Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley

Madam Life's a Piece in Bloom

Madam Life's a Piece in Bloom
Madam Life's a piece in bloom
Death goes dogging everywhere:
She's the tenant of the room,
He's the ruffian on the …

201
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley

O Gather Me the Rose

O Gather Me the Rose
O gather me the rose, the rose,
While yet in flower we find it,
For summer smiles, but summer goes,
And winter waits behind …

164
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley

I. M. R. T. Hamilton Bruce (-)

I. M. R. T. Hamilton Bruce (-)
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquer…

297
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley

Invictus

Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In …

136
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley

Croquis

Croquis
The beach was crowded. Pausing now and then,
He groped and fiddled doggedly along,
His worn face glaring on the thoughtless throng
The st…

173
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley

England, My England

England, My England
WHAT have I done for you,
England, my England?
What is there I would not do,
England, my own?
With your glorious eyes…

208
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley

Barmaid

Barmaid
Though, if you ask her name, she says Elise,
Being plain Elizabeth, e'en let it pass,
And own that, if her aspirates take their ease,
She…

166
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley

Ballade of Dead Actors

Ballade of Dead Actors
Where are the passions they essayed,
And where the tears they made to flow?
Where the wild humours they portrayed
For laug…

131
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Willow Poem

Willow Poem
It is a willow when summer is over,
a willow by the river
from which no leaf has fallen nor
bitten by the sun
turned orange o…

440
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Tract

Tract
I will teach you my townspeople
how to perform a funeral
for you have it over a troop
of artistsunless
one should scour the worldyo…

469
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

To a Friend Concerning Several Ladies

To a Friend Concerning Several Ladies
You know there is not much
that I desire, a few chrysanthemums
half lying on the grass, yellow
and brown an…

429
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

To Elsie

To Elsie
The pure products of America
go crazy--
mountain folk from Kentucky
or the ribbed north end of
Jersey
with its isolate l…

452
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Young Housewife

The Young Housewife
At ten AM the young housewife
moves about in negligee behind
the wooden walls of her husband’s house.
I pass solitary in my c…

365
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

Thursday

Thursday
I have had my dream--like others--
and it has come to nothing, so that
I remain now carelessly
with feet planted on the ground
a…

463
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Thinker

The Thinker
My wife's new pink slippers
have gay pompons.
There is not a spot or a stain
on their satin toes or their sides.
All night th…

366
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Uses of Poetry

The Uses of Poetry
I've fond anticipation of a day
O'erfilled with pure diversion presently,
For I must read a lady poesy
The while we glide by m…

460
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Spouts

The Spouts
In this world of
as fine a pair of breasts
as ever I saw
the fountain in
Madison Square
spouts up of water
a w…

296
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Term

The Term
A rumpled sheet
Of brown paper
About the length
And apparent bulk
Of a man was
Rolling with the
Wind slowly over…

300
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Lonely Street

The Lonely Street
School is over. It is too hot
to walk at ease. At ease
in light frocks they walk the streets
to while the time away.
Th…

417
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Poor

The Poor
By constantly tormenting them
with reminders of the lice in
their children's hair, the
School Physician first
brought their hatr…

470
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Last Words of My English Grandmother

The Last Words of My English Grandmother
There were some dirty plates
and a glass of milk
beside her on a small table
near the rank, disheveled b…

703
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Great Figure

The Great Figure
Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure
in gold
on a red
firetruck
moving
tense
unhe…

287
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Disputants

The Disputants
Upon the table in their bowl
in violent disarray
of yellow sprays, green spikes
of leaves, red pointed petals
and curled h…

380
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams

The Dark Day

The Dark Day
A three-day-long rain from the east--
an terminable talking, talking
of no consequence--patter, patter, patter.
Hand in hand little …

474