COMPLEX POEMS
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Graduating From Childhood
I realized with trepidation
that you fast growing up.
Soon you, and many of your generation
will graduate from childhood
.....
David Carolissen
I realized with trepidation
that you fast growing up.
Soon you, and many of your generation
will graduate from childhood
.....
David Carolissen
The Barefoot Boy
Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
.....
John Greenleaf Whittier
Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
.....
John Greenleaf Whittier
The Contretemps
A forward rush by the lamp in the gloom,
And we clasped, and almost kissed;
But she was not the woman whom
I had promised to meet in the thawing brume
.....
Thomas Hardy
A forward rush by the lamp in the gloom,
And we clasped, and almost kissed;
But she was not the woman whom
I had promised to meet in the thawing brume
.....
Thomas Hardy
Out Of The Watercolored Window, When You Look
When from the watercolored window idly you look
Each is but and clear to see, not steep:
So does the neat print in an actual book
Marching as if to true conclusion, reap
.....
Delmore Schwartz
When from the watercolored window idly you look
Each is but and clear to see, not steep:
So does the neat print in an actual book
Marching as if to true conclusion, reap
.....
Delmore Schwartz
Truth
Man, on the dubious waves of error toss'd,
His ship half founder'd, and his compass lost,
Sees, far as human optics may command,
A sleeping fog, and fancies it dry land;
.....
William Cowper
Man, on the dubious waves of error toss'd,
His ship half founder'd, and his compass lost,
Sees, far as human optics may command,
A sleeping fog, and fancies it dry land;
.....
William Cowper
Only Words... My Son
Yield to love; both a proper self-love
and a sincere love for others.
One that will do no harm to you or your neighbor,
both here and for eternity.
.....
David Carolissen
Yield to love; both a proper self-love
and a sincere love for others.
One that will do no harm to you or your neighbor,
both here and for eternity.
.....
David Carolissen
Tortoise Shell
The Cross, the Cross
Goes deeper in than we know,
Deeper into life;
Right into the marrow
.....
D. H. Lawrence
The Cross, the Cross
Goes deeper in than we know,
Deeper into life;
Right into the marrow
.....
D. H. Lawrence
Flies
I never kill a fly because
I think that what we have of laws
To regulate and civilize
Our daily life-we owe to flies.
.....
Robert Service
I never kill a fly because
I think that what we have of laws
To regulate and civilize
Our daily life-we owe to flies.
.....
Robert Service
Corn
To-day the woods are trembling through and through
With shimmering forms, that flash before my view,
Then melt in green as dawn-stars melt in blue.
The leaves that wave against my cheek caress
.....
Sidney Lanier
To-day the woods are trembling through and through
With shimmering forms, that flash before my view,
Then melt in green as dawn-stars melt in blue.
The leaves that wave against my cheek caress
.....
Sidney Lanier
Bel Canto
The sun is high, the seaside air is sharp,
And salty light reveals the Mayan School.
The Irish hope their names are on the harp,
We see the sheep's advertisement for wool,
.....
Kenneth Koch
The sun is high, the seaside air is sharp,
And salty light reveals the Mayan School.
The Irish hope their names are on the harp,
We see the sheep's advertisement for wool,
.....
Kenneth Koch
Eureka - A Prose Poem (an Essay On The Material And Spiritual Universe)
It is with humility really unassumed, it is with a sentiment even of awe, that I pen the opening sentence of this work: for of all conceivable subjects I approach the reader with the most solemn, the most comprehensive, the most difficult, the most august.
What terms shall I find sufficiently simple in their sublimity -- sufficiently sublime in their simplicity, for the mere enunciation of my theme?
.....
Edgar Allan Poe
It is with humility really unassumed, it is with a sentiment even of awe, that I pen the opening sentence of this work: for of all conceivable subjects I approach the reader with the most solemn, the most comprehensive, the most difficult, the most august.
What terms shall I find sufficiently simple in their sublimity -- sufficiently sublime in their simplicity, for the mere enunciation of my theme?
.....
Edgar Allan Poe
Deprive This Strange And Complex World
Deprive this strange and complex world
Of all the charms of art;
Deprive it of those sweeter joys
Which music doth impart;
.....
Alfred Castner King
Deprive this strange and complex world
Of all the charms of art;
Deprive it of those sweeter joys
Which music doth impart;
.....
Alfred Castner King
Man What Is He?
se, and yet
He who best can answer knoweth,
Answer true were hard to get.
Not the Sphinx in Egypt olden
.....
Joseph Skipsey
se, and yet
He who best can answer knoweth,
Answer true were hard to get.
Not the Sphinx in Egypt olden
.....
Joseph Skipsey
Susie
My daughter Susie, aged two,
Apes me in every way,
For as my household chores I do
With brooms she loves to play.
.....
Robert Service
My daughter Susie, aged two,
Apes me in every way,
For as my household chores I do
With brooms she loves to play.
.....
Robert Service
As If A Lantern In Love Led
Like you I have
forgotten everything
spoken so far,
I knew the dinosaurs
.....
Amy King
Like you I have
forgotten everything
spoken so far,
I knew the dinosaurs
.....
Amy King
Susie
My daughter Susie, aged two,
Apes me in every way,
For as my household chores I do
With brooms she loves to play.
.....
Robert William Service
My daughter Susie, aged two,
Apes me in every way,
For as my household chores I do
With brooms she loves to play.
.....
Robert William Service
Tortoise Shell
The Cross, the Cross
Goes deeper in than we know,
Deeper into life;
Right into the marrow
.....
David Herbert Lawrence
The Cross, the Cross
Goes deeper in than we know,
Deeper into life;
Right into the marrow
.....
David Herbert Lawrence
What Is Man?
WHAT is man? The question floweth
From the lips with ease, and yet
He who best could answer knoweth
Answer true were hard to get:
.....
Joseph Skipsey
WHAT is man? The question floweth
From the lips with ease, and yet
He who best could answer knoweth
Answer true were hard to get:
.....
Joseph Skipsey
Praise
I praise you because
you are artist and scientist
in one. When I am somewhat
fearful of your power,
.....
Ronald Stuart Thomas
I praise you because
you are artist and scientist
in one. When I am somewhat
fearful of your power,
.....
Ronald Stuart Thomas
The Pleasures Of Imagination - The Second Book
When shall the laurel and the vocal string
Resume their honours? When shall we behold
The tuneful tongue, the Promethéan hand
Aspire to ancient praise? Alas! how faint,
.....
Mark Akenside
When shall the laurel and the vocal string
Resume their honours? When shall we behold
The tuneful tongue, the Promethéan hand
Aspire to ancient praise? Alas! how faint,
.....
Mark Akenside
Simplicity
What I seek far yet seldom find
Is large simplicity of mind
In fellow men;
For I have sprouted from the sod,
.....
Robert Service
What I seek far yet seldom find
Is large simplicity of mind
In fellow men;
For I have sprouted from the sod,
.....
Robert Service
The Prelude - Book Twelfth
IMAGINATION AND TASTE, HOW IMPAIRED AND RESTORED
Long time have human ignorance and guilt
Detained us, on what spectacles of woe
.....
William Wordsworth
IMAGINATION AND TASTE, HOW IMPAIRED AND RESTORED
Long time have human ignorance and guilt
Detained us, on what spectacles of woe
.....
William Wordsworth
Sordello: Book The Third
And the font took them: let our laurels lie!
Braid moonfern now with mystic trifoly
Because once more Goito gets, once more,
Sordello to itself! A dream is o'er,
.....
Robert Browning
And the font took them: let our laurels lie!
Braid moonfern now with mystic trifoly
Because once more Goito gets, once more,
Sordello to itself! A dream is o'er,
.....
Robert Browning
Buttoo.
"Ho! Master of the wondrous art!
Instruct me in fair archery,
And buy for aye,--a grateful heart
That will not grudge to give thy fee."
.....
Toru Dutt
"Ho! Master of the wondrous art!
Instruct me in fair archery,
And buy for aye,--a grateful heart
That will not grudge to give thy fee."
.....
Toru Dutt
Our Purpose
What is our purpose?
Is it to sit in high back chairs
Shouting across a room that demands to be heard?
.....
Allon Lipshitz
What is our purpose?
Is it to sit in high back chairs
Shouting across a room that demands to be heard?
.....
Allon Lipshitz
Someone Is Harshly Coughing As Before
Someone is harshly coughing on the next floor,
Sudden excitement catching the flesh of his throat:
Who is the sick one?
Who will knock at the door,
.....
Delmore Schwartz
Someone is harshly coughing on the next floor,
Sudden excitement catching the flesh of his throat:
Who is the sick one?
Who will knock at the door,
.....
Delmore Schwartz
The Comedian As The Letter C: 06 - And Daughters With Curls
Portentous enunciation, syllable
To blessed syllable affined, and sound
Bubbling felicity in cantilene,
Prolific and tormenting tenderness
.....
Wallace Stevens
Portentous enunciation, syllable
To blessed syllable affined, and sound
Bubbling felicity in cantilene,
Prolific and tormenting tenderness
.....
Wallace Stevens
The Secret Combination
Her heart she locked fast in her breast,
Away from molestation;
The lock was warranted the best-
A patent combination.
.....
Ellis Parker Butler
Her heart she locked fast in her breast,
Away from molestation;
The lock was warranted the best-
A patent combination.
.....
Ellis Parker Butler
I Love You, But A Sense Of Pain
I love you, but a sense of pain
Is in my heart and in my brain;
Now, when your voice and eyes are kind,
May I reveal my complex mind?
.....
Elizabeth Stoddard
I love you, but a sense of pain
Is in my heart and in my brain;
Now, when your voice and eyes are kind,
May I reveal my complex mind?
.....
Elizabeth Stoddard
Humanity's Stream
I stood upon a crowded thoroughfare,
Within a city's confines, where were met
All classes and conditions, and surveyed,
From a secluded niche or aperture,
.....
Alfred Castner King
I stood upon a crowded thoroughfare,
Within a city's confines, where were met
All classes and conditions, and surveyed,
From a secluded niche or aperture,
.....
Alfred Castner King
The Waving Of The Corn
Ploughman, whose gnarly hand yet kindly wheeled
Thy plough to ring this solitary tree
With clover, whose round plat, reserved a-field,
In cool green radius twice my length may be-
.....
Sidney Lanier
Ploughman, whose gnarly hand yet kindly wheeled
Thy plough to ring this solitary tree
With clover, whose round plat, reserved a-field,
In cool green radius twice my length may be-
.....
Sidney Lanier
Helen At The Loom
Helen, in her silent room,
Weaves upon the upright loom,
Weaves a mantle rich and dark,
Purpled over-deep. But mark
.....
George Parsons Lathrop
Helen, in her silent room,
Weaves upon the upright loom,
Weaves a mantle rich and dark,
Purpled over-deep. But mark
.....
George Parsons Lathrop
Translator's Note
There is a tradition in Laparone that the first
man to wake each morning must sweep
shadows from his porch lest night
pull the long limbs of sunlight
.....
Bob Hicok
There is a tradition in Laparone that the first
man to wake each morning must sweep
shadows from his porch lest night
pull the long limbs of sunlight
.....
Bob Hicok
The Study And Beauties Of The Works Of Nature
O Nature! all-sufficient! over all!
Enrich me with the knowledge of Thy works!
Snatch me to heaven; Thy rolling wonders there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent,
.....
James Thomson
O Nature! all-sufficient! over all!
Enrich me with the knowledge of Thy works!
Snatch me to heaven; Thy rolling wonders there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent,
.....
James Thomson
Simplicity
What I seek far yet seldom find
Is large simplicity of mind
In fellow men;
For I have sprouted from the sod,
.....
Robert William Service
What I seek far yet seldom find
Is large simplicity of mind
In fellow men;
For I have sprouted from the sod,
.....
Robert William Service
At The Gate Of The Convent
Beside the Convent Gate I stood,
Lingering to take farewell of those
To whom I owed the simple good
Of three days' peace, three nights' repose.
.....
Alfred Austin
Beside the Convent Gate I stood,
Lingering to take farewell of those
To whom I owed the simple good
Of three days' peace, three nights' repose.
.....
Alfred Austin
Psychological Warfare
This above all remember: they will be very brave men,
And you will be facing them. You must not despise them.
I am, as you know, like all true professional soldiers,
.....
Henry Reed
This above all remember: they will be very brave men,
And you will be facing them. You must not despise them.
I am, as you know, like all true professional soldiers,
.....
Henry Reed
The Transparent Man
I'm mighty glad to see you, Mrs. Curtis,
And thank you very kindly for this visit--
Especially now when all the others here
Are having holiday visitors, and I feel
.....
Anthony Evan Hecht
I'm mighty glad to see you, Mrs. Curtis,
And thank you very kindly for this visit--
Especially now when all the others here
Are having holiday visitors, and I feel
.....
Anthony Evan Hecht
Flies
I never kill a fly because
I think that what we have of laws
To regulate and civilize
Our daily life - we owe to flies.
.....
Robert William Service
I never kill a fly because
I think that what we have of laws
To regulate and civilize
Our daily life - we owe to flies.
.....
Robert William Service
Mr Fitzmickle Has A Test Match Fright
Mr Fitzmickle, the martinet,
Stern lord of his house and kin,
Is a small, bald man, and a cricket fan
Since the night he listened in
.....
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
Mr Fitzmickle, the martinet,
Stern lord of his house and kin,
Is a small, bald man, and a cricket fan
Since the night he listened in
.....
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
O World Of Many Worlds
O World of many worlds, O life of lives,
What centre hast thou? Where am I?
O whither is it thy fierce onrush drives?
Fight I, or drift; or stand; or fly?
.....
Wilfred Owen
O World of many worlds, O life of lives,
What centre hast thou? Where am I?
O whither is it thy fierce onrush drives?
Fight I, or drift; or stand; or fly?
.....
Wilfred Owen
Marsupial Bill
1
IT was the time when geese despond,
And turkeys make their wills;
The time when Christians, to a man,
.....
James Brunton Stephens
1
IT was the time when geese despond,
And turkeys make their wills;
The time when Christians, to a man,
.....
James Brunton Stephens
Corn.
To-day the woods are trembling through and through
With shimmering forms, that flash before my view,
Then melt in green as dawn-stars melt in blue.
The leaves that wave against my cheek caress
.....
Sidney Lanier
To-day the woods are trembling through and through
With shimmering forms, that flash before my view,
Then melt in green as dawn-stars melt in blue.
The leaves that wave against my cheek caress
.....
Sidney Lanier
Prometheus - Christ
LASHED to the planet, glaring at the sky,
An eagle at his heartâ??the Pagan Christ!
Why is it, Mystery? O, dumb Darkness, why
.....
John Boyle O'reilly
LASHED to the planet, glaring at the sky,
An eagle at his heartâ??the Pagan Christ!
Why is it, Mystery? O, dumb Darkness, why
.....
John Boyle O'reilly
Annihilation
While the blue noon above us arches,
And the poplar sheds disconsolate leaves,
Tell me again why love bewitches,
And what love gives.
.....
Conrad Potter Aiken
While the blue noon above us arches,
And the poplar sheds disconsolate leaves,
Tell me again why love bewitches,
And what love gives.
.....
Conrad Potter Aiken
The Angel In The House. Book I. Canto Ii.
Preludes.
I The Paragon
When I behold the skies aloft
.....
Coventry Patmore
Preludes.
I The Paragon
When I behold the skies aloft
.....
Coventry Patmore