Life poems
/ page 519 of 844 /The Procreation Sonnets (1 - 17)
© William Shakespeare
The Procreation Sonnets are grouped together
because they all address the same young man,
and all encourage him - with a variety of
themes and arguements - to marry and father
children (hence 'procreation').
The Transvaal Contingent
© Anonymous
From Bluff to Cape Maria New Zealand is agreed;
She thanks her Representatives for generous thought and deed.
She turns with joy from squabbles - from Party's petty aim -
To feel she still has statesman well worthy of the name.
Alchimie de la douleur (The Alchemy of Sorrow)
© Charles Baudelaire
L'un t'éclaire avec son ardeur,
L'autre en toi met son deuil, Nature!
Ce qui dit à l'un: Sépulture!
Dit à l'autre: Vie et splendeur!
The Heritage
© Dora Sigerson Shorter
He on his man-child laid a soothing hand,
And hushed him into slumber, singing, "Sleep!
The Chestnut
© Robert Laurence Binyon
Who enters here, beneath this guardian shade,
Feels over him a tender sky of leaves
Dearer than heaven: at once his eye receives
Strange quiet: fathomless as water swayed
The Men Who Stuck To Me
© Henry Lawson
Some I never met and never knew their great but vain endeavour,
For my sake! And some were old mates whom I never more may see;
Never heard me, some I talked with; never saw me, some I walked with;
Blind and deaf, and dumb and foreign were the men who stuck to me.
An Epitaph on Doctor Donne, Dean of St. Paul's
© Richard Corbet
He that would write an epitaph for thee,
And do it well, must first begin to be
The Pleasures of Imagination: Book The Third
© Mark Akenside
See! in what crouds the uncouth forms advance:
Each would outstrip the other, each prevent
Our careful search, and offer to your gaze,
Unask'd, his motley features. Wait awhile,
My curious friends! and let us first arrange
In proper order your promiscuous throng.
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.
Phaethon--Attempted In Galliambic Measure
© George Meredith
Lither, noisy in the breezes now his sisters shivering weep,
By the river flowing smooth out to the vexed sea of Adria,
Where he fell, and where they suffered sudden change to the
tremulous
Ever-wailful trees bemoaning him, a bruised purple cyclamen.
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!
Just To Drift
© Roderic Quinn
DRIFTING down the Harbour,
Stars on high,
Lovers of the surface,
You and I,
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.
The Bridal Of Lady Aideen
© Dora Sigerson Shorter
O Lady Aideen, will you wed with me, wed with me in the early morning?
A silken gown for your body's wear, a golden crown for your hair's adorning.
The Letters
© Alfred Tennyson
Still on the tower stood the vane,
A black yew gloomed the stagnant air,
The Purple Clover
© Emily Dickinson
There is a flower that Bees prefer
And Butterfliesdesire
To gain the Purple Democrat
The Humming Birdaspire
A Dream In A Gondola
© Richard Monckton Milnes
I had a dream of waters: I was borne
Fast down the slimy tide
Of eldest Nile, and endless flats forlorn
Stretched out on either side,--
The Sweeper of the Floor
© George MacDonald
Methought that in a solemn church I stood.
Its marble acres, worn with knees and feet,
Georgic 3
© Publius Vergilius Maro
Thee too, great Pales, will I hymn, and thee,
Amphrysian shepherd, worthy to be sung,
Nobody Cometh To Woo
© John Clare
On Martinmas eve the dogs did bark,
And I opened the window to see,