Future poems
/ page 89 of 121 /
Prologue
© Anne Bradstreet
1 To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings,
2 Of Cities founded, Common-wealths begun,
3 For my mean Pen are too superior things;
4 Or how they all, or each their dates have run,
5 Let Poets and Historians set these forth.
6 My obscure lines shall not so dim their worth.
The Charm Of 5:30
© David Berman
We're within inches of the perfect distance from the sun,
the sky is blueberries and cream,
and the wind is as warm as air from a tire.
Even the headstones in the graveyard
Seem to stand up and say "Hello! My name is..."
The Same, Expanded.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
And people then will alter their mind.
If courage is gone--then all is gone!
'Twere better that thou hadst never been born.
Decaying Lambskins
© Robinson Jeffers
After all, we also stand on a height. Our blood and our culture
have passed the flood-marks of any world
Wont And Done.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I then was the servant of
all:
By this creature so charming I now am fast bound,
To love and love's guerdon she turns all around,
A Woman's Question
© Adelaide Anne Procter
Before I trust my fate to thee,
Or place my hand in thine,
The Spectral Attitudes
© André Breton
I attach no importance to life
I pin not the least of life's butterflies to importance
The Bride of a Year
© Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon
She stands in front of her mirror
With bright and joyous air,
The Treasure-digger
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
ALL my weary days I pass'dSick at heart and poor in purse.Poverty's the greatest curse,Riches are the highest good!
And to end my woes at last,Treasure-seeking forth I sped."Thou shalt have my soul instead!"Thus I wrote, and with my blood.Ring round ring I forthwith drew,Wondrous flames collected there,Herbs and bones in order fair,Till the charm had work'd aright.
Then, to learned precepts true,Dug to find some treasure old,In the place my art foretoldBlack and stormy was the night.Coming o'er the distant plain,With the glimmer of a star,Soon I saw a light afar,As the hour of midnight knell'd.
Preparation was in vain.Sudden all was lighted upWith the lustre of a cupThat a beauteous boy upheld.Sweetly seem'd his eves to laughNeath his flow'ry chaplet's load;With the drink that brightly glow'd,He the circle enter'd in.
Occasion'd By Reading The Memoirs Of Anne Of Austria
© Mary Barber
Ye heedless Fair, who pass the live--long Day,
In Dress and Scandal, Gallantry and Play;
Who thro' new Scenes of Pleasure hourly run,
Whilst Life's important Business is undone;
Look here, when guilty Conquests make you vain,
And see, how sad Remorse shuts up the Scene.
On The New Year
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
------
What we sing in company
Soon from heart to heart will fly.
-----
The Rule Of Life.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
IF thou wouldst live unruffled by care,
Let not the past torment thee e'er;
As little as possible be thou annoy'd,
And let the present be ever enjoy'd;
Ne'er let thy breast with hate be supplied,
And to God the future confide.
Starting From Paumanok
© Walt Whitman
Of earth, rocks, Fifth-month flowers, experienced-stars, rain, snow,
my amaze;
Having studied the mocking-bird's tones, and the mountainhawk's,
And heard at dusk the unrival'd one, the hermit thrush from the
swamp-cedars,
Solitary, singing in the West, I strike up for a New World.
After Sixty Years
© Edith Nesbit
RING, bells! flags, fly! and let the great crowd roar
Its ecstasy. Let the hid heart in prayer
The Vanity of Human Wishes: The Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated by Samuel Johnson
© Samuel Johnson
Yet still the gen'ral Cry the Skies assails
And Gain and Grandeur load the tainted Gales;
Few know the toiling Statesman's Fear or Care,
Th' insidious Rival and the gaping Heir.
The Glimpse
© George Herbert
Whither away, Delight?
Thou cam'st but now; wilt thou so soon depart,
And give me up to night?
For many weeks of lingring pain and smart
But one half hour of comfort for my heart?
The Stone
© Peter McArthur
And yesterday the man passed among us unnoted!
Did his deed and went his way without boasting,
Leaving his act to steak, himself silent!
At Midnight Hour.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
[Goethe relates that a remarkable situation
he was in one bright moonlight night led to the composition of this
sweet song, which was "the dearer to him because he could not say
whence it came and whither it would."]
Ode To The Departing Year
© Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I.
Spirit who sweepest the wild harp of Time!
It is most hard, with an untroubled ear
Thy dark inwoven harmonies to hear!
A Symbol.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(This fine poem is given by Goethe amongst a
small collection of what he calls Loge (Lodge), meaning thereby
Masonic pieces.)
