California City Landscape by Carl Sandburg On a mountain-side the real estate agents Put up signs marking the city lots to be sold there. A man whose father and mother were Irish Ran a goat farm half-way down the mountain; He drove a covered wagon years ago, Understood how to handle a rifle, Shot grouse, […]
Poems in History
X. Emily Dickinson
X. I died for beauty, but was scarce Adjusted in the tomb, When one who died for truth was lain In an adjoining room. He questioned softly why I failed? “For beauty,” I replied. “And I for truth, ? the two are one; We brethren are,” he said. And so, as kinsmen met a night, […]
Mending Wall By Robert Frost
Mending Wall By Robert Frost Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not […]
To wish Myself Courage by William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams (1883?1963) To wish Myself Courage On the day when youth is no more upon me I will write of the leaves and the moon in a tree top! I will sing then the song, long in the making? When the stress of youth is put away from me. How can I ever […]
Remembered Village by Lydia LeRoy-Williams
Remembered Village My cob webbed mind gave way to us again, me, bathing in a Parisian pool while you glance at me over your Rumi, sipping wine and speaking lyrically of beaming light, moons, and happy memories. Awakening to sunlight, laughing, weightless across our room. Exploring cobblestone byways, old bakeries in full swing, the sweet […]
Gunga Din by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) Gunga Din You may talk o’ gin and beer When you’re quartered safe out ‘ere, An’ you’re sent to penny-fights an’ Aldershot it; But when it comes to slaughter You will do your work on water, An’ you’ll lick the bloomin’ boots of ‘im that’s got it. Now in Injia’s sunny clime, […]
A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe
A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow- You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, […]
She Is Overheard Singing by Edna St. Vicent Millay
She Is Overheard Singing Oh, Prue she has a patient man, And Joan a gentle lover, And Agatha’s Arth’ is a hug-the-hearth,? But my true love’s a rover! Mig, her man’s as good as cheese And honest as a briar, Sue tells her love what he’s thinking of,? But my dear lad’s a liar! Oh, […]
Winter In The Boulevard by D.H. Lawrence
D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) was an influential English writer, poet, and essayist. Born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire,
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) […]
The World-Soul by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The World-Soul by Ralph Waldo Emerson Thanks to the morning light, Thanks to the foaming sea, To the uplands of New Hampshire, To the green-haired forest free; Thanks to each man of courage, To the maids of holy mind, To the boy with his games undaunted Who never looks behind. Cities of proud hotels, Houses […]
Letter I by B. L. Goss
Letter I by B. L. Goss Last I checked there were no saints in this shabby hole of a beachtown hideout just us, only us trying our damndest to get somewhere like heaven and slipping into the temporary bliss of biology in stead. Breathe deep, those stars are calling. I believe they’re coming closer and […]
DESIGN by Robert Frost
Design by Robert Frost I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth? Assorted characters of death and blight Mixed ready to begin the morning right, Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth? A snow-drop spider, a flower like froth, […]
A SONNET by Henry Howard The Earl of Surrey
A SONNET Description and Praise of his Love Geraldine. From Tuscan’ came my lady’s worthy race; Fair Florence was some time their ancient seat; The western isle, whose pleasant shore doth face Wild Camber’s cliffs, did give her lively heat: Fostered she was with milk of Irish breast; Her sire an earl; her dame of […]
THE YOUNG MAN’S SONG W. B. Yeats
THE YOUNG MAN’S SONG I whispered, “I am too young,” And then, “I am old enough”; Wherefore I threw a penny To find out if I might love. “Go and love, go and love, young man, If the lady be young and fair,” Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny, I am looped in the loops […]