Death poems
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A Graveyard
© Marianne Clarke Moore
Man, looking into the sea—
taking the view from those who have as much right to it as you have it to yourself—
Benjamin Pantier
© Edgar Lee Masters
Together in this grave lie Benjamin Pantier, attorney at law,
And Nig, his dog, constant companion, solace and friend.
from Jubilate Agno
© Christopher Smart
let elizur rejoice with the partridge
Let Elizur rejoice with the Partridge, who is a prisoner of state and is proud of his keepers.
Sonnet IV: Lovesight
© Dante Gabriel Rossetti
When do I see thee most, beloved one?
When in the light the spirits of mine eyes
The Card-Dealer
© Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Could you not drink her gaze like wine?
Yet though its splendour swoon
Sonnet XVIII: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?
© William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Prince Athanase
© Percy Bysshe Shelley
There was a youth, who, as with toil and travel,
Had grown quite weak and gray before his time;
Nor any could the restless griefs unravel
The Sea Spirit
© Madison Julius Cawein
Ah me! I shall not waken soon
From dreams of such divinity!
A spirit singing 'neath the moon
To me.
from The Botanic Garden, “The Economy of Vegetation”: Canto I
© Erasmus Darwin
Argument
The Genius of the place invites the Goddess of Botany, 1. She descends, is received by Spring, and the Elements, 59. Addresses the Nymphs of Fire. Star-light Night seen in the Camera Obscura, 81. I. Love created the Universe. Chaos explodes. All the Stars revolve. God, 97. II. Shooting Stars. Lightning. Rainbow. Colours of the Morning and Evening Skies. Exterior Atmosphere of inflammable Air. Twilight. Fire-balls. Aurora Borealis. Planets. Comets. Fixed Stars. Sun’s Orb, 115. III. 1. Fires of the Earth’s Centre. Animal Incubation, 137. 2. Volcanic Mountains. Venus visits the Cyclops, 149. IV. Heat confined on the Earth by the Air. Phosphoric lights in the Evening. Bolognian Stone. Calcined Shells. Memnon’s Harp, 173. Ignis fatuus. Luminous Flowers. Glow-worm. Fire-fly. Luminous Sea-insects. Electric Eel. Eagle armed with Lightning, 189. V. 1. Discovery of Fire. Medusa, 209. 2. The chemical Properties of Fire. Phosphorus. Lady in Love, 223. 3. Gunpowder, 237. VI. Steam-engine applied to Pumps, Bellows, Water-engines, Corn-mills, Coining, Barges, Waggons, Flying-chariots, 253. Labours of Hercules. Abyla and Calpe, 297. VII. 1. Electric Machine. Hesperian Dragon. Electric Kiss. Halo round the heads of Saints. Electric Shock. Fairy-rings, 335. 2. Death of Professor Richman, 371. 3. Franklin draws Lightning from the Clouds. Cupid snatches the Thunderbolt from Jupiter, 383. VIII. Phosphoric Acid and Vital Heat produced in the Blood. The great Egg of Night, 399. IX. Western Wind unfettered. Naiad released. Frost assailed. Whale attacked, 421. X. Buds and Flowers expanded by Warmth, Electricity, and Light. Drawings with colourless sympathetic Inks; which appear when warmed by the Fire, 457. XI. Sirius. Jupiter and Semele. Nothern Constellations. Ice-Islands navigated into the Tropic Seas. Rainy Monsoons, 497. XII. Points erected to procure Rain. Elijah on Mount Carmel, 549. Departure of the Nymphs of Fire like Sparks from artificial Fireworks, 587.
Of Life And Death
© Benjamin Jonson
The ports of death are sins; of life, good deeds:
Through which our merit leads us to our meeds.
The Great Pax Whitie
© Nikki Giovanni
The genesis was life
The genesis was death
In the genesis of death
Was the genesis of war
be still peace be still
The Lover And The Moon
© Paul Laurence Dunbar
A LOVER whom duty called over the wave,
With himself communed: "Will my love be true
The Messenger
© Hugo Williams
The messenger runs, not carrying the news
of victory, or defeat; the messenger, unresting,
The Day of Wrath / Dies Iræ
© Ambrose Bierce
Day of Satan's painful duty!
Earth shall vanish, hot and sooty;
So says Virtue, so says Beauty.
A Poem for the Cruel Majority
© Jerome Rothenberg
Nothing can make the dark turn into light
for the cruel majority.
Nothing can make them feel hunger or terror.
The Sparrow Club
© William Barnes
Last night the merry farmers' sons,
Vrom biggest down to leäst, min,
