How much the present moment means

Related poetry:

1. In Me, Past, Present, Future meet In me, past, present, future meet To hold long chiding conference. My lusts usurp the present tense And strangle Reason in his seat. My loves leap through the future’s fence To dance with dream-enfranchised feet. In me the cave-man clasps the seer, And garlanded Apollo goes Chanting to Abraham’s deaf ear. In me the tiger […]...
2. Oh Sumptuous moment Oh Sumptuous moment Slower go That I may gloat on thee ‘Twill never be the same to starve Now I abundance see Which was to famish, then or now The difference of Day Ask him unto the Gallows led With morning in the sky...
3. The Present The day comes slowly in the railyard Behind the ice factory. It broods on One cinder after another until each Glows like lead or the eye of a dog Possessed of no inner fire, the brown And greasy pointer who raises his muzzle A moment and sighing lets it thud Down on the loading dock. […]...
4. Did Our Best Moment last Did Our Best Moment last ‘Twould supersede the Heaven A few and they by Risk procure So this Sort are not given Except as stimulants in Cases of Despair Or Stupor The Reserve These Heavenly Moments are A Grant of the Divine That Certain as it Comes Withdraws and leaves the dazzled Soul In her […]...
5. The Moment The moment when, after many years Of hard work and a long voyage You stand in the centre of your room, House, half-acre, square mile, island, country, Knowing at last how you got there, And say, I own this, Is the same moment when the trees unloose Their soft arms from around you, The birds […]...
6. Holy Sonnet XIII: What If This Present Were The World's Last Night? What if this present were the world’s last night? Mark in my heart, O soul, where thou dost dwell, The picture of Christ crucified, and tell Whether that countenance can thee affright, Tears in his eyes quench the amazing light, Blood fills his frowns, which from his pierced head fell. And can that tongue adjudge […]...
7. Somewhere upon the general Earth Somewhere upon the general Earth Itself exist Today The Magic passive but extant That consecrated me Indifferent Seasons doubtless play Where I for right to be Would pay each Atom that I am But Immortality Reserving that but just to prove Another Date of Thee Oh God of Width, do not for us Curtail Eternity!...
8. Seeing For A Moment I thought I was growing wings- It was a cocoon. I thought, now is the time to step Into the fire- It was deep water. Eschatology is a word I learned As a child: the study of Last Things; Facing my mirror-no longer young, the news-always of death, the dogs-rising from sleep and clamoring and […]...
9. This Moment, Yearning and Thoughtful THIS moment yearning and thoughtful, sitting alone, It seems to me there are other men in other lands, yearning and thoughtful; It seems to me I can look over and behold them, in Germany, Italy, France, Spain-or far, far away, in China, or in Russia or India-talking other dialects; And it seems to me if […]...
10. A Boundless Moment He halted in the wind, and what was that Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost? He stood there bringing March against his thought, And yet too ready to believe the most. ‘Oh, that’s the Paradise-in-bloom,’ I said; And truly it was fair enough for flowers Had we but in us to assume […]...
11. Our journey had advanced Our journey had advanced Our feet were almost come To that odd Fork in Being’s Road Eternity by Term Our pace took sudden awe Our feet reluctant led Before were Cities but Between The Forest of the Dead Retreat was out of Hope Behind a Sealed Route Eternity’s White Flag Before And God at every […]...
12. Think Not, Not For A Moment Let Your Mind Think not, not for a moment let your mind, Wearied with thinking, doze upon the thought That the work’s done and the long day behind, And beauty, since ’tis paid for, can be bought. If in the moonlight from the silent bough Suddenly with precision speak your name The nightingale, be not assured that now […]...
13. It Is Not the Tear At This Moment Shed It is not the tear at this moment shed, When the cold turf has just been laid o’er him, That can tell how beloved was the friend that’s fled, Or how deep in our hearts we deplore him. ‘Tis the tear, through many a long day wept, ‘Tis life’s whole path o’ershaded; ‘Tis the one […]...
14. The Alfresco Moment A butler asks, will Madam be having her morning coffee Alfresco? If you would be so good as to lift me out of my bed to The veranda I would be more than willing to imbibe coffee Alfresco. Shall I ask the Master to join you for coffee alfresco, Madam? But my nightgown’s so sheer […]...
15. The Favor Of The Moment Once more, then, we meet In the circles of yore; Let our song be as sweet In its wreaths as before, Who claims the first place In the tribute of song? The God to whose grace All our pleasures belong. Though Ceres may spread All her gifts on the shrine, Though the glass may be […]...
16. Somehow myself survived the Night Somehow myself survived the Night And entered with the Day That it be saved the Saved suffice Without the Formula. Henceforth I take my living place As one commuted led A Candidate for Morning Chance But dated with the Dead....
17. A MEAN IN OUR MEANS Though frankincense the deities require, We must not give all to the hallow’d fire. Such be our gifts, and such be our expense, As for ourselves to leave some frankince...
18. To This Moment a Rebel To this moment a rebel I throw down my arms, Great Love, at first sight of Olinda’s bright charms. Make proud and secure by such forces as these, You may now play the tyrant as soon as you please. When Innocence, Beauty, and Wit do conspire To betray, and engage, and inflame my Desire, Why […]...
19. "To-morrow to Fresh Woods and Pastures New&quot As for a moment he stands, in hardy masculine beauty, Poised on the fircrested rock, over the pool which below him Gleams in the wavering sunlight, waiting the shock of his plunging. So for a moment I stand, my feet planted firm in the present, Eagerly scanning the future which is so soon to possess […]...
20. I cannot let the moment pass I cannot let the moment pass without a weary greeting, Or retard the recent past where shadows still are fleeting, I’d sabotage the future by just staring in a mirror And never let the glimmer pass and try to hold my image fast In healing my dilemma. Time is gliding in array, I sense it […]...
21. Sonnet XXXV: What Means the Mist What means the mist opaque that veils these eyes; Why does yon threat’ning tempest shroud the day? Why does thy altar, Venus, fade away, And on my breast the dews of horror rise? Phaon is false! be dim ye orient Skies; And let black Erebus succeed your ray; Let clashing thunders roll, and lightning play; […]...
22. That precise moment however foul the times or difficult the ways are Through those personal morasses this change of age Won’t let a single being (rich or poor) be free from Come spring the trees get on with their blossoming You’d think they didn’t read the newspapers You’d think the media hadn’t yet found a way Of getting […]...
23. Joy to have merited the Pain Joy to have merited the Pain To merit the Release Joy to have perished every step To Compass Paradise Pardon to look upon thy face With these old fashioned Eyes Better than new could be for that Though bought in Paradise Because they looked on thee before And thou hast looked on them Prove Me […]...
24. The Sea Who lay against the sea, and fled, Who lightly loved the wave, Shall never know, when he is dead, A cool and murmurous grave. But in a shallow pit shall rest For all eternity, And bear the earth upon the breas That once had worn the sea....
25. THE PRESENT; OR, THE BAG OF THE BEE Fly to my mistress, pretty pilfering bee, And say thou bring’st this honey-bag from me; When on her lip thou hast thy sweet dew placed, Mark if her tongue but slyly steal a taste; If so, we live; if not, with mournful hum, Toll forth my death; next, to my burial come....
26. The Past is the Present If external action is effete And rhyme is outmoded, I shall revert to you, Habakkuk, as when in a Bible class The teacher was speaking of unrhymed verse. He said – and I think I repeat his exact words – “Hebrew poetry is prose With a sort of heightened consciousness.” Ecstasy affords The occasion and […]...
27. Past and Present I remember, I remember The house where I was born, The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn; He never came a wink too soon Nor bought too long a day; But now, I often wish the night Had borne my breath away. I remember, I remember The roses, red and white, […]...
28. "Morning" means "Milking" to the Farmer “Morning” means “Milking” to the Farmer Dawn to the Teneriffe Dice to the Maid Morning means just Risk to the Lover Just revelation to the Beloved Epicures date a Breakfast by it Brides an Apocalypse Worlds a Flood Faint-going Lives Their Lapse from Sighing Faith The Experiment of Our Lord...
29. It was a quiet way It was a quiet way He asked if I was his I made no answer of the Tongue But answer of the Eyes And then He bore me on Before this mortal noise With swiftness, as of Chariots And distance, as of Wheels. This World did drop away As Acres from the feet Of one […]...
30. For The Moment Life is simple and gay The bright sun rings with a quiet sound The sound of the bells has quieted down This morning the light hits it all The footlights of my head are lit again And the room I live in is finally bright Just one beam is enough Just one burst of laughter […]...
31. The Soul's Superior instants The Soul’s Superior instants Occur to Her alone When friend and Earth’s occasion Have infinite withdrawn Or She Herself ascended To too remote a Height For lower Recognition Than Her Omnipotent This Mortal Abolition Is seldom but as fair As Apparition subject To Autocratic Air Eternity’s disclosure To favorites a few Of the Colossal substance […]...
32. The Supreme Moment As an ant is powerless Against a raised boot, And only has an instant To have a bright idea or two. The black boot so polished, He can see himself Reflected in it, distorted, Perhaps made larger Into a huge monster ant Shaking his arms and legs Threateningly? The boot may be hesitating, Demurring, having […]...
33. At This Moment Of Time Some who are uncertain compel me. They fear The Ace of Spades. They fear Loves offered suddenly, turning from the mantelpiece, Sweet with decision. And they distrust The fireworks by the lakeside, first the spuft, Then the colored lights, rising. Tentative, hesitant, doubtful, they consume Greedily Caesar at the prow returning, Locked in the stone […]...
34. Now! Out of your whole life give but a moment! All of your life that has gone before, All to come after it, so you ignore, So you make perfect the present, condense, In a rapture of rage, for perfection’s endowment, Thought and feeling and soul and sense, Merged in a moment which gives me at […]...
35. 'Twould ease a Butterfly ‘Twould ease a Butterfly Elate a Bee Thou’rt neither Neither thy capacity But, Blossom, were I, I would rather be Thy moment Than a Bee’s Eternity Content of fading Is enough for me Fade I unto Divinity And Dying Lifetime Ample as the Eye Her least attention raise on me...
36. The Silent Lover i PASSIONS are liken’d best to floods and streams: The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb; So, when affection yields discourse, it seems The bottom is but shallow whence they come. They that are rich in words, in words discover That they are poor in that which makes a lover....
37. The Blunder is in estimate The Blunder is in estimate. Eternity is there We say, as of a Station Meanwhile he is so near He joins me in my Ramble Divides abode with me No Friend have I that so persists As this Eternity....
38. The Red Blaze is the Morning The Red Blaze is the Morning The Violet is Noon The Yellow Day is falling And after that is none But Miles of Sparks at Evening Reveal the Width that burned The Territory Argent that Never yet consumed...
39. At leisure is the Soul At leisure is the Soul That gets a Staggering Blow The Width of Life before it spreads Without a thing to do It begs you give it Work But just the placing Pins Or humblest Patchwork Children do To Help its Vacant Hands...
40. How many schemes may die How many schemes may die In one short Afternoon Entirely unknown To those they most concern The man that was not lost Because by accident He varied by a Ribbon’s width From his accustomed route The Love that would not try Because beside the Door It must be competitions Some unsuspecting Horse was tied Surveying […]...