Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Humble home. But rum, and charcoal...

Humble home. But rum, and charcoal...

Humble home. But rum, and charcoal
Grog of sketches on the wall,
And the cell becomes a mansion,
And the garr…

579
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Hops

Hops


Beneath the willow wound round with ivy
we take cover from the worst
of the storm, with a greatcoat round
our shoulders and my hands aro…

438
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Here will be echoes in the mountains...

Here will be echoes in the mountains...

Here will be echoes in the mountains,
The distant landslides' rumbling boom,
The rocks, the dwellings in the vill…

470
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Hamlet

Hamlet


The murmurs ebb; onto the stage I enter.
I am trying, standing in the door,
To discover in the distant echoes
What the coming years ma…

514
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

First Snow

First Snow

Outside the snowstorm spins, and hides
The world beneath a pall.
Snowed under are the paper-girl,
The papers and the stall.

567
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

From early dawn the thirtieth of April...

From early dawn the thirtieth of April...

From early dawn the thirtieth of April
Is given up to children of the town,
And caught in trying on the festive…

579
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale

Once, in times forgotten,
In a fairy place,
Through the steppe, a rider
Made his way apace.


While he sped to battle, <…

578
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Feasts

Feasts


I drink the gall of skies in autumn, tuberoses'
Sweet bitterness in your betrayals burning stream;
I drink the gall of nights, of crowded pa…

525
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Do not fret, do not cry, do not tax...

Do not fret, do not cry, do not tax...

Do not fret, do not cry, do not tax
Your last strength, and your heart do not torture.
You're alive, you're inside…

533
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Definition of Creative Art

Definition of Creative Art

With shirt wide open at the collar,
Maned as Beethoven's bust, it stands;
Our conscience, dreams, the night and love,
Ar…

545
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Change

Change


I used to glorify the poor,
Not simply lofty views expressing:
Their lives alone, I felt, were true,
Devoid of pomp and window-dressin…

615
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Craft

Craft


When, having finished, I shall move my armchair,
The page will gasp, awakened from the strain.
Delirious, she is half asleep at present,

548
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Beloved, with the spent and sickly fumes...

Beloved, with the spent and sickly fumes...

Beloved, with the spent and sickly fumes
Of rumour's cinders all the air is filled,
But you are the engrossin…

507
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Autumn Frost

Autumn Frost

The morning sun shows like a pillar
Of fire through smoke on frosty days.
As on a faulty snap, it cannot
Make out my features in the h…

568
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

After the Interval

After the Interval

About three months ago, when first
Upon our open, unprotected
And freezing garden snowstorms burst
In sudden fury, I reflected <…

608
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

August

August


This was its promise, held to faithfully:
The early morning sun came in this way
Until the angle of its saffron beam
Between the curta…

616
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

A Sultrier Dawn

A Sultrier Dawn

All morning high up on the eaves
Above your window
A dove kept cooing.
Like shirtsleeves The boughs seemed frayed.
It drizzle…

568
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

A Walts With a Tear in It

A Walts With a Tear in It

Ah, how I love it in these first few days,
Fresh from the forest and out of the snow,
Awkwardness obvious still in every bough,…

497
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

‘Like a brazier’s bronze cinders,’

‘Like a brazier’s bronze cinders,’

Like a brazier’s bronze cinders,
the sleepy garden’s beetles flowing.
Level with me, and my candle,
a flowering …

464
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

Stars were racing; waves were washing headlands.

Stars were racing; waves were washing headlands.
Salt went blind, and tears were slowly drying.
Darkened were the bedrooms; thoughts were racing,
And the Sphin…

519
Billy Collins
Billy Collins

Walking Across The Atlantic

Walking Across The Atlantic

I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach
before stepping onto the first wave.


Soon I am walking across the…

230
Boris Pasternak
Boris Pasternak

‘February. Take ink and weep,’

‘February. Take ink and weep,’

February. Take ink and weep,
write February as you’re sobbing,
while black Spring burns deep
through the slush and t…

437
Billy Collins
Billy Collins

Today

Today


If ever there were a spring day so perfect, so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

225
Billy Collins
Billy Collins

The Only Day In Existence

The Only Day In Existence

The early sun is so pale and shadowy,
I could be looking up at a ghost
in the shape of a window,
a tall, rectangular spir…

260