Happy poems
/ page 252 of 254 /
Air has no Residence, no Neighbor,
© Emily Dickinson
Air has no Residence, no Neighbor,
No Ear, no Door,
No Apprehension of Another
Oh, Happy Air!
Too happy Time dissolves itself
© Emily Dickinson
Too happy Time dissolves itself
And leaves no remnant by --
'Tis Anguish not a Feather hath
Or too much weight to fly --
The words the happy say
© Emily Dickinson
The words the happy say
Are paltry melody
But those the silent feel
Are beautiful --
If all the griefs I am to have
© Emily Dickinson
If all the griefs I am to have
Would only come today,
I am so happy I believe
They'd laugh and run away.
A happy lip -- breaks sudden
© Emily Dickinson
A happy lip -- breaks sudden --
It doesn't state you how
It contemplated -- smiling --
Just consummated -- now --
The farthest Thunder that I heard
© Emily Dickinson
The farthest Thunder that I heard
Was nearer than the Sky
And rumbles still, though torrid Noons
Have lain their missiles by --
Going to Him! Happy letter!
© Emily Dickinson
Going to Him! Happy letter!
Tell Him --
Tell Him the page I didn't write --
Tell Him -- I only said the Syntax --
God gave a Loaf to every Bird --
© Emily Dickinson
God gave a Loaf to every Bird --
But just a Crumb -- to Me --
I dare not eat it -- tho' I starve --
My poignant luxury --
How happy is the little Stone
© Emily Dickinson
How happy is the little Stone
That rambles in the Road alone,
And doesn't care about Careers
And Exigencies never fears --
Apparently with no surprise
© Emily Dickinson
Apparently with no surprise
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play --
In accidental power --
Awake ye muses nine
© Emily Dickinson
Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,
Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!Oh the Earth was made for lovers, for damsel, and hopeless swain,
For sighing, and gentle whispering, and unity made of twain.
All things do go a courting, in earth, or sea, or air,
Passer-By, These Are Words
© Yves Bonnefoy
Passer-by, these are words. But instead of reading
I want you to listen: to this frail
Voice like that of letters eaten by grass.
Teeth
© Spike Milligan
English Teeth, English Teeth!
Shining in the sun
A part of British heritage
Aye, each and every one.
In Love For Long
© Edwin Muir
I've been in love for long
With what I cannot tell
And will contrive a song
For the intangible
That has no mould or shape,
From which there's no escape.
Manuel Komninos
© Constantine Cavafy
Happy all those who believe,
and like Emperor Manuel end their lives
dressed modestly in their faith.
Addition
© Constantine Cavafy
I do not question whether I am happy or unhappy.
Yet there is one thing that I keep gladly in mind --
that in the great addition (their addition that I abhor)
that has so many numbers, I am not one
of the many units there. In the final sum
I have not been calculated. And this joy suffices me.
The First Step
© Constantine Cavafy
The young poet Evmenis
complained one day to Theocritus:
"I've been writing for two years now
and I've composed only one idyll.
Rembrandt to Rembrandt
© Edwin Arlington Robinson
(AMSTERDAM, 1645)
And there you are again, now as you are.
Observe yourself as you discern yourself
In your discredited ascendency;
The Clinging Vine
© Edwin Arlington Robinson
Be calm? And was I frantic?
Youll have me laughing soon.
Im calm as this Atlantic,
And quiet as the moon;
Avon's Harvest
© Edwin Arlington Robinson
Mightnt it be as well, my friend, I said,
For you to contemplate the uncompleted
With not such an infernal certainty?
