Work poems
/ page 292 of 355 /
The Nativity
© William Cowper
Upon my meanness, poverty, and guilt,
The trophy of thy glory shall be built;
My selfdisdain shall be the unshaken base,
And my deformity its fairest grace;
For destitute of good, and rich in ill,
Must be my state and my description still.
The Mountain Heart's-Ease
© Francis Bret Harte
By scattered rocks and turbid waters shifting,
By furrowed glade and dell,
To feverish men thy calm, sweet face uplifting,
Thou stayest them to tell
Maran-Milan (Death-Wedding)
© Rabindranath Tagore
Why do you speak so softly, Death, Death,
Creep upon me, watch me so stealthily?
Burns
© Charles Harpur
MY OWN WILD BURNS! these rude-wrought rhymes of thine
In golden worth are like the unshapely coin
Of some new realm, yet pure as from the mine
And Art may well be spared with such alloy
As dims the bullion to improve the die!
The Riding Of The Rebel
© William Henry Ogilvie
And the boys were dumb with wonder, and sat, and the Red Creek overseer
Was first to drop from the stockyard fence and give him a hearty cheer.
He raised his hat in answer and --- the golden hair floated free!
And the blue eyes lit with laughter as she shouted merrily:
"You can reach me down my bridle, give my girths and saddle back,
For the outlaw of Glenidol is a broken lady's hack!"
Camping in a kitchen
© Ivan Donn Carswell
To say weve done it all before is not to bend
the truth and though weve lost our youth
the vision of the bright contemporary kitchen
draws us on, sustaining us beyond our strength.
Bitter sweet
© Ivan Donn Carswell
The events
of September 11th
2001 remain bitter sweet;
as well as 2973 innocents
Beta Blogger Blues
© Ivan Donn Carswell
Have you switched to Beta yet?
Its an even bet that if you have
you quite regret your impulse
to accept the canny invitation.
Benefit of doubt
© Ivan Donn Carswell
Its a ruling from the field of pain (devoid of antique nave,
a judgement process aptly named benefit of doubt);
youve encountered it without veneer in waning times
where referees decline to rule on what is dreamed
where benefits per se are favoured the brave.
Athritic Fingers Have To Last
© Ivan Donn Carswell
These painful, cold athritic fingers have to last
much longer yet, theyre all I have to keep the pages
on the screen prescribed with glowing words, my favoured antidote
to weak and skulking weariness; the cups of strong black coffee
Another barbeque tonight
© Ivan Donn Carswell
It rained throughout the night, a truly welcome sound
that eases sleep although we barely slept we were
distressed by other things. Today the kitchens centre ring,
the kitchen of Anitas dreams. Its had a long gestation,
In Memory Of The Late John Thornton, Esq.
© William Cowper
Poets attempt the noblest task they can,
Praising the Author of all good in man,
And, next, commemorating Worthies lost,
The dead in whom that good abounded most.
The Black Cottage
© Robert Frost
We chanced in passing by that afternoon
To catch it in a sort of special picture
The Dog of Art
© Denise Levertov
That dog with daisies for eyes
who flashes forth
flame of his very self at every bark
is the Dog of Art.
Maiden-Song
© Christina Georgina Rossetti
But I have a will to work,
And a heart for you:
Bid me stay or bid me go.'
Everything That Acts Is Actual
© Denise Levertov
into December? a lowland
of space, perception of space
towering of shadows of clouds blown upon
clouds over new ground, new made
under heavy December footsteps? the only
way to live?
Lallegro
© Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore
Felicity!
Who ope'st to none that knocks, yet, laughing weak,
The Shepherd's Week : Monday; or the Squabble
© John Gay
Lobbin Clout.
Ah Blouzelind! I love thee more by half,
Than does their fawns, or cows the new-fallen calf;
Wo worth the tongue! may blisters sore it gall,
That names Buxoma, Blouzelind withal.
Tim Turpin
© Thomas Hood
Tim Turpin he was gravel-blind,
And ne'er had seen the skies :
For Nature, when his head was made,
Forgot to dot his eyes.
