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").

adwigha, On A Red Couch, Among Lillies

Yadwigha, the literalists once wondered how youCame to be lying on this baroque couchUpholstered in red velvet, under the eyeOf uncaged tigers and a..

© Sylvia Plath

Childless Woman

The wombRattles its pod, the moonDischarges itself from the tree with nowhere to go.My landscape is a hand with no lines,The roads bunched to a..

© Sylvia Plath

Female Author

All day she plays at chess with the bones of the world:Favored (while suddenly the rains beginBeyond the window) she lies on cushions curledAnd..

© Sylvia Plath

Owl

Clocks belled twelve. Main street showed otherwiseThan its suburb of woods : nimbus—-Lit, but unpeopled, held its windowsOf wedding pastries,Diamond..

© Sylvia Plath

Family Reunion

Outside in the street I hearA car door slam; voices coming near;Incoherent scraps of talkAnd high heels clicking up the walk;The doorbell rends the..

© Sylvia Plath

Dirge For A Joker

Always in the middle of a kissCame the profane stimulus to cough;Always from teh pulpit during serviceLeaned the devil prompting you to laugh.Behind..

© Sylvia Plath

Love Is A Parallax

'Perspective betrays with its dichotomy:train tracks always meet, not here, but onlyin the impossible mind's eye;horizons beat a retreat as we..

© Sylvia Plath

Metaphors

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,An elephant, a ponderous house,A melon strolling on two tendrils.O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!This loaf's big with..

© Sylvia Plath

A Sorcerer Bids Farewell To Seem

I'm through with this grand looking-glass hotelwhere adjectives play croquet with flamingo nouns;methinks I shall absent me for a whilefrom rhetoric..

© Sylvia Plath

A Winter Ship

At this wharf there are no grand landings to speak of.Red and orange barges list and blisterShackled to the dock, outmoded, gaudy,And apparently..

© Sylvia Plath

All The Dead Dears

Rigged poker -stiff on her backWith a granite grinThis antique museum-cased ladyLies, companioned by the gimcrackRelics of a mouse and a shrewThat..

© Sylvia Plath

Daddy

You do not do, you do not doAny more, black shoeIn which I have lived like a footFor thirty years, poor and white,Barely daring to breathe or..

© Sylvia Plath

Youth And Love

To the heart of youth the world is a highwayside.Passing for ever, he fares; and on either hand,Deep in the gardens golden pavilions hide,Nestle in..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Young Night-Thought

All night long and every night,When my mama puts out the light,I see the people marching by,As plain as day before my eye.Armies and emperor and..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

You Looked So Tempting In The Pew

YOU looked so tempting in the pew,You looked so sly and calm -My trembling fingers played with yoursAs both looked out the Psalm.Your heart beat hard..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Winter-Time

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;Blinks but an hour or two; and then,A blood-red orange, sets again.Before the stars have..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Windy Nights

Whenever the moon and stars are set,Whenever the wind is high,All night long in the dark and wet,A man goes riding by.Late in the night when the..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Whole Duty Of Children

A child should always say what's trueAnd speak when he is spoken to,And behave mannerly at table;At least as far as he is able.

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Where Go The Boats?

Dark brown is the river,Golden is the sand.It flows along for ever,With trees on either hand.Green leaves a-floating,Castles of the foam,Boats of..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

When The Sun Come After Rain

WHEN the sun comes after rainAnd the bird is in the blue,The girls go down the laneTwo by two.When the sun comes after shadowAnd the singing of the..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

What Man May Learn, What Man May Do

WHAT man may learn, what man may do,Of right or wrong of false or true,While, skipper-like, his course he steersThrough nine and twenty mingled..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Wedding Prayer

Lord, behold our family here assembled.We thank you for this place in which we dwell,for the love that unites us,for the peace accorded us this..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Voluntary

HERE in the quiet eveMy thankful eyes receiveThe quiet light.I see the trees stand fairAgainst the faded air,And star by star prepareThe perfect..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Variant Form Of The Preceding Poem

COME to me, all ye that labour; I will give your spirits rest;Here apart in starry quiet I will give you rest.Come to me, ye heavy laden, sin defiled..

© Robert Louis Stevenson

Underwoods: Epigram

Of all my verse, like not a single line;But like my title, for it is not mine.That title from a better man I stole:Ah, how much better, had I stol'n..

© Robert Louis Stevenson