Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) (268 page)
Read Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) Online
Authors: Homer,William Shakespeare
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
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 (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
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
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
Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861)
PUT forth thy leaf, thou lofty plane,
East wind and frost are safely gone;
With zephyr mild and balmy rain
The summer comes serenely on;
Earth, air, and sun and skies combine
5
To promise all that’s kind and fair; —
But thou, O human heart of mine,
Be still, contain thyself, and bear.
December days were brief and chill,
The winds of March were wild and drear,
10
And, nearing and receding still,
Spring never would, we thought, be here.
The leaves that burst, the suns that shine,
Had, not the less, their certain date; —
And thou, O human heart of mine,
15
Be still, refrain thyself, and wait.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861)
AS ships, becalmed at eve, that lay
With canvas drooping, side by side,
Two towers of sail at dawn of day
Are scarce long leagues apart descried;
When fell the night, upsprung the breeze,
5
And all the darkling hours they plied,
Nor dreamt but each the self-same seas
By each was cleaving, side by side:
E’en so — but why the tale reveal
Of those, whom year by year unchanged,
10
Brief absence joined anew to feel,
Astounded, soul from soul estranged?
At dead of night their sails were filled,
And onward each rejoicing steered —
Ah, neither blame, for neither willed,
15
Or wist, what first with dawn appeared!
To veer, how vain! On, onward strain,
Brave barks! In light, in darkness too,
Through winds and tides one compass guides:
To that, and your own selves, be true.
20
But O blithe breeze; and O great seas,
Though ne’er, that earliest parting past,
On your wide plain they join again,
Together lead them home at last.
One port, methought, alike they sought,
25
One purpose hold where’er they fare, —
O bounding breeze, O rushing seas!
At last, at last, unite them there!
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861)
WHERE lies the land to which the ship would go?
Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.
And where the land she travels from? Away,
Far, far behind, is all that they can say.
On sunny noons upon the deck’s smooth face
5
Linked arm in arm, how pleasant here to pace;
Or, o’er the stern reclining, watch below
The foaming wake far widening as we go.
On stormy nights when wild north-westers rave,
How proud a thing to fight with wind and wave!
10
The dripping sailor on the reeling mast
Exults to bear, and scorns to wish it past.
Where lies the land to which the ship would go?
Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know.
And where the land she travels from? Away,
15
Far, far behind, is all that they can say.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order