All Poems
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The One Certain Thing by Peter Cooley : American Life in Poetry #268 Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate
© Ted Kooser
If writers are both skilled and lucky, they may write something that will carry their words into the future, past the hour of their own deaths. I’d guess all writers hope for this, and the following poem by Peter Cooley, who lives in New Orleans and teaches creative writing at Tulane, beautifully expresses his hope, and theirs.
The One Certain Thing
A day will come I’ll watch you reading this.
Moore
© Denis Florence MacCarthy
He sings the heroic tales of old
When Ireland yet was free,
Of many a fight and foray bold,
And raid beyond the sea.
Man
© Robert Herrick
Want is a softer wax, that takes thereon,
This, that, and every base impression,
To Ireland
© Percy Bysshe Shelley
I.
Bear witness, Erin! when thine injured isle
Sees summer on its verdant pastures smile,
Its cornfields waving in the winds that sweep
Unconquered
© William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
The Ravaged Face
© Sylvia Plath
Outlandish as a circus, the ravaged face
Parades the marketplace, lurid and stricken
The Day Of Judgement
© John Newton
Day of judgement, day of wonders!
Hark! the trumpet's awful sound,
Louder than a thousand thunders,
Shakes the vast creation round!
How the summons will the sinner's heart confound.
The Pole Of Death. In Memory Of Sidney Lanier.
© Paul Hamilton Hayne
HOW solemnly on mournful eyes
The mystic warning rose,
While o'er the Singer's forehead lies
A twilight of repose.
Beauty And Toil (With English Translation)
© Josh Malihabadi
Ek dosheeza sarak par, dhoop mein hai be-qarar,
Choorian bajti hain kankar kootne mein bar, bar.
Let Your Light So Shine
© George MacDonald
Sometimes, O Lord, thou lightest in my head
A lamp that well might pharos all the lands;
Anon the light will neither rise nor spread:
Shrouded in danger gray the beacon stands!
Vields In The Light
© William Barnes
Woone's heart mid leäp wi' thoughts o' jaÿ
In comèn manhood light an' gaÿ
The Enchantment
© Thomas Otway
I did but look and love awhile,
Twas but for one half-hour;
Then to resist I had no will,
And now I have no power.
When Life Is But A Round Of Crushing Care
© Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev
When life is but a round of crushing care
And, a great heap of stones, lies heavy on us,
There suddenly, God knows how, why, upon us
A joyous mood descends… Of balmy air
A breath comes from the past and, o'er us drifting,
Invades the heart, its fearful burden lifting.
Bordas De Hielo
© Cesar Vallejo
Vengo a verte pasar todos los días,
vaporcito encantado siempre lejos...
Tus ojos son dos rubios capitanes;
tu labio es un brevísimo pañuelo
rojo que ondea en un adiós de sangre!
A Lost Chord
© Adelaide Anne Procter
SEATED one day at the Organ,
I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys.
Now May He Who From The Dead
© John Newton
Now may He who from the dead
Brought the Shepherd of the sheep,
Jesus Christ, our King and Head,
All our souls in safety keep!
An October Sunset
© Archibald Lampman
One moment, the slim cloudflakes seem to lean
With their sad sunward faces aureoled,
Uma Criatura
© Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
Sei de uma criatura antiga e formidável,
Que a si mesma devora os membros e as entranhas,
Com a sofreguidão da fome insaciável.
