Work poems
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The Voice of the Negro
© Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer
All ye nations, pause a moment! listen to the Negro's voice,
Coming up from all vocations where his life has made a choice!
Listen to each rank or station, as you cross the sea of time,
It is heard in ev'ry nation, any race and ev'ry clime.
The Dancer by David Tucker: American Life in Poetry #63 Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006
© Ted Kooser
Remember those Degas paintings of the ballet dancers? Here is a similar figure study, in muted color, but in this instance made of words, not pigment. As this poem by David Tucker closes, I can feel myself holding my breath as if to help the dancer hold her position.
The Dancer
The Road Builder
© Edgar Albert Guest
I DO not care for garments fine,
I do not care for medals bright;
The Visit Of Mahmoud Ben Suleim To Paradise
© Paul Hamilton Hayne
Perchance the past of man--and thence to draw
From far experience, sanctified by awe
Of God's mysterious ways, some hint to tell
Who of the dead in heaven and who in hell
Dwelt now in endless bliss or endless bale.
Queen Mab: Part VIII.
© Percy Bysshe Shelley
THE FAIRY
'The present and the past thou hast beheld.
It was a desolate sight. Now, Spirit, learn,
The secrets of the future--Time!
Polyhymnia
© George Peele
Therefore, when thirtie two were come and gone,
Years of her raigne, daies of her countries peace,
Elizabeth great Empresse of the world,
Britanias Atlas, Star of Englands globe,
Satyr IV. The Pretty Gentleman
© Thomas Parnell
As on this head he woud have spoken more
the Jailour happend to unlock the door
to lett him know his creditors did wait
to make him sell if he woud freedom gett
At least three quarters of his whole estate
The Story of Fidgety Philip
© Heinrich Hoffmann
"Let me see if Philip can
Be a little gentleman;
Let me see if he is able
To sit still for once at table:"
Kick It Again
© Sheldon Allan Silverstein
So you heard there was a spark of love that I have for you
You come back to kill it like you always do
You found it weak and tremblin' hangin' on just by a thread
And you kicked it choke it stepped on it and broke it left it half to death
Conversation
© William Cowper
Though nature weigh our talents, and dispense
To every man his modicum of sense,
Who Santy-Claus Wuz
© James Whitcomb Riley
Jes' a little bit o' feller--I remember still--
Ust to almost cry fer Christmas, like a youngster will.
Pippa Passes: Part II: Noon
© Robert Browning
You by me,
And I by you; this is your hand in mine,
And side by side we sit: all's true. Thank God!
I have spoken: speak you!
Reflections On Having Left A Place Of Retirement
© Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Sermoni propriora.~ Horace
Low was our pretty Cot: our tallest Rose
Peep'd at the chamber-window. We could hear
At silent noon, and eve, and early morn,
Scene In A Country Hospital
© Paul Hamilton Hayne
HERE, lonely, wounded and apart,
From out my casement's glimmering round,
I watch the wayward bluebirds dart
Across yon flowery ground;
How sweet the prospect! and how fair
The balmy peace of earth and air.
Marguerite
© John Greenleaf Whittier
What to her was the song of the robin, or warm
morning light,
As she lay in the trance of the dying, heedless of
sound or sight?
Manfred: A Dramatic Poem. Act II.
© George Gordon Byron
CHAMOIS HUNTER
No, no -- yet pause -- thou must not yet go forth:
Thy mind and body are alike unfit
To trust each other, for some hours, at least;
When thou art better, I will be thy guide--
But whither?
The Aged Stranger
© Francis Bret Harte
"I was with Grant"--the stranger said;
Said the farmer, "Say no more,
But rest thee here at my cottage porch,
For thy feet are weary and sore."
The Factory Girl
© John Arthur Phillips
She wasn't the least bit pretty,
And only the least bit gay;
The Song of Ninian Melville
© Henry Kendall
Sing the song of noisy Ninny - hang the Muses - spit it out!
(Tuneful Nine ye needn't help me - poet knows his way about!)
