Poets by Joyce Kilmer Vain is the chiming of forgotten bells That the wind sways above a ruined shrine. Vainer his voice in whom no longer dwells Hunger that craves immortal Bread and Wine. Light songs we breathe that perish with our breath Out of our lips that have not kissed the rod. They shall […]
Exposure by Wilfred Owen
Exposure by Wilfred Owen I Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us . . . Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent . . . Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient . . . Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, But nothing happens. Watching, […]
One Day by Rupert Brooke
One Day by Rupert Brooke Today I have been happy. All the day I held the memory of you, and wove Its laughter with the dancing light o’ the spray, And sowed the sky with tiny clouds of love, And sent you following the white waves of sea, And crowned your head with fancies, nothing […]
Far Off-Shore by Herman Melville
Far Off-Shore by Herman Melville Look, the raft, a signal flying, Thin a shred; None upon the lashed spars lying, Quick or dead. Cries the sea-fowl, hovering over, “Crew, the crew?” And the billow, reckless, rover, Sweeps anew!
Preludes by T. S. Eliot
Preludes by T. S. Eliot I The winter evening settles down With smell of steaks in passageways. Six o’clock. The burnt-out ends of smoky days. And now a gusty shower wraps The grimy scraps Of withered leaves about your feet And newspapers from vacant lots; The showers beat On broken blinds and chimney-pots, And at […]
A Dream by Matthew Aronold
A Dream by Matthew Aronold Was it a dream? We sail’d, I thought we sail’d, Martin and I, down the green Alpine stream, Border’d, each bank, with pines; the morning sun, On the wet umbrage of their glossy tops, 5On the red pinings of their forest-floor, Drew a warm scent abroad; behind the pines The […]
A Drinking Song by W.B. Yests
A Drinking Song by W.B. Yests Wine comes in at the mouth And love comes in at the eye; That’s all we shall know for truth Before we grow old and die. I lift the glass to my mouth, I look at you, and I sigh.
Requiescat by Oscar Wilde
Requiescat by Oscar Wilde Tread lightly, she is near Under the snow, Speak gently, she can hear The daisies grow. All her bright golden hair Tarnished with rust, She that was young and fair Fallen to dust. Lily-like, white as snow, She hardly knew She was a woman, so Sweetly she grew. Coffin-board, heavy stone, […]
The Dance at the Pheoenix by Thomas Hardy
The Dance at the Pheoenix by Thomas Hardy To Jenny came a gentle youth From inland leazes lone, His love was fresh as apple-blooth By Parrett, Yeo, or Tone. And duly he entreated her To be his tender minister, And call him aye her own. Fair Jenny’s life had hardly been A life of […]
Dream Land by Christina Rossetti
Dream Land by Christina Rossetti Where sunless rivers weep Their waves into the deep, She sleeps a charm’d sleep: Awake her not. Led by a single star, She came from very far To seek where shadows are Her pleasant lot. She left the rosy morn, She left the fields of corn, 10 For twilight cold […]
“LUCY” by Oliver Wendell Holmes
“LUCY” by Oliver Wendell Holmes “Lucy.” The old familiar name Is now, as always, pleasant, Its liquid melody the same Alike in past or present; Let others call you what they will, I know you’ll let me use it; To me your name is Lucy still, I cannot bear to lose it. What visions […]
The Dream by Edna St. Vincent Millay
The Dream by Edna St. Vincent Millay Love, if I weep it will not matter, And if you laugh I shall not care; Foolish am I to think about it, But it is good to feel you there. Love, in my sleep I dreamed of waking, White and awful the moonlight reached Over the floor, […]
Beauty and Beauty by Rupert Brooke
Beauty and Beauty by Rupert Brooke When Beauty and Beauty meet All naked, fair to fair, The earth is crying-sweet, And scattering-bright the air, Eddying, dizzying, closing round, With soft and drunken laughter; Veiling all that may befall After after Where Beauty and Beauty met, Earth’s still a-tremble there, And winds are scented yet, […]
In Flanders Fields by John McCrae
In Flanders Fields by John McCrae In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were […]
A Valentine by Lewis Carroll
A Valentine by Lewis Carroll And cannot pleasures, while they last, Be actual unless, when past, They leave us shuddering and aghast, With anguish smarting And cannot friends be firm and fast, And yet bear parting And must I then, at Friendship’s call, Calmly resign the little all (Trifling, I grant, it is and small) […]