Power poems

 / page 290 of 324 /
star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Bird Watcher

© Robert William Service

In Wall Street once a potent power,
And now a multi-millionaire
Alone within a shady bower
In clothes his valet would not wear,
He watches bird wings bright the air.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Finale

© Robert William Service

Here is this vale of sweet abiding,
My ultimate and dulcet home,
That gently dreams above the chiding
of restless and impatient foam;

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Flower Gardener

© Robert William Service

Gas got me in the first World War,
And all my mates at rest are laid.
I felt I might survive them for
I am a gardener by trade.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Moon-Lover

© Robert William Service

The Moon is like a ping-pong ball;
I lean against the orchard wall,
And see it soar into the void,
A silky sphere of celluloid.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Three Bares

© Robert William Service

Well, Ma was mighty glad to get that worry off her mind,
And hefting up the bucket so combustibly inclined,
She hurried down the garden to that refuge so discreet,
And dumped the liquid menace safely through the centre seat.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Ballad Of Touch-The-Button Nell

© Robert William Service

They gave a dance in Lousetown, and the Tenderloin was there,
The girls were fresh and frolicsome, and nearly all were fair.
They flaunted on their back the spoil of half-a-dozen towns;
And some they blazed in gems of price, and some wore Paris gowns.
The voting was divided as to who might be the belle;
But all opined, the winsomest was Touch-the-Button Nell.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Rivera Honeymoon

© Robert William Service

Beneath the trees I lounged at ease
And watched them speed the pace;
They swerved and swung, they clutched and clung,
They leapt in roaring chase;
The crowd was thrilled, a chap was killed:
It was a splendid race.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Ballad Of Casey's Billy-Goat

© Robert William Service

You've heard of "Casey at The Bat,"
And "Casey's Tabble Dote";
But now it's time
To write a rhyme
Of "Casey's Billy-goat."

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

A Song Of Success

© Robert William Service

Ho! we were strong, we were swift, we were brave.
Youth was a challenge, and Life was a fight.
All that was best in us gladly we gave,
Sprang from the rally, and leapt for the height.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Quatrains

© Robert William Service

One said: Thy life is thine to make or mar,
To flicker feebly, or to soar, a star;
It lies with thee -- the choice is thine, is thine,
To hit the ties or drive thy auto-car.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Wife

© Robert William Service

"Tell Annie I'll be home in time
To help her with her Christmas-tree."
That's what he wrote, and hark! the chime
Of Christmas bells, and where is he?
And how the house is dark and sad,
And Annie's sobbing on my knee!

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Fear

© Robert William Service

I know how father's strap would feel,
If ever I were caught,
So mother's jam I did not steal,
Though theft was in my thought.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Sensibility

© Robert William Service

Well, anyway, you know the why
We are so pally, cats and I;
So if you have the gift of shame,
O Fellow-sinner, be the same.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Leaning Tower

© Robert William Service

Having an aged hate of height
I forced myself to climb the Tower,
Yet paused at every second flight
Because my heart is scant of power;
Then when I gained the sloping summit
Earthward I stared, straight as a plummet.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Ghosts

© Robert William Service

Smith had a friend, we'll call him Brown; dearer than brothers were those two.
When in the wassail Smith would drown, Brown would rescue and pull him through.
When Brown was needful Smith would lend; so it fell as the years went by,
Each on the other would depend: then at the last Smith came to die.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

My Dentist

© Robert William Service

Sitting in the dentist's chair,
Wishing that I wasn't there,
To forget and pass the time
I have made this bit of rhyme.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Pencil Seller

© Robert William Service

O God! I stumbled blindly from the hall;
The city crashed on me, the fiendish sounds
Of cruelty and strife, but over all
"Three thousand pounds!" I heard; "Three thousand pounds!"

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Faith

© Robert William Service

Then let's have faith; good cometh out of ill;
The power that shaped the strife shall end the strife;
Then let's bow down before the Unknown Will;
Fight on, believing all is well with life;
Seeing within the worst of War's red rage
The gleam, the glory of the Golden Age.

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

The Joy Of Little Things

© Robert William Service

It's good the great green earth to roam,
Where sights of awe the soul inspire;
But oh, it's best, the coming home,
The crackle of one's own hearth-fire!

star nullstar nullstar nullstar nullstar null

Class-Mates

© Robert William Service

Joe Giles went in for grabbing gold,
And grovelled in the dirt;
He, too, looks prematurely old,
His gastric ulcers hurt:
Although he has a heap of dough.
I do not envy Joe.