Great poems
/ page 388 of 549 /
My Sweetest Lesbia
© Thomas Campion
My sweetest Lesbia, let us live and love,
And though the sager sort our deeds reprove,
Let us not weigh them. Heaven's great lamps do dive
Into their west, and straight again revive,
But soon as once set is our little light,
Then must we sleep one ever-during night.
Tales Of A Wayside Inn : The Theologian's Tale; The Legend Beautiful
© Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Straightway to his feet he started,
And with longing look intent
On the Blessed Vision bent,
Slowly from his cell departed,
Slowly on his errand went.
Open Table.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
MANY a guest I'd see to-day,Met to taste my dishes!
Food in plenty is prepar'd,Birds, and game, and fishes.
Invitations all have had,All proposed attending.
Johnny, go and look around!Are they hither wending?Pretty girls I hope to see,Dear and guileless misses,
Too Late
© Edith Nesbit
WHEN Love, sweet Love, was tangled in my snare
I clipped his wings, and dressed his cage with flowers,
Legend.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
THERE lived in the desert a holy manTo whom a goat-footed Faun one day
Paid a visit, and thus beganTo his surprise: "I entreat thee to pray
That grace to me and my friends may be given,
That we may be able to mount to Heaven,
The Spectral Attitudes
© André Breton
I attach no importance to life
I pin not the least of life's butterflies to importance
Seddon
© George Essex Evans
Nature, that builds great minds for mighty tasks,
Sculptured his frame to match the soul within;
Taught him how wisdom wields the power it asks;
For each new conquest set him more to win.
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.
Hans Sachs' Poetical Mission.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Soon as the spring-sun meets his view,
Repose begets him labour anew;
He feels that he holds within his brain
A little world, that broods there amain,
And that begins to act and to live,
Which he to others would gladly give.
Jupiter And Fortune.
© Mary Barber
Enough--the Thunderer reply'd;
But say, whom have you satisfy'd?
These boasted Gifts are thine, I own;
But know, Content is mine alone.
Sir Curt's Wedding-journey.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
WITH a bridegroom's joyous bearing,Mounts Sir Curt his noble beast,
To his mistress' home repairing,There to hold his wedding feast;
When a threatening foe advancesFrom a desert, rocky spot;
For the fray they couch their lances,Not delaying, speaking not.Long the doubtful fight continues,Victory then for Curt declares;
To The Countess Granville.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Believe me, with great truth,
Very faithfully yours,
EDGAR A. BOWRING.
London, April, 1853.
Playing At Priests.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Through house and garden thus in state
We strutted early, strutted late,
Repeating with all proper unction,
Incessantly each holy function.
The best was wanting to the game;
King's Cross Station
© Gilbert Keith Chesterton
This circled cosmos whereof man is god
Has suns and stars of green and gold and red,
And cloudlands of great smoke, that range o'er range
Far floating, hide its iron heavens o'erhead.
Lines in Protest to the Dundee Magistrates
© William Topaz McGonagall
Fellow citizens of Bonnie Dundee
Are ye aware how the magistrates have treated me?
Nay, do not stare or make a fuss
When I tell ye they have boycotted me from appearing in Royal Circus,
Which in my opinion is a great shame,
And a dishonour to the city's name.
Love As A Landscape Painter.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
ON a rocky peak once sat I early,
Gazing on the mist with eyes unmoving;
Stretch'd out like a pall of greyish texture,
All things round, and all above it cover'd.
The Spagnoletto. Act IV
© Emma Lazarus
Night. RIBERA'S bedroom. RIBERA discovered in his dressing-gown,
seated reading beside a table, with a light upon it. Enter from
an open door at the back of the stage, MARIA. She stands
irresolute for a moment on the threshold behind her father,
watching him, passes her hand rapidly over her brow and eyes,
and then knocks.
