All Poems
/ page 2190 of 3210 /
Myxomatosis
© Philip Larkin
Caught in the center of a soundless field
While hot inexplicable hours go by
What trap is this? Where were its teeth concealed?
You seem to ask.
Sinners, Turn, Why Will Ye Die?
© Charles Wesley
Sinners, turn, why will ye die?
God, your Maker, asks you why?
Whatever Happened?
© Philip Larkin
At once whatever happened starts receding.
Panting, and back on board, we line the rail
With trousers ripped, light wallets, and lips bleeding.
The Little Lives Of Earth And Form
© Philip Larkin
The little lives of earth and form,
Of finding food, and keeping warm,
Are not like ours, and yet
A kinship lingers nonetheless:
We hanker for the homeliness
Of den, and hole, and set.
Granta: A Medley
© George Gordon Byron
Oh! could Le Sage's demon's gift
Be realized at my desire,
This night my trembling form he'd lift
To place it on St. Mary's spire.
Solar
© Philip Larkin
Suspended lion face
Spilling at the centre
Of an unfurnished sky
How still you stand,
To Eliza
© George Gordon Byron
Eliza, what fools are the Mussulman sect,
Who to woman deny the soul's future existence!
Could they see thee, Eliza, they'd own their defect,
And this doctrine would meet with a general resistance.
Send No Money
© Philip Larkin
Standing under the fobbed
Impendent belly of Time
Tell me the truth, I said,
Teach me the way things go.
But One Loaf
© John Newton
When the disciples crossed the lake
With but one loaf on board;
How strangely did their hearts mistake
The caution of their Lord.
The Two Highwaymen
© Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
I LONG have had a quarrel set with Time
Because he robb'd me. Every day of life
Counting
© Philip Larkin
But counting up to two
Is harder to do;
For one must be denied
Before it's tried.
Conviction (IV)
© Stevie Smith
I like to get off with people,
I like to lie in their arms
I like to be held and lightly kissed,
Safe from all alarms.
Take One Home For The Kiddies
© Philip Larkin
On shallow straw, in shadeless glass,
Huddled by empty bowls, they sleep:
No dark, no dam, no earth, no grass -
Mam, get us one of them to keep.
GOLIAH'S Defeat. In the Manner of Lucan.
© Mather Byles
When the proud Philistines for War declar'd,
And Israel's Sons for Battle had prepar'd,
How Distant
© Philip Larkin
How distant, the departure of young men
Down valleys, or watching
The green shore past the salt-white cordage
Rising and falling.
A Story At Dusk
© Ada Cambridge
An evening all aglow with summer light
And autumn colour-fairest of the year.
Reasons For Attendance
© Philip Larkin
The trumpet's voice, loud and authoritative,
Draws me a moment to the lighted glass
To watch the dancers - all under twenty-five -
Solemnly on the beat of happiness.
David Ap Gwillam At The Mass Of The Birds
© Padraic Colum
THE Thrush, the Lark, and, chief, the Nightingale,
With one small bird whose name I do not ken,
