God poems
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The Song of Hiawatha: X
© Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"As unto the bow the cord is,
So unto the man is woman,
Though she bends him, she obeys him,
Though she draws him, yet she follows,
Useless each without the other!"
Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie
© Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
Incarnate Devil
© Dylan Thomas
Incarnate devil in a talking snake,
The central plains of Asia in his garden,
In shaping-time the circle stung awake,
In shapes of sin forked out the bearded apple,
And God walked there who was a fiddling warden
And played down pardon from the heavens' hill.
Taking up the fair Ideal,
© Emily Dickinson
Taking up the fair Ideal,
Just to cast her down
When a fracture -- we discover --
Or a splintered Crown --
Taken from men -- this morning
© Emily Dickinson
Taken from men -- this morning --
Carried by men today --
Met by the Gods with banners --
Who marshalled her away --
Of all the Sounds despatched abroad
© Emily Dickinson
Of all the Sounds despatched abroad,
There's not a Charge to me
Like that old measure in the Boughs --
That phraseless Melody --
It was given to me by the Gods
© Emily Dickinson
It was given to me by the Gods --
When I was a little Girl --
They given us Presents most -- you know --
When we are new -- and small.
Because that you are going
© Emily Dickinson
Because that you are going
And never coming back
And I, however absolute,
May overlook your Track --
A Letter is a joy of Earth --
© Emily Dickinson
A Letter is a joy of Earth --
It is denied the Gods --
A World made penniless by that departure
© Emily Dickinson
A World made penniless by that departure
Of minor fabrics begs
But sustenance is of the spirit
The Gods but Dregs
A single Screw of Flesh
© Emily Dickinson
A single Screw of Flesh
Is all that pins the Soul
That stands for Deity, to Mine,
Upon my side the Veil --
The house where I was born (02)
© Yves Bonnefoy
I woke up, it was the house where I was born.
It was raining softly in all the rooms,
I went from one to another, looking at
The water that shone on the mirrors
Ionian
© Constantine Cavafy
Just because we've torn their statues down,
and cast them from their temples,
doesn't for a moment mean the gods are dead.
Land of Ionia, they love you yet,
One Of Their Gods
© Constantine Cavafy
When one of them passed through the market place
of Seleucia, toward the hour that night falls
as a tall and perfectly handsome youth,
with the joy of immortality in his eyes,
Interruption
© Constantine Cavafy
We interrupt the work of the gods,
hasty and inexperienced beings of the moment.
In the palaces of Eleusis and Phthia
Demeter and Thetis start good works
They Should Have Provided
© Constantine Cavafy
I have almost been reduced to a homeless pauper.
This fatal city, Antioch,
has consumed all my money;
this fatal city with its expensive life.
But Wise Men Perceive Approaching Things
© Constantine Cavafy
Men know what is happening now.
The gods know the things of the future,
the full and sole possessors of all lights.
Of the future things, wise men perceive
approaching things. Their hearing
Darius
© Constantine Cavafy
But he is interrupted by his servant who enters
running, and announces the portendous news.
The war with the Romans has begun.
The bulk of our army has crossed the borders.
Footsteps
© Constantine Cavafy
On an ebony bed decorated
with coral eagles, sound asleep lies
Nero -- unconscious, quiet, and blissful;
thriving in the vigor of flesh,
and in the splendid power of youth.
