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").
Ode To Neptune
On Mrs. W-----'s Voyage to England.I.WHILE raging tempests shake the shore,While AElus' thunders round us roar,And sweep impetuous o'er the plainBe..
© Phillis Wheatley
A Rebus
I.A bird delicious to the taste,On which an army once did feast,Sent by an hand unseen;A creature of the horned race,Which Britain's royal standards..
© Phillis Wheatley
On Virtue
O Thou bright jewel in my aim I striveTo comprehend thee. Thine own words declareWisdom is higher than a fool can reach.I cease to wonder, and no..
© Phillis Wheatley
A Farewell To America To Mrs. S. W.
I.ADIEU, New-England's smiling meads,Adieu, the flow'ry plain:I leave thine op'ning charms, O spring,And tempt the roaring main.II.In vain for me the..
© Phillis Wheatley
On The Death Of A Young Lady Of Five Years Of Age
FROM dark abodes to fair etherial lightTh' enraptur'd innocent has wing'd her flight;On the kind bosom of eternal loveShe finds unknown beatitude..
© Phillis Wheatley
A Funeral Poem On The Death Of C. E. An Infant Of Twelve Months
Through airy roads he wings his instant flightTo purer regions of celestial light;Enlarg'd he sees unnumber'd systems roll,Beneath him sees the..
© Phillis Wheatley
An Hymn To The Morning
ATTEND my lays, ye ever honour'd nine,Assist my labours, and my strains refine;In smoothest numbers pour the notes along,For bright Aurora now..
© Phillis Wheatley
On Imagination
THY various works, imperial queen, we see,How bright their forms! how deck'd with pompby thee!Thy wond'rous acts in beauteous order stand,And all..
© Phillis Wheatley
An Hymn To Humanity
I.Lo! for this dark terrestrial ballForsakes his azure-paved hallA prince of heav'nly birth!Divine Humanity behold,What wonders rise, what charms..
© Phillis Wheatley
On Being Brought From Africa To America
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,Taught my benighted soul to understandThat there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:Once I redemption..
© Phillis Wheatley
The Sound Collector
A stranger called this morningDressed all in black and greyPut every sound into a bagAnd carried them awayThe whistling of the kettleThe turning of..
© Roger McGough
Kinetic Poem No.2
with lovegive me your handsome strangeris fiction than truthwithout loveI'm justa hasbeen awaytoo long in the tooth.
© Roger McGough
Q
I join the queueWe move up nicely.I ask the lady in frontWhat are we queuing for.'To join another queue,'She explains.'How pointless,' I say,'I'm..
© Roger McGough
Beguiling
She is so beguilingThat when she beckonsI can run a mileIn twenty seconds.
© Roger McGough
oodbat Nightman
God bless all policemenand fighters of crime,May thieves go to jailfor a very long time.They've had a hard dayhelping clean up the town,Now they hang..
© Roger McGough
The Time I Like Best
The time I like best is 6amwhen the snow is 6 inches deepwhich I'm yet to discover'cause I'm under the coversfast, fast asleep.
© Roger McGough
Mrs Moon
Mrs Moonsitting up in the skylittle old ladyrock-a-byewith a ball of fading lightand silvery needlesknitting the night
© Roger McGough
The Leader
I wanna be the leaderI wanna be the leaderCan I be the leader?Can I? I can?Promise? Promise?Yippee I'm the leaderI'm the leaderOK what shall we do?
© Roger McGough
The Identification
So you think its Stephen?Then I'd best make sureBe on the safe side as it were.Ah, theres been a mistake. The hairyou see, its black, now Stephens..
© Roger McGough
Soil
we've ignored eachother for a long timeand I'm strictly an indoor mananytime to call would be the wrong timeI'll avoid you as long as I canWhen I was..
© Roger McGough
The Trouble With Snowmen
'The trouble with snowmen,'Said my father one year'They are no sooner madethan they just disappear.I'll build you a snowmanAnd I'll build it to..
© Roger McGough
Cake
i wanted one lifeyou wanted anotherwe couldn't have our cakeso we ate eachother.
© Roger McGough
Survivor
Everyday,I think about dying.About disease, starvation,violence, terrorism, war,the end of the world.It helpskeep my mind off things.
© Roger McGough
You And I
I explain quietly. Youhear me shouting. Youtry a new tack. Ifeel old wounds reopen.You see both sides. Isee your blinkers. Iam placatory. Yousense a..
© Roger McGough
First Day At School
A millionbillionwillion miles from homeWaiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)Why are they all so big, other children?So noisy? So much at home..
© Roger McGough