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Death Fugue
Death Fugue Black milk of daybreak we drink it at sundown we drink it at noon in the morning we drink it at night we drink it and drink it we dig a grave in the breezes ther…
Asking for Roses
Asking for Roses A house that lacks, seemingly, mistress and master, With doors that none but the wind ever closes, Its floor all littered with glass and with plaster; It stands…
Reeds of Innocence
Reeds of Innocence Piping down the valleys wild, Piping songs of pleasant glee, On a cloud I saw a child, And he laughing said to me: 'Pipe a song about a Lamb!' So I piped with…
After Apple-Picking
After Apple-Picking My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven still, And there's a barrel that I didn't fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Ap…
And Thus In Nineveh
And Thus In Nineveh Aye! I am a poet and upon my tomb Shall maidens scatter rose leaves And men myrtles, ere the night Slays day with her dark sword. 'Lo ! this thing is not m…
I Found A Few Old Letters
I Found A Few Old Letters XIV I found a few old letters of mine carefully hidden in thy box—a few small toys for thy memory to play with. With a timorous heart thou didst try t…
Gentleman-rankers
Gentleman-rankers To the legion of the lost ones, to the cohort of the damned, To my brethren in their sorrow overseas, Sings a gentleman of England cleanly bred, machinely cram…
Sonnet XIX: The Soul's Rialto
Sonnet XIX: The Soul's Rialto The soul's Rialto hath its merchandise; I barter curl for curl upon that mart, And from my poet's forehead to my heart Receive this lock which out…
Envoi
Envoi Go, dumb-born book, Tell her that sang me once that song of Lawes: Hadst thou but song As thou hast subjects known, Then were there cause in thee that should condone Even…
Hearthside
Hearthside Half across the world from me Lie the lands I'll never see- I, whose longing lives and dies Where a ship has sailed away; I, that never close my eyes But to look upo…
Now I lay Me
Now I lay Me When I pass from earth away, Palsied though I be and gray, May my spirit keep so young That my failing, faltering tongue Frames that prayer so dear to me Taught me…
On Napoleon's Escape From Elba
On Napoleon's Escape From Elba Once fairly set out on his party of pleasure, Taking towns at his liking, and crowns at his leisure, From Elba to Lyons and Paris he goes, Making…
He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead
He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead WERE you but lying cold and dead, And lights were paling out of the West, You would come hither, and bend your head, And I would lay my head on…
The Poor
The Poor By constantly tormenting them with reminders of the lice in their children's hair, the School Physician first brought their hatred down on him. But by this familiarity…
The Beginner
The Beginner After He Has Been Extemporising On an Instrument Not Of His Own Invention -- Browning Lo! What is this that I make -- sudden, supreme, unrehearsed -- This that my c…
Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes
Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes First, her tippet made of tulle, easily lifted off her shoulders and laid on the back of a wooden chair. And her bonnet, the bow undone wi…
Fill For Me A Brimming Bowl
Fill For Me A Brimming Bowl Fill for me a brimming bowl And in it let me drown my soul: But put therein some drug, designed To Banish Women from my mind: For I want not the str…
The Press
The Press The Soldier may forget his Sword, The Sailorman the Sea, The Mason may forget the Word And the Priest his Litany: The Maid may forget both jewel and gem, And the Bride…
Move Eastward, Happy Earth
Move Eastward, Happy Earth Move eastward, happy earth, and leave Yon orange sunset waning slow: From fringes of the faded eve, O, happy planet, eastward go: Till over thy dark…
Oh terrible, beloved! A poet's loving
Oh terrible, beloved! A poet's loving Oh terrible, beloved! A poet's loving Is a restless god's passionate rage, And chaos out into the world comes creeping, As in the ancient…
To Others Than You
To Others Than You Friend by enemy I call you out. You with a bad coin in your socket, You my friend there with a winning air Who palmed the lie on me when you looked Brassily…
To Solitude
To Solitude O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell, Let it not be among the jumbled heap Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep, - Nature's observatory -- whence the dell,…
The Land of Dreams
The Land of Dreams Awake, awake, my little boy! Thou wast thy mother's only joy; Why dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep? Awake! thy father does thee keep. 'O, what land is the L…
Crystal Cabinet, The
Crystal Cabinet, The The Maiden caught me in the wild, Where I was dancing merrily; She put me into her Cabinet, And lock'd me up with a golden key. This cabinet is form'd of go…