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").

From Book I, Paterson

Paterson lies in the valley under the Passaic Fallsits spent waters forming the outline of his back. Helies on his right side, head near the..

© William Carlos Williams

Sonnet In Search Of An Author

Nude bodies like peeled logssometimes give off a sweetestodor, man and womanunder the trees in full excessmatching the cushion ofaromatic pine-drift..

© William Carlos Williams

For Viola: De Gustibus

Beloved you areCaviar of CaviarOf all I love you bestO my Japanese bird nestNo herring from NorwayCan touch you for flavor. NayPimento itselfis flat..

© William Carlos Williams

A Love Song

What have I to say to youWhen we shall meet?Yet—I lie here thinking of you.The stain of loveIs upon the world.Yellow, yellow, yellow,It eats into the..

© William Carlos Williams

Sympathetic Portrait Of A Child

The murderer's little daughterwho is barely ten years oldjerks her shouldersright and leftso as to catch a glimpse of mewithout turning round.Her..

© William Carlos Williams

It Is a Small Plant

It is a small plantdelicately branched andtapering conicallyto a point, each branchand the peak a wire forgreen pods, blind lanternsstarting upward..

© William Carlos Williams

Love

Love is twain, it is not single,Gold and silver mixed to one,Passion ‘tis and pain which mingleGlist'ring then for aye undone.Pain it is not;..

© William Carlos Williams

The Adoration Of The Kings

From the Nativitywhich I have already celebratedthe Babe in its Mother's armsthe Wise Men in their stolensplendorand Joseph and the..

© William Carlos Williams

The Horse Show

Constantly near you, I never in my entiresixty-four years knew you so well as yesterdayor half so well. We talked. you were neverso lucid, so..

© William Carlos Williams

Haymaking

The living quality ofthe man's mindstands outand its covert assertionsfor art, art, art!paintingthat the Renaissancetried to absorbbutit remained a..

© William Carlos Williams

Muier

Oh, black Persian cat!Was not your lifealready cursed with offspring?We took you for rest to that oldYankee farm, — so lonelyand with so many field..

© William Carlos Williams

The Parable Of The Blind

This horrible but superb paintingthe parable of the blindwithout a redin the composition shows a groupof beggars leadingeach other diagonally..

© William Carlos Williams

Postlude

Now that I have cooled to youLet there be gold of tarnished masonry,Temples soothed by the sun to ruinThat sleep utterly.Give me hand for the..

© William Carlos Williams

Sicilian Emigrant’s Song

O—eh—lee! La—la!Donna! Donna!Blue is the sky of Palermo;Blue is the little bay;And dost thou remember the orange and fig,The lively sun and the sea..

© William Carlos Williams

Play

Subtle, clever brain, wiser than I am,by what devious means do you contriveto remain idle? Teach me, O master.

© William Carlos Williams

Peasant Wedding

Pour the wine bridegroomwhere before you thebride is enthroned her hairloose at her temples a headof ripe wheat is onthe wall beside her theguests..

© William Carlos Williams

Transitional

First he said:It is the woman in usThat makes us write-Let us acknowledge it-Men would be silent.We are not menTherefore we can speakAnd be..

© William Carlos Williams

The Approaching Hour

You Communists and Republicans!all you Germans and Frenchmen!you corpses and quickeners!The stars are about to meltand fall on you in tears.Get..

© William Carlos Williams

Proletarian Poet

A big young bareheaded womanin an apronHer hair slicked back standingon the streetOne stockinged foot toeingthe sidewalkHer shoe in her hand...

© William Carlos Williams

The Corn Harvest

Summer !the painting is organizedabout a youngreaper enjoying hisnoonday restcompletelyrelaxedfrom his morning laborssprawledin fact..

© William Carlos Williams

On Gay Wallpaper

The green-blue groundis ruled with silver linesto say the sun is shiningAnd on this moral seaof grass or dreams lie flowersor baskets of..

© William Carlos Williams

The Mind’s Games

If a man can say of his life orany moment of his life, There isnothing more to be desired! his statebecomes like that told in the famousdouble..

© William Carlos Williams

Sub Terra

Where shall I find you—You, my grotesque fellowsThat I seek everywhereTo make up my band?None, not oneWith the earthy tastes I require:The burrowing..

© William Carlos Williams

The Crowd At The Ball Game

The crowd at the ball gameis moved uniformlyby a spirit of uselessnesswhich delights them—all the exciting detailof the chaseand the escape, the..

© William Carlos Williams

The Wedding Dance In The Open Air

Disciplined by the artistto go roundand roundin holiday geara riotously gay rabble ofpeasants and theirample-bottomed doxiesfillsthe market..

© William Carlos Williams