Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Our Fathers Also

"Our Fathers Also"
Thrones, Powers, Dominions, Peoples, Kings,
Are changing 'neath our hand.
Our fathers also see these things
But they do not understand…

441
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Poor Honest Men

"Poor Honest Men"
Your jar of Virginny
Will cost you a guinea,
Which you reckon too much by five shillings or ten;
But light your churchwarden
And …

492
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Lukannon

"Lukannon"
I met my mates in the morning (and oh, but I am old!)
Where roaring on the ledges the summer ground-swell rolled;
I heard them lift the chorus that …

600
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Helen All Alone

"Helen All Alone"
There was darkness under Heaven
For an hour's space--
Darkness that we knew was given
Us for special grace.
Sun and noon and star…

526
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

For All We Have and Are

"For All We Have and Are"
For all we have and are,
For all our children's fate,
Stand up and meet the war.
The Hun is at the gate!
Our world has pa…

480
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Cleared

"Cleared"
(In Memory of a Commission)
Help for a patriot distressed, a spotless spirit hurt,
Help for an honourable clan sore trampled in the dirt!
From …

490
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

By the Hoof of the Wild Goat

"By the Hoof of the Wild Goat"
By the Hoof of the Wild Goat uptossed
From the cliff where she lay in the Sun
Fell the Stone
To the Tarn where the dayligh…

466
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Birds Of Prey March

"Birds Of Prey March"
March! The mud is cakin' good about our trousies.
Front! -- eyes front, an' watch the Colour-casin's drip.
Front! The faces of the women …

544
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Back To The Army Again

"Back To The Army Again
I'm 'ere in a ticky ulster an' a broken billycock 'at,
A-layin' on to the sergeant I don't know a gun from a bat;
My shirt's doin' duty…

510
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Banquet Night

"Banquet Night"
"Once in so often," King Solomon said,
Watching his quarrymen drill the stone,
"We will curb our garlic and wine and bread
And banquet to…

594
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Angutivaun Taina

"Angutivaun Taina"
Our gloves are stiff with the frozen blood,
Our furs with the drifted snow,
As we come in with the seal--the seal!
In from the edge of…

455
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

A Servant When He Reigneth

"A Servant When He Reigneth"
Three things make earth unquiet
And four she cannot brook
The godly Agur counted them
And put them in a book --
Those …

495
Roger Mcgough
Roger Mcgough

The Time I Like Best

The Time I Like Best
The time I like best is am
when the snow is inches deep
which I'm yet to discover
'cause I'm under the covers
fast, fast asleep.

623
Roger Mcgough
Roger Mcgough

The Leader

The Leader
I wanna be the leader
I wanna be the leader
Can I be the leader?
Can I? I can?
Promise? Promise?
Yippee I'm the leader
I'm t…

569
Roger Mcgough
Roger Mcgough

Q

Q
I join the queue
We move up nicely.
I ask the lady in front
What are we queuing for.
'To join another queue,'
She explains.
'How point…

716
Roger Mcgough
Roger Mcgough

Survivor

Survivor
Everyday,
I think about dying.
About disease, starvation,
violence, terrorism, war,
the end of the world.
It helps
keep my min…

596
Roger Mcgough
Roger Mcgough

Goodbat Nightman

Goodbat Nightman
God bless all policemen
and fighters of crime,
May thieves go to jail
for a very long time.
They've had a hard day
helping c…

704
Roger Mcgough
Roger Mcgough

Let Me Die a Youngman's Death

Let Me Die a Youngman's Death
Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful o…

889
Roger Mcgough
Roger Mcgough

Cake

Cake
i wanted one life
you wanted another
we couldn't have our cake
so we ate eachother.

588
Roger Mcgough
Roger Mcgough

Beguiling

Beguiling
She is so beguiling
That when she beckons
I can run a mile
In twenty seconds.

614
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Your Poem

Your Poem

My poem may be yours indeed

In melody and tone,

If in its rhythm you can read

A music of your own;

If in it…

263
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Young Fellow My Lad

Young Fellow My Lad

"Where are you going, Young Fellow My Lad,
On this glittering morn of May?"
"I'm going to join the Colours, Dad;
They're lookin…

291
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Wrestling Match

Wrestling Match

What guts he had, the Dago lad
Who fought that Frenchman grim with guile;
For nigh an hour they milled like mad,
And mauled the mat…

220
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

You And Me

You And Me

I'm part of people I have known
And they are part of me;
The seeds of thought that I have sown
In other minds I see.
There's somet…

261