Good poems
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Our Lady
© Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
MOTHER of God! no lady thou:
Common woman of common earth
Our Lady ladies call thee now,
But Christ was never of gentle birth;
A common man of the common earth.
Good Friday in my Heart
© Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
GOOD FRIDAY in my heart! Fear and affright!
My thoughts are the Disciples when they fled,
My words the words that priest and soldier said,
My deed the spear to desecrate the dead.
And day, Thy death therein, is changed to night.
Virgule
© Thomas Lux
What I love about this little leaning mark
is how it divides
without divisiveness. The left
or bottom side prying that choice up or out,
The Roast Beef Of Old England
© Henry Fielding
When mighty roast beef was the Englishman's food,
It ennobled our hearts, and enriched our blood;
Our soldiers were brave, and our courtiers were good.
_O, the Roast Beef of old England,
And O, the old English Roast Beef_!
The Road That Runs Beside The River
© Thomas Lux
follows the river as it bends
along the valley floor,
going the way it must.
Where water goes, so goes the road,
A Voice From The Factories
© Caroline Norton
WHEN fallen man from Paradise was driven,
Forth to a world of labour, death, and care;
Still, of his native Eden, bounteous Heaven
Resolved one brief memorial to spare,
On Beauty
© James Thomson
Beauty deserves the homage of the muse:
Shall mine, rebellious, the dear theme refuse?
No; while my breast respires the vital air,
Wholly I am devoted to the fair.
Upon Watts' Picture Sic Transit
© John McCrae
But yesterday the tourney, all the eager joy of life,
The waving of the banners, and the rattle of the spears,
The clash of sword and harness, and the madness of the strife;
To-night begin the silence and the peace of endless years.
Victoria
© Alfred Austin
The lark went up, the mower whet his scythe,
On golden meads kine ruminating lay,
And all the world felt young again and blithe,
Just as to-day.
The Hope Of My Heart
© John McCrae
I left, to earth, a little maiden fair,
With locks of gold, and eyes that shamed the light;
I prayed that God might have her in His care
And sight.
Sic Vos Non Vobis
© Ada Cambridge
Ye, that the untrod paths have braved,
With heart and brain unbound;
A Christmas Hymn
© Hannah More
O now wondrous is the story
Of our blest Redeemer's birth?
See the mighty Lord of Glory
Leaves his heaven to visit earth!
St. Roach
© Muriel Rukeyser
Yesterday I looked at one of you for the first time.
You were lighter that the others in color, that was
neither good nor bad.
I was really looking for the first time.
You seemed troubled and witty.
To The Eleven Ladies
© Oliver Wendell Holmes
"WHO gave this cup?" The secret thou wouldst steal
Its brimming flood forbids it to reveal:
No mortal's eye shall read it till he first
Cool the red throat of thirst.
Pluck
© Ethelwyn Wetherald
Thank God for pluckunknown to slaves
The self ne'er of its Self bereft,
Who, when the right arm's shattered, waves
The good flag with the left.
The New Year
© John Greenleaf Whittier
THE wave is breaking on the shore,
The echo fading from the chime;
Again the shadow moveth o'er
The dial-plate of time!
The Likeness
© William Henry Davies
When I came forth this morn I saw
Quite twenty cloudlets in the air;
And then I saw a flock of sheep,
Which told me how these clouds came there.
What Ma Said
© Edgar Albert Guest
When Pa came home last night he had a package in his hand,
Now Ma," said he, "I've something here which you will say is grand.
A friend of mine got home today from hunting in the woods,
He's been away a week or two, and got back with the goods.
He had a corking string of birds, I wish you could have seen 'em!"
"If you've brought any partridge home," said Ma, "you'll have to clean 'em."
The Child and the Mariner
© William Henry Davies
A dear old couple my grandparents were,
And kind to all dumb things; they saw in Heaven
The lamb that Jesus petted when a child;
Their faith was never draped by Doubt: to them
