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").
The Lesson
I keep on dying again.Veins collapse, opening like theSmall fists of sleepingChildren.Memory of old tombs,Rotting flesh and worms doNot convince me..
© Maya Angelou
Passing Time
Your skin like dawnMine like muskOne paints the beginningof a certain end.The other, the end of asure beginning.
© Maya Angelou
A Conceit
Give me your handMake room for meto lead and followyoubeyond this rage of poetry.Let others havethe privacy oftouching wordsand love of lossof..
© Maya Angelou
Men
When I was young, I used toWatch behind the curtainsAs men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.Young men sharp as mustard.See them. Men..
© Maya Angelou
Touched By An Angel
We, unaccustomed to courageexiles from delightlive coiled in shells of lonelinessuntil love leaves its high holy templeand comes into our sightto..
© Maya Angelou
Woman Work
I've got the children to tendThe clothes to mendThe floor to mopThe food to shopThen the chicken to fryThe baby to dryI got company to feedThe garden..
© Maya Angelou
Alone
Lying, thinkingLast nightHow to find my soul a homeWhere water is not thirstyAnd bread loaf is not stoneI came up with one thingAnd I don't believe..
© Maya Angelou
Caged Bird
The free bird leapson the back of the windand floats downstreamtill the current endsand dips his wingsin the orange sun raysand dares to claim the..
© Maya Angelou
Still I Rise
You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may tread me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise.Does my sassiness..
© Maya Angelou
Phenomenal Woman
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's sizeBut when I start to tell them,They think I'm telling..
© Maya Angelou
Childhood’s Retreat
It’s in the perilous boughs of the treeout of blue sky the windsings loudest surrounding me.And solitude, a wild solitude’s reveald, fearfully..
© Robert Duncan
Styx
And a tenth part of Okeanos is given to dark night a tithe of the pure water under earthso that the clear fountains pour from rock face, ..
© Robert Duncan
What I Saw
The white peacock roostingmight have been Christ, featherd robe of Osiris,the radiant bird, a sword-flash, percht in the treeand the..
© Robert Duncan
Often I Am Permitted To Return To A Meadow
as if it were a scene made-up by the mind,that is not mine, but is a made place,that is mine, it is so near to the heart,an eternal pasture folded in..
© Robert Duncan
Rites of Passage II
Something is taking place.Horns thrust upward from the brow.Hooves beat impatient where feet once were.My son, youth grows alarming in your face.Your..
© Robert Duncan
Passage Over Water
We have gone out in boats upon the sea at night,lost, and the vast waters close traps of fear about us.The boats are driven apart, and we are alone..
© Robert Duncan
A Poem Beginning With A Line From Pindar
IThe light foot hears you and the brightness beginsgod-step at the margins of thought, quick adulterous tread at the heart.Who is it that goes..
© Robert Duncan
Poetry, A Natural Thing
Neither our vices nor our virtuesfurther the poem. “They came up and diedjust like they do every year on the rocks.” The poemfeeds..
© Robert Duncan
Summer
When summer in the mountains gains its peak,When gaily blooming flowers begin to fade,When nomads from the sunshine refuge seekBeside a rapid river..
© Abai Qūnanbaev
Black Of My Eye
Black of my eyeFrame of my mindDrink never dryLove of my LifeParting is winter, your absence is sorrowI wish to stay until the morrowBetween your..
© Abai Qūnanbaev
Through Windless Night The Glinting Moon
Through windless night the glinting moonIlluminates in flowing wavesThe village nestled in the valeWhere crests the overflowing streamThe..
© Abai Qūnanbaev