EXPANSION POEMS

Palinode

Strange gods occupied no space in that chaotic inflation of dark
and light,

or in the exponential expansion of a singular disturbance projecting
.....

Jocelyn Emerson

Prayer Xxiii

Then a priestess said, "Speak to us of Prayer."

And he answered, saying:

.....

Khalil Gibran

Upon Her Alms

See how the poor do waiting stand
For the expansion of thy hand.
A wafer dol'd by thee will swell
Thousands to feed by miracle.
.....

Robert Herrick

Ballad Of The Army Carts

The carts squeak and trundle, the horses whinny, the conscripts go by, each
with a bow and arrows at his waist. Their fathers, mothers, wives, and children
run along beside them to see them off. The Hsien-yang Bridge cannot be seen for
dust. They pluck at the men's clothes, stamp their feet, or stand in the way
.....

Tu Fu

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now, and some say, No:
.....

John Donne

Correspondances

La Nature est un temple où de vivants piliers
Laissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles;
L'homme y passe à travers des forêts de symboles
Qui l'observent avec des regards familiers.
.....

Charles Baudelaire

Julia's Petticoat

Thy azure robe I did behold
As airy as the leaves of gold,
Which, erring here, and wandring there,
Pleas'd with transgression ev'rywhere:
.....

Robert Herrick

To The Fever, Not To Trouble Julia

Th'ast dar'd too far ; but, fury, now forbear
To give the least disturbance to her hair:
But less presume to play a plait upon
Her skin's most smooth and clear expansion.
.....

Robert Herrick

A Seed

See how a Seed, which Autumn flung down,
And through the Winter neglected lay,
Uncoils two little green leaves and two brown,
With tiny root taking hold on the clay
.....

William Allingham

Dipsychus - Part Ii

Scene I.

The interior Arcade of the Doge's Palace.

.....

Arthur Hugh Clough

Upon Her Alms.

See how the poor do waiting stand
For the expansion of thy hand.
A wafer dol'd by thee will swell
Thousands to feed by miracle.
.....

Robert Herrick

The Periwinkle Girl

I've often thought that headstrong youths
Of decent education,
Determine all-important truths,
With strange precipitation.
.....

William Schwenck Gilbert

Political Economy

'I beg you to note,' said a Man to a Goose,
As he plucked from her bosom the plumage all loose,
'That pillows and cushions of feathers and beds
As warm as maids' hearts and as soft as their heads,
.....

Ambrose Bierce

The Judgment Of Paris

Where waving Pines the brows of Ida shade,
The swain young Paris half supinely laid,
Saw the loose Flocks thro' shrubs unnumber'd rove
And Piping call'd them to the gladded grove.
.....

Thomas Parnell

Epistles To Several Persons: Epistle Iv, To Richard Boyle,

Est brevitate opus, ut currat sententia, neu se
Impediat verbis lassas onerantibus aures:
Et sermone opus est modo tristi, saepe jocoso,
Defendente vicem modo Rhetoris atque Poetae,
.....

Alexander Pope

The Columbiad: Book X

The vision resumed, and extended over the whole earth. Present character of different nations. Future progress of society with respect to commerce; discoveries; inland navigation; philosophical, med and political knowledge. Science of government. Assimilation and final union of all languages. Its effect on education, and on the advancement of physical and moral science. The physical precedes the moral, as Phosphor precedes the Sun. View of a general Congress from all nations, assembled to establish the political harmony of mankind. Conclusion.


Hesper again his heavenly power display'd,
.....

Joel Barlow

Vision Of Columbus - Book 9

Now, round the yielding canopy of shade,
Again the Guide his heavenly power display'd.
Sudden, the stars their trembling fires withdrew,
Returning splendors burst upon the view;
.....

Joel Barlow

On Queen Anne's Peace, Anno 1713

Mother of plenty, daughter of the skies,
Sweet Peace, the troubl'd world's desire, arise;
Around thy poet weave thy summer shades,
Within my fancy spread thy flow'ry meads,
.....

Thomas Parnell

By The Fireside : Resignation

There is no flock, however watched and tended,
But one dead lamb is there!
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended,
But has one vacant chair!
.....

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Farewell Xxviii

And now it was evening.

And Almitra the seeress said, "Blessed be this day and this place and your spirit that has spoken."

.....

Khalil Gibran

From 'the Testament Of Beauty'

'Twas at that hour of beauty when the setting sun
squandereth his cloudy bed with rosy hues, to flood
his lov'd works as in turn he biddeth them Good-night;
and all the towers and temples and mansions of men
.....

Robert Seymour Bridges

The Death Of Nicou

On Tiber's banks, Tiber, whose waters glide
In slow meanders down to Gaigra's side;
And circling all the horrid mountain round,
Rushes impetuous to the deep profound;
.....

Thomas Chatterton

St. Martin's Summer

No protesting, dearest!
Hardly kisses even!
Don't we both know how it ends?
How the greenest leaf turns serest,
.....

Robert Browning

Sunset And Moonrise

All the west, whereon the sunset sealed the dead year's glorious grave
Fast with seals of light and fire and cloud that light and fire illume,
Glows at heart and kindles earth and heaven with joyous blush and bloom,
Warm and wide as life, and glad of death that only slays to save.
.....

Algernon Charles Swinburne

To The Fever, Not To Trouble Julia.

Thou'st dar'd too far; but, fury, now forbear
To give the least disturbance to her hair:
But less presume to lay a plait upon
Her skin's most smooth and clear expansion.
.....

Robert Herrick

Laurance

I.

He knew she did not love him; but so long
As rivals were unknown to him, he dwelt
.....

Jean Ingelow

About Emma Lazarus. (written For "the Century Magazine")

Born July 22, 1849; Died November 19, 1887.



.....

Emma Lazarus

The Haunted House[1] - A Romance

"A jolly place, said he, in days of old,
But something ails it now: the spot is curst."
WORDSWORTH.

.....

Thomas Hood

Moral Essays. Epistle Iv. - To Richard Boyle, Earl Of Burlington

ARGUMENT.

OF THE USE OF RICHES.

.....

Alexander Pope

To The Most Illustrious And Most Hopeful Prince. Charles, Prince Of Wales

Well may my book come forth like public day
When such a light as you are leads the way,
Who are my work's creator, and alone
The flame of it, and the expansion.
.....

Robert Herrick

To His Learned Friend, M. Jo. Harmar, Physician To The College Of Westminster

When first I find those numbers thou dost write,
To be most soft, terse, sweet, and perpolite:
Next, when I see thee tow'ring in the sky,
In an expansion no less large than high;
.....

Robert Herrick

A Parson's Letter To A Young Poet

They said "Too late, too late, the work is done;
Great Homer sang of glory and strong men
And that fair Greek whose fault all these long years
Wins no forgetfulness nor ever can;
.....

Jean Ingelow

Poem For The Two Hundred And Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Founding Of Harvard College

Twice had the mellowing sun of autumn crowned
The hundredth circle of his yearly round,
When, as we meet to-day, our fathers met:
That joyous gathering who can e'er forget,
.....

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Interesting, Wicked, And Odd

How many times must a scripture be read to us?
So many ways they suck em in to follow and trust.
We're led to believe that heaven is made of gold.
I say heaven is without don't trust what they`ve sold.
.....

Aaron Butcher

The Proof - The Queen Of Fashion

The point I advance, if it need confirmation,
I'll prove by a witness that few will dispute,
A pink of perfection and truth in the naion
Where fashion and folly are all of a suit.
.....

Horatio Alger, Jr.

Julia's Petticoat

Thy azure robe I did behold
As airy as the leaves of gold,
Which, erring here, and wandering there,
Pleas'd with transgression ev'rywhere:
.....

Robert Herrick

By The Fireside

RESIGNATION

There is no flock, however watched and tended,
But one dead lamb is there!
.....

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

To Mrs. Montagu

While, bending at thy honour'd shrine, the Muse
Pours, MONTAGU, to thee her votive strain,
Thy heart will not her simple notes refuse,
Or chill her timid soul with cold disdain.
.....

Helen Maria Williams

To George Morgan, Esq. Of Norfolk, Virginia

FROM BERMUDA, JANUARY, 1804.


Oh, what a sea of storm we've past!--
.....

Thomas Moore

In Memoriam. - Mrs. Margaret Walbridge,

Died at Saratoga, N.Y., June 2d, 1862, aged 35.

WRITTEN ON HER BIRTH-DAY.

.....

Lydia Howard Sigourney

Continuous

Heavens reflection therein in each soul’s expansion,
interior senses from the celestial grace extension.
That child of hearts affection
contented stillness realm protection.
.....

Robert Rittel