Infirmities

Related poetry:

1. Cows I love to watch my seven cows In meads of buttercups abrowse, With guilded knees; But even more I love to see Them chew the cud so tranquilly In twilight ease. Each is the image of content From fragrant hours in clover spent, ‘Mid leaf and bud; As up and down without a pause Mechanically […]...
2. Dream Song 39: Goodbye, sir, & fare well. You're in the clear Goodbye, sir, & fare well. You’re in the clear. ‘Nobody’ (Mark says you said) ‘is ever found out.’ I figure you were right, Having as Henry got away with murder For long. Some jarred clock tell me it’s late, Not for you who went straight But for the lorn. Our roof is lefted off Lately: […]...
3. Youth and Calm ‘Tis death! and peace, indeed, is here, And ease from shame, and rest from fear. There’s nothing can dismarble now The smoothness of that limpid brow. But is a calm like this, in truth, The crowning end of life and youth, And when this boon rewards the dead, Are all debts paid, has all been […]...
4. Work Let me but do my work from day to day, In field or forest, at the desk or loom, In roaring market-place or tranquil room; Let me but find it in my heart to say, When vagrant wishes beckon me astray, “This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; “Of all who live, I […]...
5. Hymn 23 part 2 A hopeful youth falling short of heaven. Mark 10:21. Must all the charms of nature, then, So hopeless to salvation prove? Can hell demand, can heav’n condemn, The man whom Jesus deigns to love? The man who sought the ways of truth, Paid friends and neighbors all their due; A modest, sober, lovely youth, And […]...
6. Scab Maids On Speed My first job was when I was about 15. I had met A girl named Hope who became my best friend. Hope and I were flunking math Class so we became speed freaks. This honed our algebra skills and we quickly Became whiz kids. For about 5 minutes. Then, our brains started to fry And […]...
7. To my dear Sister, Mrs. C. P. on her Nuptial We will not like those men our offerings pay Who crown the cup, then think they crown the day. We make no garlands, nor an altar build, Which help not Joy, but Ostentation yield. Where mirth is justly grounded these wild toyes Are but a troublesome, and empty noise. 2. But these shall be my […]...
8. Growing Old Somehow the skies don’t seem so blue As they used to be; Blossoms have a fainter hue, Grass less green I see. There’s no twinkle in a star, Dawns don’t seem so gold. . . Yet, of course, I know they are: Guess I’m growing old. Somehow sunshine seems less bright, Birds less gladly sing; […]...
9. Teeth English Teeth, English Teeth! Shining in the sun A part of British heritage Aye, each and every one. English Teeth, Happy Teeth! Always having fun Clamping down on bits of fish And sausages half done. English Teeth! HEROES’ Teeth! Hear them click! and clack! Let’s sing a song of praise to them – Three Cheers […]...
10. Nothing ever is the same Gnashing teeth, A grinding meet Of molars crashing Cuspid on cuspid And the fracture of a piece, Of pressure not intense but awkward In an anxious, unintended sense, Then giving way, the rapid play Of tongue immediate with censure Seeking each deformity, The gross enormity – a shard of tooth Hard and loose embedded with […]...
11. The Rover Oh, how good it is to be Foot-loose and heart-free! Just my dog and pipe and I, underneath the vast sky; Trail to try and goal to win, white road and cool inn; Fields to lure a lad afar, clear spring and still star; Lilting feet that never tire, green dingle, fagot fire; None to […]...
12. The Cow Thank you, pretty cow, that made Pleasant milk to soak my bread, Every day and every night, Warm, and fresh, and sweet, and white. Do not chew the hemlock rank, Growing on the weedy bank; But the yellow cowslips eat; They perhaps will make it sweet. Where the purple violet grows, Where the bubbling water […]...
13. O Me! O Life! O ME! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; Of the endless trains of the faithless-of cities fill’d with the foolish; Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of eyes that vainly crave the light-of the objects mean-of the struggle ever renew’d; Of the poor results […]...
14. FROM 'THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER.&#039 [Prefixed to the second edition.] EV’RY youth for love’s sweet portion sighs, Ev’ry maiden sighs to win man’s love; Why, alas! should bitter pain arise From the noblest passion that we prove? Thou, kind soul, bewailest, lov’st him well, From disgrace his memory’s saved by thee; Lo, his spirit signs from out its cell: BE […]...
15. My Worthiness is all my Doubt My Worthiness is all my Doubt His Merit all my fear Contrasting which, my quality Do lowlier appear Lest I should insufficient prove For His beloved Need The Chiefest Apprehension Upon my thronging Mind ‘Tis true that Deity to stoop Inherently incline For nothing higher than Itself Itself can rest upon So I the undivine […]...
16. A Song Of Sixty-Five Brave Thackeray has trolled of days when he was twenty-one, And bounded up five flights of stairs, a gallant garreteer; And yet again in mellow vein when youth was gaily run, Has dipped his nose in Gascon wine, and told of Forty Year. But if I worthy were to sing a richer, rarer time, I’d […]...
17. In A Year Never any more, While I live, Need I hope to see his face As before. Once his love grown chill, Mine may strive: Bitterly we re-embrace, Single still. II. Was it something said, Something done, Vexed him? was it touch of hand, Turn of head? Strange! that very way Love begun: I as little understand […]...
18. The Men That Don't Fit In There’s a race of men that don’t fit in, A race that can’t stay still; So they break the hearts of kith and kin, And they roam the world at will. They range the field and they rove the flood, And they climb the mountain’s crest; Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood, And […]...
19. Mine Host There stands a hostel by a travelled way; Life is the road and Death the worthy host; Each guest he greets, nor ever lacks to say, “How have ye fared?” They answer him, the most, “This lodging place is other than we sought; We had intended farther, but the gloom Came on apace, and found […]...
20. The Little Box The little box gets her first teeth And her little length Little width little emptiness And all the rest she has The little box continues growing The cupboard that she was inside Is now inside her And she grows bigger bigger bigger Now the room is inside her And the house and the city and […]...
21. Galoots GALOOTS, you hairy, hankering, Snousle on the bones you eat, chew at the gristle and lick the last of it. Grab off the bones in the paws of other galoots-hook your claws in their sleazy mouths-snap and run. If long-necks sit on their rumps and sing wild cries to the winter moon, chasing their tails […]...
22. LINES ON SEEING SCHILLER'S SKULL [This curious imitation of the ternary metre Of Dante was written at the age of 77.] WITHIN a gloomy charnel-house one day I view’d the countless skulls, so strangely mated, And of old times I thought, that now were grey. Close pack’d they stand, that once so fiercely hated, And hardy bones, that to the […]...
23. A youth in apparel that glittered A youth in apparel that glittered Went to walk in a grim forest. There he met an assassin Attired all in garb of old days; He, scowling through the thickets, And dagger poised quivering, Rushed upon the youth. “Sir,” said this latter, “I am enchanted, believe me, To die, thus, In this medieval fashion, According […]...
24. You Can't Can Love I don’t know how the fishes feel, but I can’t help thinking it odd, That a gay young flapper of a female eel should fall in love with a cod. Yet – that’s exactly what she did and it only goes to prove, That’ what evr you do you can’t put the lid on that […]...
25. The Owl DOWNHILL I came, hungry, and yet not starved, Cold, yet had heat within me that was proof Against the north wind; tired, yet so that rest Had seemed the sweetest thing under a roof. Then at the inn I had food, fire, and rest, Knowing how hungry, cold, and tired was I. All of the […]...
26. Why? He was our leader and our guide; He was our saviour and our star. We walked in friendship by his side, Yet set him where our heroes are. He taught disdain of fame and wealth; With courage he inspired our youth; He preached the purity of health, And held aloft the torch of truth. He […]...
27. A Birthday Wish I wish you love and laughter, Happiness and cheer, I hope that you’ll have fun Today… And throughout the coming Year. I hope your aspirations will Become reality… I hope you’ll be exactly what You really want to be. But most of all I hope this Birthday’s better than the Rest… For you’re a special […]...
28. The Scribe's Prayer When from my fumbling hand the tired pen falls, And in the twilight weary droops my head; While to my quiet heart a still voice calls, Calls me to join my kindred of the Dead: Grant that I may, O Lord, ere rest be mine, Write to Thy praise one radiant, ringing line. For all […]...
29. Death, To The Dead For Evermore DEATH, to the dead for evermore A King, a God, the last, the best of friends – Whene’er this mortal journey ends Death, like a host, comes smiling to the door; Smiling, he greets us, on that tranquil shore Where neither piping bird nor peeping dawn Disturbs the eternal sleep, But in the stillness far […]...
30. Ephemera ‘Your eyes that once were never weary of mine Are bowed in sotrow under pendulous lids, Because our love is waning.’ And then She: ‘Although our love is waning, let us stand By the lone border of the lake once more, Together in that hour of gentleness When the poor tired child, passion, falls asleep. […]...
31. Psalm 84 part 1 The pleasure of public worship. How pleasant, how divinely fair, O Lord of hosts, thy dwellings are! With long desire my spirit faints To meet th’ assemblies of thy saints. My flesh would rest in thine abode, My panting heart cries out for God; My God! my King! why should I be So far from […]...
32. For a Naughty Little Girl My sweet little girl should be cheerful and mild She must not be fretful and cry! Oh! why is this passion? remember, my child, GOD sees you, who lives in the sky. That dear little face, that I like so to kiss, How alter’d and sad it appears! Do you think I can love you […]...
33. The Token Send me some token, that my hope may live, Or that my easeless thoughts may sleep and rest; Send me some honey to make sweet my hive, That in my passions I may hope the best. I beg no riband wrought with thine own hands, To knit our loves in the fantastic strain Of new-touched […]...
34. The Petit Vieux “Sow your wild oats in your youth,” so we’re always told; But I say with deeper sooth: “Sow them when you’re old.” I’ll be wise till I’m about seventy or so: Then, by Gad! I’ll blossom out as an ancient beau. I’ll assume a dashing air, laugh with loud Ha! ha! . . . How […]...
35. My Heart and I I. ENOUGH! we’re tired, my heart and I. We sit beside the headstone thus, And wish that name were carved for us. The moss reprints more tenderly The hard types of the mason’s knife, As heaven’s sweet life renews earth’s life With which we’re tired, my heart and I. II. You see we’re tired, my […]...
36. Why Do Birds Sing? Let poets piece prismatic words, Give me the jewelled joy of birds! What ecstasy moves them to sing? Is it the lyric glee of Spring, The dewy rapture of the rose? Is it the worship born in those Who are of Nature’s self a part, The adoration of the heart? Is it the mating mood […]...
37. Sonnet XXXII: Blest As the Gods Blest as the Gods! Sicilian Maid is he, The youth whose soul thy yielding graces charm; Who bound, O! thraldom sweet! by beauty’s arm, In idle dalliance fondly sports with thee! Blest as the Gods! that iv’ry throne to see, Throbbing with transports, tender, timid, warm! While round thy fragrant lips zephyrs swarm! As op’ning […]...
38. THREE PALINODIAS I. “Incense is hut a tribute for the gods, To mortals ’tis but poison.” THE smoke that from thine altar blows, Can it the gods offend? For I observe thou hold’st thy nose Pray what does this portend? Mankind deem incense to excel Each other earthly thing, So he that cannot bear its smell, No […]...
39. Hymn 127 Christ’s invitation to sinners, or, Humility and pride. Mt. 11:28-30. “Come hither, all ye weary souls, Ye heavy-laden sinners, come; I’ll give you rest from all your toils, And raise you to my heav’nly home. “They shall find rest that learn of me; I’m of a meek and lowly mind; But passion rages like the […]...
40. The Carnival Whereas the man who hits The gong dis- Proves it, in all its Simplicity Even so the attempt Makes for triumph, in Another man. Likewise in love I Am not foolish or in- Competent. My method is not a Tenderness, but hope Defined....