel about Freddy I cannot make anyone understand I love him sub specie aet ernitaties I love him out of hand. I don’t love him so much in the restaurants that’s a fact To get him hobnob with my old pub chums needs too much tact He […]
Exeat by Stevie Smith
Exeat by Stevie Smith I remember the Roman Emperor, one of the cruellest of them, Who used to visit for pleasure his poor prisoners cramped in dungeons, So then they would beg him for death, and then he would say: Oh no, oh no, we are not yet friends enough. He meant they were not […]