All Poems
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On a Theme by Frost
© Robert Francis
Amherst never had a witch
O Coos or of GraftonBut once upon a time
There were three old women.One wore a small beard
And carried a big umbrella.One stood in the middle
Encounter
© Robert Francis
Those who have touched it or been touched by it
Or brushed by something that the vine has brushed,
Or burning it, have stood where the sly smoke
Has touched them-Know the meaning of its name.
Hallelujah: A Sestina
© Robert Francis
A wind's word, the Hebrew Hallelujah.
I wonder they never gave it to a boy
(Hal for short) boy with wind-wild hair.
It means Praise God, as well it should since praise
Is what God's for. Why didn't they call my father
Hallelujah instead of Ebenezer?
Fair And Unfair
© Robert Francis
The beautiful is fair. The just is fair.
Yet one is commonplace and one is rare,
One everywhere, one scarcely anywhere.
Paper Men To Air Hopes And Fears
© Robert Francis
The first speaker said
Fear fire. Fear furnaces
Incinerators, the city dump
The faint scratch of a match.
Farm Boy After Summer
© Robert Francis
A seated statue of himself he seems.
A bronze slowness becomes him. Patently
The page he contemplates he doesn't see.
Silent Poem
© Robert Francis
backroad leafmold stonewall chipmunk
underbrush grapevine woodchuck shadblow woodsmoke cowbarn honeysuckle woodpile
sawhorse bucksaw outhouse wellsweep backdoor flagstone bulkhead buttermilk
candlestick ragrug firedog brownbread hilltop outcrop cowbell buttercup
Blue Winter
© Robert Francis
Winter uses all the blues there are.
One shade of blue for water, one for ice,
Another blue for shadows over snow.
The clear or cloudy sky uses blue twice-
Symbol
© Robert Francis
The winter apples have been picked, the garden turned.
Rain and wind have picked the maple leaves and gone.
The last of them now bank the house or have been burned.
None are left upon the trees or on the lawn.
Catch
© Robert Francis
Two boys uncoached are tossing a poem together,
Overhand, underhand, backhand, sleight of hand, everyhand,
Teasing with attitudes, latitudes, interludes, altitudes,
High, make him fly off the ground for it, low, make him stoop,
Glass
© Robert Francis
Words of a poem should be glass
But glass so simple-subtle its shape
Is nothing but the shape of what it holds.
Psalm XXXVI: High in the Heav'ns
© Isaac Watts
High in the heav'ns, eternal God,
Thy goodness in full glory shines;
Thy truth shall break through ev'ry cloud
That veils and darkens thy designs.
Psalm XXXV: Now Plead My Cause, Almighty God
© Isaac Watts
Now plead my cause, Almighty God,
With all the sons of strife;
And fight against the men of blood,
Who fight against my life.
Psalm XXXIV: Lord, I Will Bless Thee
© Isaac Watts
Lord, I will bless thee all my days,
Thy praise shall dwell upon my tongue;
My soul shall glory in thy grace,
While saints rejoice to hear the song.
Psalm XXXIII: Rejoice, Ye Righteous
© Isaac Watts
Rejoice, ye righteous, in the Lord,
This work belongs to you;
Sing of his name, his ways, his word,
How holy, just, and true.
Psalm XXXII: Happy the Man
© Isaac Watts
Happy the man to whom his God
No more imputes his sin,
But, washed in the Redeemer's blood,
Hath made his garments clean.
Psalm XLVI: God Is the Refuge
© Isaac Watts
God is the refuge of his saints,
When storms of sharp distress invade;
Ere we can offer our complaints,
Behold him present with his aid!
Psalm XIX: The Heavens Declare Thy Glory, Lord
© Isaac Watts
The heavens declare thy glory, Lord,
In every star thy wisdom shines;
But when our eyes behold thy word,
We read thy name in fairer lines.
Psalm VIII: O Lord, Our Lord
© Isaac Watts
O Lord, our Lord, how wondrous great
Is thine exalted name!
The glories of thy heav'nly state
Let men and babes proclaim.
Psalm LXXIV: Will God For Ever Cast Us Off?
© Isaac Watts
Will God for ever east us off?
His wrath for ever smoke
Against the people of' his love,
His little chosen flock?
