by Homer
That made a woman cry.
O Son of Man, to right my lot 5
Naught but Thy presence can avail;
Yet on the road Thy wheels are not,
Nor on the sea Thy sail!
My how or when Thou wilt not heed,
But come down Thine own secret stair, 10
That Thou mayst answer all my need —
Yea, every bygone prayer.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Baby
George MacDonald (1824–1905)
WHERE did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into here.
Where did you get those eyes so blue?
Out of the sky as I came through.
What makes the light in them sparkle and spin? 5
Some of the starry spikes left in.
Where did you get that little tear?
I found it waiting when I got here.
What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
A soft hand stroked it as I went by. 10
What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
I saw something better than any one knows.
Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.
Where did you get this pearly ear? 15
God spoke, and it came out to hear.
Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itself into bonds and bands.
Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
From the same box as the cherubs’ wings. 20
How did they all just come to be you?
God thought about me, and so I grew.
But how did you come to us, you dear?
God thought about you, and so I am here.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Emily Dickinson
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
They shut me up in Prose
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
445
They shut me up in Prose –
As when a little Girl
They put me in the Closet –
Because they liked me “still” –
Still! Could themself have peeped –
And seen my Brain – go round –
They might as wise have lodged a Bird
For Treason – in the Pound –
Himself has but to will
And easy as a Star
Look down opon Captivity –
And laugh – No more have I –
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Hope is the thing with feathers
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
254
“Hope” is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —
And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm —
I’ve heard it in the chillest land —
And on the strangest Sea —
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of Me.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Faith is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
185
“Faith” is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see —
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
A Book
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
A Bird Came Down
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,-
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head
Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home
Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, plashless, as they swim.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
A Dying Tiger — moaned for Drink
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
566
A Dying Tiger — moaned for Drink —
I hunted all the Sand —
I caught the Dripping of a Rock
And bore it in my Hand —
His Mighty Balls — in death were thick —
But searching — I could see
A Vision on the Retina
Of Water — and of me —
’Twas not my blame — who sped too slow —
’Twas not his blame — who died
While I was reaching him —
But ’twas — the fact that He was dead —
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
A Cloud withdrew from the Sky
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
895
A Cloud withdrew from the Sky
Superior Glory be
But that Cloud and its Auxiliaries
Are forever lost to me
Had I but further scanned
Had I secured the Glow
In an Hermetic Memory
It had availed me now.
Never to pass the Angel
With a glance and a Bow
Till I am firm in Heaven
Is my intention now.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Speech — is a prank of Parliament
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
688
‘Speech’ — is a prank of Parliament —
‘Tears’ — is a trick of the nerve —
But the Heart with the heaviest freight on —
Doesn’t — always — move —
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Why do I love You, Sir?
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
480
“Why do I love” You, Sir?
Because —
The Wind does not require the Grass
To answer — Wherefore when He pass
She cannot keep Her place.
Because He knows — and
Do not You —
And We know not —
Enough for Us
The Wisdom it be so —
The Lightning — never asked an Eye
Wherefore it shut — when He was by —
Because He knows it cannot speak —
And reasons not contained —
— Of Talk —
&nbs
p; There be — preferred by Daintier Folk —
The Sunrise — Sire — compelleth Me —
Because He’s Sunrise — and I see —
Therefore — Then —
I love Thee —
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Heaven — is what I cannot reach!
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
239
“Heaven” — is what I cannot reach!
The Apple on the Tree —
Provided it do hopeless — hang —
That— “He aven” is — to Me!
The Color, on the Cruising Cloud —
The interdicted Land —
Behind the Hill — the House behind —
There — Paradise — is found!
Her teasing Purples — Afternoons —
The credulous — decoy —
Enamored — of the Conjuror —
That spurned us — Yesterday!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Nature is what we see
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
668
“Nature” is what we see —
The Hill — the Afternoon —
Squirrel — Eclipse — the Bumble bee —
Nay — Nature is Heaven —
Nature is what we hear —
The Bobolink — the Sea —
Thunder — the Cricket —
Nay — Nature is Harmony —
Nature is what we know —
Yet have no art to say —
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Heaven has different Signs — to me
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
575
“Heaven” has different Signs — to me —
Sometimes, I think that Noon
Is but a symbol of the Place —
And when again, at Dawn,
A mighty look runs round the World
And settles in the Hills —
An Awe if it should be like that
Upon the Ignorance steals —
The Orchard, when the Sun is on —
The Triumph of the Birds
When they together Victory make —
Some Carnivals of Clouds —
The Rapture of a finished Day —
Returning to the West —
All these — remind us of the place
That Men call “paradise” —
Itself be fairer — we suppose —
But how Ourself, shall be
Adorned, for a Superior Grace —
Not yet, our eyes can see —
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
A Coffin — is a Small Domain
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
A Coffin — is a small Domain,
Yet able to contain
A Citizen of Paradise
In it diminished Plane.
A Grave — is a restricted Breadth —
Yet ampler than the Sun —
And all the Seas He populates
And Lands He looks upon
To Him who on its small Repose
Bestows a single Friend —
Circumference without Relief —
Or Estimate — or End —
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Because I could not stop for Death (712)
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
Because I could not stop for Death —
He kindly stopped for me —
The Carriage held but just Ourselves —
And Immortality.
We slowly drove — He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility —
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess — in the Ring —
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain —
We passed the Setting Sun —
Or rather — He passed us —
The Dews drew quivering and chill —
For only Gossamer, my Gown —
My Tippet — only Tulle —
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground —
The Roof was scarcely visible —
The Cornice — in the Ground —
Since then— ’tis Centuries — and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity —
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
When One has given up One’s life
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
853
When One has given up One’s life
The parting with the rest
Feels easy, as when Day lets go
Entirely the West
The Peaks, that lingered last
Remain in Her regret
As scarcely as the Iodine
Upon the Cataract.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Edward, Earl of Lytton
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Last Wish
Edward, Earl of Lytton (1831–1892)
SINCE all that I can ever do for thee
Is to do nothing, this my prayer must be:
That thou mayst never guess nor ever see
The all-endured this nothing-done costs me.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Arthur Hugh Clough
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth
Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861)
SAY not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars; 5
It may be, in yon smoke conceal’d,
Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain, 10
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly! 15
But westward, look, the land is bright!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
The Stream of Life
Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861)
O STREAM descending to the sea,
Thy mossy banks between,
The flowerets blow, the grasses grow,
The leafy trees are green.
In garden plots the children play, 5
The fields the labourers till,
And houses stand on either hand,
And thou descendest still.
O life descending into death,
Our walking eyes behold, 10
Parent and friend thy lapse attend,
Companions young and old.
Strong purposes our minds possess,
Our hearts affections fill,
We toil and earn, we seek and learn, 15
And thou descendest still.
O end to which our currents tend,
Inevitable sea,
To
which we flow, what do we know,
What shall we guess of thee? 20
A roar we hear upon thy shore,
As we our course fulfil;
Scarce we divine a sun will shine
And be above us still.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order