Further Instructions poem – Ezra Pound poems

Come, my songs, let us express our baser passions. Let us express our envy for the man with a steady job and no worry about the future. You are very idle, my songs, I fear you will come to a bad end. You stand about the streets, You loiter at the corners and bus-stops, […]

Francesca poem – Ezra Pound poems

You came in out of the night And there were flowers in your hand, Now you will come out of a confusion of people, Out of a turmoil of speech about you. I who have seen you amid the primal things Was angry when they spoke your name IN ordinary places. I would that […]

Fan-Piece, For Her Imperial Lord poem – Ezra Pound poems

O fan of white silk, clear as frost on the grass-blade, You also are laid aside.     *** Ezra Pound Poems by Ezra Pound Ezra PoundEzra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) is one of the most influential […]

Ezra on the Strike poem – Ezra Pound poems

Wal, Thanksgivin’ do be comin’ round. With the price of turkeys on the bound, And coal, by gum! Thet were just found, Is surely gettin’ cheaper. The winds will soon begin to howl, And winter, in its yearly growl, Across the medders begin to prowl, And Jack Frost gettin’ deeper. By shucks! It seems […]

Epilogue poem – Ezra Pound poems

O chansons foregoing You were a seven days’ wonder. When you came out in the magazines You created considerable stir in Chicago, And now you are stale and worn out, You’re a very depleted fashion, A hoop-skirt, a calash, An homely, transient antiquity. Only emotion remains. Your emotions? Are those of a maitre-de-cafe. […]

Envoi poem – Ezra Pound poems

Go, dumb-born book, Tell her that sang me once that song of Lawes: Hadst thou but song As thou hast subjects known, Then were there cause in thee that should condone Even my faults that heavy upon me lie And build her glories their longevity. Tell her that sheds Such treasure in the air, […]

E.P. Ode Pour L’election De Son Sepulchre poem – Ezra Pound poems

For three years, out of key with his time, He strove to resuscitate the dead art Of poetry; to maintain “the sublime” In the old sense. Wrong from the start– No, hardly, but seeing he had been born In a half savage country, out of date; Bent resolutely on wringing lilies from the acorn; […]

Dance Figure poem – Ezra Pound poems

For the Marriage in Cana of Galilee Dark-eyed, O woman of my dreams, Ivory sandalled, There is none like thee among the dancers, None with swift feet. I have not found thee in the tents, In the broken darkness. I have not found thee at the well-head Among the women with pitchers. Thine arms […]

Cino poem – Ezra Pound poems

Italian Campagna 1309, the open road Bah! I have sung women in three cities, But it is all the same; And I will sing of the sun. Lips, words, and you snare them, Dreams, words, and they are as jewels, Strange spells of old deity, Ravens, nights, allurement: And they are not; Having become […]

Canto XLIX poem – Ezra Pound poems

For the seven lakes, and by no man these verses: Rain; empty river; a voyage, Fire from frozen cloud, heavy rain in the twilight Under the cabin roof was one lantern. The reeds are heavy; bent; and the bamboos speak as if weeping. Autumn moon; hills rise about lakes against sunset Evening is like […]

Canto XIII poem – Ezra Pound poems

Kung walked by the dynastic temple and into the cedar grove, and then out by the lower river, And with him Khieu Tchi and Tian the low speaking And “we are unknown,” said Kung, “You will take up charioteering? “Then you will become known, “Or perhaps I should take up charioterring, or archery? “Or […]

Canto I poem – Ezra Pound poems

And then went down to the ship, Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and We set up mast and sail on that swart ship, Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also Heavy with weeping, and winds from sternward Bore us onward with bellying canvas, Crice’s this craft, the trim-coifed goddess. […]

Cantico del Sole poem – Ezra Pound poems

The thought of what America would be like If the Classics had a wide circulation Troubles my sleep, The thought of what America, The thought of what America,The thought of what America would be like If the Classics had a wide circulation Troubles my sleep. Nunc dimittis, now lettest thou thy servant, Now lettest […]

Before Sleep poem – Ezra Pound poems

The lateral vibrations caress me, They leap and caress me, They work pathetically in my favour, They seek my financial good. She of the spear stands present. The gods of the underworld attend me, O Annubis, These are they of thy company. With a pathetic solicitude they attend me; Undulant, Their realm is the […]

Ballad of the Goodly Fere poem – Ezra Pound poems

Simon Zelotes speaking after the Crucifixion. Fere=Mate, Companion. Ha’ we lost the goodliest fere o’ all For the priests and the gallows tree? Aye lover he was of brawny men, O’ ships and the open sea. When they came wi’ a host to take Our Man His smile was good to see, “First let […]

Ballad for Gloom poem – Ezra Pound poems

For God, our God is a gallant foe That playeth behind the veil. I have loved my God as a child at heart That seeketh deep bosoms for rest, I have loved my God as a maid to man— But lo, this thing is best: To love your God as a gallant foe that […]

Ancient Music poem – Ezra Pound poems

Winter is icummen in, Lhude sing Goddamm. Raineth drop and staineth slop, And how the wind doth ramm! Sing: Goddamm. Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us, An ague hath my ham. Freezeth river, turneth liver, Damn you, sing: Goddamm. Goddamm, Goddamm, ’tis why I am, Goddamm, So ‘gainst the winter’s balm. Sing goddamm, damm, sing […]

An Immorality poem – Ezra Pound poems

Sing we for love and idleness, Naught else is worth the having. Though I have been in many a land, There is naught else in living. And I would rather have my sweet, Though rose-leaves die of grieving, Than do high deeds in Hungary To pass all men’s believing.     […]

Alba poem – Ezra Pound poems

As cool as the pale wet leaves of lily-of-the-valley She lay beside me in the dawn.     *** Ezra Pound Poems by Ezra Pound Ezra PoundEzra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) is one of the most influential […]

A Virginal poem – Ezra Pound poems

No, no! Go from me. I have left her lately. I will not spoil my sheath with lesser brightness, For my surrounding air hath a new lightness; Slight are her arms, yet they have bound me straitly And left me cloaked as with a gauze of æther; As with sweet leaves; as with subtle […]

A Pact poem – Ezra Pound poems

I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman– I have detested you long enough. I come to you as a grown child Who has had a pig-headed father; I am old enough now to make friends. It was you that broke the new wood, Now is a time for carving. We have one sap […]

A Girl by Ezra Pound

The tree has entered my hands, The sap has ascended my arms, The tree has grown in my breast- Downward, The branches grow out of me, like arms.   Tree you are, Moss you are, You are violets with wind above them. A child – so high – you are, And all this is folly […]

Why Feed The Early Signs Of Boredom? poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation Why feed the early signs of boredom With sinister and dismal thought, And wait for separation, burdened With sorrow, lonesome and distraught? The day of grief is close at hand! You’ll stand, alone, out in the sun, And try to bring back […]

Upon The Hills Of Georgia poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation Dark falls upon the hills of Georgia, I hear Aragva’s roar. I’m sad and light, my grief – transparent, My sorrow is suffused with you, With you, with you alone…My melancholy Remains untouched and undisturbed, And once again my heart ignites and […]

Under The Blue Skies… poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation Under the blue skies of her native land She languished and began to fade… Until surely there flew without a sound Above me, her young shade; But there stretches between us an uncrossable line. In vain my feelings I tried to awaken. […]

Under A Portrait Of Jukowsky poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation The charm and sweetness of his magic verse Will mock the envious years for centuries! Since youth, on hearing them, for glory burns, The wordless sorrow comfort in them sees, And careless joy to wistful musing turns. Poetry Monster – […]

Under A Portrait Of Jukowsky poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation The charm and sweetness of his magic verse Will mock the envious years for centuries! Since youth, on hearing them, for glory burns, The wordless sorrow comfort in them sees, And careless joy to wistful musing turns. Poetry Monster – […]

To My Friends poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation The chain of golden days and nights Is still your heritage from Deity, And, still, the languid maidens’ eyes Are turned to you as well intently. So, play and sing, friends of my years! Lose very quickly passing evening, And, at your heedless […]

To Gnedich poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation With Homer you conversed alone for days and nights, Our waiting hours were passing slowly, And shining you came down from the mysterious heights And brought to us your tablets holy – So? in the wilderness, beneath a tent, you found Us, feasting […]

To The Don poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation Through the Steppes, see there he glances! Silent flood glad hailed by me,– Thy far distant sons do proffer Through me, greeting fond to thee! Every stream knows thee as brother, Don, thou river boasted wide! The Araxes and Euphrates Send thee […]

To Natasha poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation The crimson summer now grows pale; Clear, bright days now soar away; Hazy mist spreads through the vale, As the sleeping night turns gray; The barren cornfields lose their gold; The lively stream has now turned cold; The curly woods are gray […]

To Lily poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation Lily, Lily! I am sighing With despair and hopeless woe. I’m tormented and I’m dying, And my soul has lost its glow, But my love evoked no pity: You consider me pathetic. Keep on laughing: you are pretty Even when unsympathetic. […]

To… (Kern) poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation I still recall the wondrous moment When you appeared before my eyes, Just like a fleeting apparition, Just like pure beauty’s distillation. When’er I languished in the throes of hopeless grief Amid the troubles of life’s vanity, Your sweet voice lingered on […]

To Chadaev poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation The lies of fame and love’s resolve Have vanished now without a trace, Our youthful passions have dissolved As though a dream or morning haze. Yet, still, we’re burning with desire, And with impatience in our souls, Beneath the yoke of strength […]

Thou and You poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation She substituted, by a chance, For empty “you” — the gentle “thou”; And all my happy dreams, at once, In loving heart again resound. In bliss and silence do I stay, Unable to maintain my role: “Oh, how sweet you are!” I say […]

The wondrous moment of our meeting… poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation The wondrous moment of our meeting… Still I remember you appear Before me like a vision fleeting, A beauty’s angel pure and clear. In hopeless ennui surrounding The worldly bustle, to my ear For long your tender voice kept sounding, For long […]

The Wish poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation I shed my tears; my tears – my consolation; And I am silent; my murmur is dead, My soul, sunk in a depression’s shade, Hides in its depths the bitter exultation. I don’t deplore my passing dream of life — Vanish in dark, […]

The Water-Nymph poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation In lakeside leafy groves, a friar Escaped all worries; there he passed His summer days in constant prayer, Deep studies and eternal fast. Already with a humble shovel The elder dug himself a grave – As, calling saints to bless his hovel, Death; […]

The Upas Tree poem – Alexander Pushkin

A poem by Alexander Pushkin – Pouchkine, Pooshkin (1799-1837), in English translation Deep in the desert’s misery, far in the fury of the sand, there stands the awesome Upas Tree lone watchman of a lifeless land. The wilderness, a world of thirst, in wrath engendered it and filled its every root, every accursed grey […]