Truth poems
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An Invective Written By Mr. George Chapman Against Mr. Ben Jonson
© George Chapman
Great, learned, witty Ben, be pleased to light
The world with that three-forked fire; nor fright
The Shut-Eye Sentry
© Rudyard Kipling
So it was "Rounds! What Rounds?" at two of a frosty night,
'E's 'oldin' on by the sergeant's sash, but, sentry, shut your eye.
An' it was "Pass! All's well!" Oh, ain't 'e drippin' tight!
'E'll need an affidavit pretty badly by-an'-by.
The Door Of Humility
© Alfred Austin
ENGLAND
We lead the blind by voice and hand,
And not by light they cannot see;
We are not framed to understand
The How and Why of such as He;
Shadows
© Richard Monckton Milnes
They seem'd, to those who saw them meet,
The casual friends of every day;
Her smile was undisturb'd and sweet,
His courtesy was free and gay.
The Cloak Model
© John Crowe Ransom
"My son," the stranger thus began,
And drew me to the window side,
"Now here are beauties better than
You ever have dreamed, or ever can.
But yet beware!" he cried.
Christmas Day
© John Keble
What sudden blaze of song
Spreads o'er th' expanse of Heaven?
In waves of light it thrills along,
Th' angelic signal given -
"Glory to God!" from yonder central fire
Flows out the echoing lay beyond the starry choir;
Lord Of Himself
© Sir Henry Wotton
How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armor is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill.
The Three Black Crows
© John Byrom
Two honest tradesmen meeting in the Strand,
One took the other briskly by the hand;
Willie's Question
© George MacDonald
I.
Willie speaks.
Is it wrong, the wish to be great,
For I do wish it so?
I have asked already my sister Kate;
She says she does not know.
A Ballad That We Do Not Perish
© Zbigniew Herbert
Those who sailed at dawn
but will never return
left their trace on a wave-
The Lord Is King
© George Wither
The Lord is King, and weareth
A robe of glory bright:
He clothed with strength appeareth,
And girt with powerful might.
Epilogue
© Edgar Lee Masters
You're dreaming worlds. I'm in the King row.
Move as you will, if I can't wreck you
I'll thwart you, harry you, rout you, check you.
The Cable Hymn
© John Greenleaf Whittier
O lonely bay of Trinity,
O dreary shores, give ear!
Lean down unto the white-lipped sea
The voice of God to hear!
The Bronze David Of Donatello
© Randall Jarrell
To so much strength, those overborne by it
Seemed girls, and death came to it like a girl,
Came to it, through the soft air, like a bird-
So that the boy is like a girl, is like a bird
Standing on something it has pecked to death.
AN ELEGY Upon the most victorious King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus
© Henry King
---O Famâ ingens ingentior armis
Rex Gustave, quibus Clo te laudibus æquem?
Virgil. Æneid. lib. 2.
To A.J. Scott
© George MacDonald
I walked all night: the darkness did not yield.
Around me fell a mist, a weary rain,
Enduring long. At length the dawn revealed
