Good poems
/ page 334 of 545 /
Down-Hall. A Ballad.
© Matthew Prior
I sing not old Jason who travell'd through Greece
To kiss the fair maids and possess the rich fleece,
Nor sing I AEneas, who, led by his mother,
Got rid of one wife and went far for another.
Derry down, down, hey derry down.
Aftersong
© Friedrich Nietzsche
O noon of life! A time to celebrate!
Oh garden of summer!
Restless happiness in standing, gazing, waiting:
I wait for friends, ready day and night.
You friends, where are you? Come! It's time! It's time!
Epilogue
© Paul Verlaine
I
The sun, less hot, looks from a sky more clear;
The roses in their sleepy loveliness
Nod to the cradling wind. The atmosphere
Enfolds us with a sister's tenderness.
Noli Aemulari
© Arthur Hugh Clough
In controversial foul impureness
The peace that is thy light to thee
Quench not: in faith and inner sureness
Possess thy soul and let it be.
The Sweeper of the Floor
© George MacDonald
Methought that in a solemn church I stood.
Its marble acres, worn with knees and feet,
E.G. De R.
© James Russell Lowell
Why should I seek her spell to decompose
Or to its source each rill of influence trace
The Bear At The Dump
© William Matthews
Amidst the too much that we buy and throw
away and the far too much we wrap it in,
Georgic 3
© Publius Vergilius Maro
Thee too, great Pales, will I hymn, and thee,
Amphrysian shepherd, worthy to be sung,
The Katydids
© James Whitcomb Riley
Sometimes I keep
From going to sleep,
To hear the katydids "cheep-cheep!"
And think they say
Their prayers that way;
But _katydids_ don't have to _pray_!
A Reading Of Life--The Test Of Manhood
© George Meredith
That quiet dawn was Reverence; whereof sprang
Ethereal Beauty in full morningtide.
Another sun had risen to clasp his bride:
It was another earth unto him sang.
In Memoriam
© Ada Cambridge
Life-length of days-the time to work and strive
In his Lord's vineyard; to bring heavenly light
Into the drear, dark places of the earth,
And make them fair and fruitful in His sight.
Semi-Centennial Celebration Of The New England Society
© Oliver Wendell Holmes
NEW ENGLAND, we love thee; no time can erase
From the hearts of thy children the smile on thy face.
'T is the mother's fond look of affection and pride,
As she gives her fair son to the arms of his bride.
Ormuzd And Ahriman. A Cantata
© Christopher Pearse Cranch
Oh, that I could sinne once see!
We paint the devil foul, yet he
America
© William Cullen Bryant
OH mother of a mighty race,
Yet lovely in thy youthful grace!
The elder dames, thy haughty peers,
Admire and hate thy blooming years.
With words of shame
And taunts of scorn they join thy name.
At Christmas
© Edgar Albert Guest
A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season's here;
The Stone Fleet
© Herman Melville
I have a feeling for those ships,
Each worn and ancient one,
With great bluff bows, and broad in the beam:
Ay, it was unkindly done.
But so they serve the Obsolete-
Even so, Stone Fleet!
Election Day, November 1884
© Walt Whitman
If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
Twould not be you, Niagaranor you, ye limitless prairiesnor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
The Maids Of Attitash
© John Greenleaf Whittier
In sky and wave the white clouds swam,
And the blue hills of Nottingham
Through gaps of leafy green
Across the lake were seen,
