Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Dreamers

Soldiers are citizens of death's gray land,Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.In the great hour of destiny they stand,Each with his feuds..

© Siegfried Sassoon

Arcady Unheeding

Shepherds go whistling on their wayIn the spring season of the year;One watches weather-signs of day;One of his maid most dearDreams; and they do not..

© Siegfried Sassoon

Repression Of War Experience

Now light the candles; one; two; there’s a moth;What silly beggars they are to blunder inAnd scorch their wings with glory, liquid flame—No, no, not..

© Siegfried Sassoon

To Any Dead Officer

Well, how are things in Heaven? I wish you’d say,Because I’d like to know that you’re all right.Tell me, have you found everlasting day,Or been..

© Siegfried Sassoon

Blighters

The House is crammed: tier beyond tier they grinAnd cackle at the Show, while prancing ranksOf harlots shrill the chorus, drunk with din;‘We’re sure..

© Siegfried Sassoon

John Mckeen

John McKeen, in his rusty dress,His loosened collar, and swarthy throat,His face unshaven, and none the less,His hearty laugh and his..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Judith

O her eyes are amber-fine--Dark and deep as wells of wine,While her smile is like the noonSplendor of a day of June.If she sorrow--lo! her faceIt is..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Joney

Had a hare-lip-- Joney had:Spiled his looks, and Joney knowed it:Fellers tried to bore him, bad--But ef ever he got mad,He kep' still and never..

© James Whitcomb Riley

June At Woodruff

Out at Woodruff Place--afarFrom the city's glare and jar,With the leafy trees, insteadOf the awnings, overhead;With the shadows cool and sweet,For..

© James Whitcomb Riley

For You

For you, I could forget the gayDelirium of merriment,And let my laughter die awayIn endless silence of content.I could forget, for your dear sake,The..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Fool-Youngens

Me an' Bert an' Minnie-BelleKnows a joke, an' we won't tell!No, we don't--'cause we don't know_Why_ we got to laughin' so;But we got to laughin'..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Go Winter!

Go, Winter! Go thy ways! We want againThe twitter of the bluebird and the wren;Leaves ever greener growing, and the shineOf Summer's sun--not..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Bewildering Emotions

The merriment that followed was subdued--As though the story-teller's attitudeWere dual, in a sense, appealing quiteAs much to sorrow as to mere..

© James Whitcomb Riley

August

A day of torpor in the sullen heatOf Summer's passion: In the sluggish streamThe panting cattle lave their lazy feet,With drowsy eyes, and dream.Long..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Man's Devotion

A lover said, 'O Maiden, love me well,For I must go away:And should ANOTHER ever come to tellOf love--What WILL you say?'And she let fall a royal..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Luther Benson

AFTER READING HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHYPOOR victim of that vulture curseThat hovers o'er the universe,With ready talons quick to strikeIn every human heart..

© James Whitcomb Riley

May I Not Weep With You

Let me come in where you sit weeping—aye,Let me, who have not any child to die,Weep with you for the little one whose loveI have known nothing of.The..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Anselmo

Years did I vainly seek the good Lord's grace--,Prayed, fasted, and did penance dire and dread;Did kneel, with bleeding knees and rainy face,And..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Becalmed

1Would that the winds might only blowAs they blew in the golden long ago--!Laden with odors of Orient islesWhere ever and ever the sunshine..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Being His Mother

Being his mother--when he goes awayI would not hold him overlong, and soSometimes my yielding sight of him grows OSo quick of tears, I joy he did not..

© James Whitcomb Riley

June

Queenly month of indolent repose!I drink thy breath in sips of rare perfume,As in thy downy lap of clover-bloomI nestle like a drowsy child and..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Has She Forgotten?

I.Has she forgotten? On this very MayWe were to meet here, with the birds and bees,As on that Sabbath, underneath the treesWe strayed among the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Harlie

Fold the little waxen handsLightly. Let your warmest tearsSpeak regrets, but never fears,--Heaven understands!Let the sad heart, o'er the tomb,Lift..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Grandfather Squeers

'My grandfather Squeers,' said The Raggedy Man,As he solemnly lighted his pipe and began--'The most indestructible man, for his years,And the..

© James Whitcomb Riley

Blind

You think it is a sorry thingThat I am blind. Your pityingIs welcome to me; yet indeed,I think I have but little needOf it. Though you may marvel..

© James Whitcomb Riley