Poets to Come

POETS to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!
Not to-day is to justify me, and answer what I am for;
But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than before known,
Arouse! Arouse-for you must justify me-you must answer.

I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,
I but advance a moment, only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness.

I am a man who, sauntering along, without fully stopping, turns a casual look upon you,
and
then
averts his face,
Leaving it to you to prove and define it,
Expecting the main things from you.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Related poetry:

I reckon when I count it all I reckon when I count it all First Poets Then the Sun Then Summer Then the Heaven of God And […]...

The Poets O ye dead Poets, who are living still Immortal in your verse, though life be fled, And ye, O living […]...

To Certain Poets Now is the rhymer’s honest trade A thing for scornful laughter made. The merchant’s sneer, the clerk’s disdain, These are […]...

Old Poets (For Robert Cortez Holliday) If I should live in a forest And sleep underneath a tree, No grove of impudent […]...

The Poets Of The Tomb The world has had enough of bards who wish that they were dead, ‘Tis time the people passed a law […]...

The Poets light but Lamps The Poets light but Lamps Themselves go out The Wicks they stimulate If vital Light Inhere as do the Suns […]...

The End of the World Here, at the end of the world, The flowers bleed As if they were hearts, The hearts ooze a darkness […]...

The Martyr Poets did not tell The Martyr Poets did not tell But wrought their Pang in syllable That when their mortal name be numb Their […]...

Lately our poets Lately our poets loiter’d in green lanes, Content to catch the ballads of the plains; I fancied I had strength […]...

Besides the Autumn poets sing Besides the Autumn poets sing A few prosaic days A little this side of the snow And that side of […]...

Why Do Birds Sing? Let poets piece prismatic words, Give me the jewelled joy of birds! What ecstasy moves them to sing? Is it […]...

So Far and So Far, and on Toward the End SO far, and so far, and on toward the end, Singing what is sung in this book, from the irresistible […]...

Going Home He came home. Said nothing. It was clear, though, that something had gone wrong. He lay down fully dressed. Pulled […]...

Sonnet XLII: Some Men There Be Some men there be which like my method well And much commend the strangeness of my vein; Some say I […]...

As I Ponder'd in Silence 1 AS I ponder’d in silence, Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long, A Phantom arose before me, with distrustful […]...

Well Water What a girl called “the dailiness of life” (Adding an errand to your errand. Saying, “Since you’re up. . .” […]...

To His Honoured and Most Ingenious Friend Mr. Charles Cotton For brave comportment, wit without offence, Words fully flowing, yet of influence: Thou art that man of men, the man […]...

A March Day in London The east wind blows in the street to-day; The sky is blue, yet the town looks grey. ‘Tis the wind […]...

Had I not This, or This, I said Had I not This, or This, I said, Appealing to Myself, In moment of prosperity Inadequate were Life “Thou hast […]...

Take Back the Virgin Page Written on Returning a Blank Book Take back the virgin page, White and unwritten still; Some hand, more calm and […]...

May and the Poets There is May in books forever; May will part from Spenser never; May’s in Milton, May’s in Prior, May’s in […]...

Poets Vain is the chiming of forgotten bells That the wind sways above a ruined shrine. Vainer his voice in whom […]...

"I Love You Sweatheart&quot A man risked his life to write the words. A man hung upside down (an idiot friend Holding his legs?) […]...

WHAT I DID IN THE MOONLIGHT I planted my grief In freshly turned earth A tree grows there now You should see the size of it […]...

To the Etruscan Poets Dream fluently, still brothers, who when young Took with your mother’s milk the mother tongue, In which pure matrix, joining […]...

In Memoriam: Four Poets 1 Searock his tower above the sea, Searock he built, not ivory. Searock as well his haunted art Who gave […]...

Pretty Words Poets make pets of pretty, docile words: I love smooth words, like gold-enamelled fish Which circle slowly with a silken […]...

Walt Whitman's Caution TO The States, or any one of them, or any city of The States, Resist much, obey little; Once unquestioning […]...

London Poets (In Memoriam.) They trod the streets and squares where now I tread, With weary hearts, a little while ago; When, […]...

Sparkles from The Wheel 1 WHERE the city’s ceaseless crowd moves on, the live-long day, Withdrawn, I join a group of children watching-I pause […]...

Idylls Of The King: Song From The Marriage Of Geraint Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel, and lower the proud; Turn thy wild wheel thro’ sunshine, storm, and cloud; Thy wheel […]...

Lines On Reading Too Many Poets Roses, rooted warm in earth, Bud in rhyme, another age; Lilies know a ghostly birth Strewn along a patterned page; […]...

To Lovers Ho, ye lovers, list to me; Warning words have I for thee: Give ye heed, hefore ye wed, To this […]...

A Poetry Reading At West Point I read to the entire plebe class, In two batches. Twice the hall filled With bodies dressed alike, each toting […]...

Talisman it is written The act of writing is Holy words are Sacred and your breath Brings out the God in […]...

To A Poet, Who Would Have Me Praise Certain Bad Poets, Imitators Of His And Mine You say, as I have often given tongue In praise of what another’s said or sung, ‘Twere politic to do […]...

Sonnet 34 – With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee With the same heart, I said, I’ll answer thee As those, when thou shalt call me by my name- Lo, […]...

To The Nightingale Exert thy Voice, sweet Harbinger of Spring! This Moment is thy Time to sing, This Moment I attend to Praise, […]...

The House Of Dust: Part 04: 02: Death: And A Derisive Chorus The door is shut. She leaves the curtained office, And down the grey-walled stairs comes trembling slowly Towards the dazzling […]...

WITHOUT THE WHEREWITHALL To Thushari Williams Dear Thushie, the six months you spent with us Will never be forgotten, the long days you […]...