Life poems

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Music

© Madison Julius Cawein

Thou, oh, thou!

Thou of the chorded shell and golden plectrum! thou

In the stillness of night Wisdom came and stood
By my bed. She gazed upon me like a tender mother
And wiped away my tears, and said : "I have heard
The cry of your spirit and I am come to comfort it.
Open your heart to me and I shall fill it with light.
Ask of me and I shall show you the way of truth."

The Voyage Of St. Brendan A.D. 545 - Ara Of The Saints

© Denis Florence MacCarthy

Hearing how blessed Enda lived apart,
Amid the sacred caves of Ara-mhor,
And how beneath his eye, spread like a chart,
Lay all the isles of that remotest shore;

The Dance To Death. Act II

© Emma Lazarus

LANDGRAVE.
Who tells thee of my son's love for the Jewess?

Elegy XXIII. Reflections Suggested By His Situation

© William Shenstone

Born near the scene for Kenelm's fate renown'd,
I take my plaintive reed, and range the grove,
And raise my lay, and bid the rocks resound
The savage force of empire, and of love.

Rhymes Of A Life-Time

© Oliver Wendell Holmes

FROM the first gleam of morning to the gray

Of peaceful evening, lo, a life unrolled!

The Retort Discourteous

© Stephen Vincent Benet

But what, by the fur on your satin sleeves,
The rain that drags at my feather
And the great Mercurius, god of thieves,
Are we thieves doing together?

The Revenge - A Ballad of the Fleet

© Alfred Tennyson

Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: 'I know you are no coward;
You fly them for a moment to fight with them again.
But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore.
I should count myself the coward if I left them, my Lord Howard,
To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain.'

Tale VIII

© George Crabbe

grace?" -
"He knew she hated every watering-place."
"The town?"--"What! now 'twas empty, joyless,

Rubies

© Ralph Waldo Emerson

They brought me rubies from the mine,
And held them to the sun;
I said, they are drops of frozen wine
From Eden's vats that run.

A Book Of Strife In The Form Of The Diary Of An Old Soul - February

© George MacDonald

1.

I TO myself have neither power nor worth,

The Bleeding Rock: Or, The Metamorphosis Of A Nymph Into Stone

© Hannah More

Too soon he heard of fair Ianthe's fame,
'Twas each enamour'd Shepherd's fav'rite theme;
Return'd the rising, and the setting sun,
The Shepherd's fav'rite theme was never done.
They prais'd her wit, her worth, her shape, her air!
And even interior beauties own'd her fair.

Moravian Hymn

© John Wesley

O draw me, Father, after thee,
So shall I run and never tire:
With gracious words still comfort me;
Be thou my hope, my sole desire:
Free me from every weight; nor fear
Nor sin can come, if thou art here.

Hermann And Dorothea - IX. Urania

O YE Muses, who gladly favour a love that is heartfelt,
Who on his way the excellent youth have hitherto guided,
Who have press'd the maid to his bosom before their betrothal,
Help still further to perfect the bonds of a couple so loving,
Drive away the clouds which over their happiness hover!
But begin by saying what now in the house has been passing.

An Easter Flower Gift

O dearest bloom the seasons know,
Flowers of the Resurrection blow,
Our hope and faith restore;
And through the bitterness of death
And loss and sorrow, breathe a breath
Of life forevermore!

December Notes by Nancy McCleery: American Life in Poetry #39 Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-20

© Ted Kooser

Many of us keep journals, but while doing so few of us pay much attention to selecting the most precise words, to determining their most effective order, to working with effective pauses and breath-like pacing, to presenting an engaging impression of a single, unique day. This poem by Nebraskan Nancy McCleery is a good example of one poet’s carefully recorded observations. December Notes

The backyard is one white sheet
Where we read in the bird tracks

Houdini by Kay Ryan: American Life in Poetry #108 Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006

© Ted Kooser

Houdini never gets far from the news. There's always a movie coming out, or a book, and every other magician has to face comparison to the legendary master. Here the California poet, Kay Ryan, encapsulates the man and says something wise about celebrity.

Life And Song.

"If life were caught by a clarionet,
And a wild heart, throbbing in the reed,
Should thrill its joy and trill its fret,
And utter its heart in every deed,