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 Libertine

A THOUSAND martyrs I have made, All sacrificed to my desire,A thousand beauties have betray'd That languish in resistless fire:The untamed heart..

© Aphra Behn

Epitaph On The Tombstone Of A Child

This Little, Silent, Gloomy Monument,Contains all that was sweet and innocent ;The softest pratler that e'er found a Tongue,His Voice was Musick and..

© Aphra Behn

Song : 'Love Armed'

Love in fantastic triumph sat,Whilst bleeding hearts around him flow'd,For whom fresh pains he did create,And strange tyrannic power he shew'd;From..

© Aphra Behn

The Dream

All trembling in my arms Aminta lay,Defending of the bliss I strove to take;Raising my rapture by her kind delay,Her force so charming was and..

© Aphra Behn

I Heart Your Dog's Head

I'm watching football, which is odd asI hate footballin a hyperbolic and clinically revealing way,but I hate Bill Parcells more,because he is the..

© Erin Belieu

For Catherine: Juana, Infanta Of Navarre

Ferdinand was systematic whenhe drove his daughter mad.With a Casanova's careful art,he moved slowly,stole only one child at a timethrough tunnels..

© Erin Belieu

Rondeau At The Train Stop

It bothers me: the genital smell of the baydrifting toward me on the T stop, the traincircling the city like a dingy, year-roundChristmas display...

© Erin Belieu

Dum Spiro Spero

Come, Lord, and lift the fallen birdAbandoned on the ground;The soul bereft and longing soTo have the lost be found…Before the movers came,we found..

© Erin Belieu

Legend Of The Albino Farm

Omaha, Nebraska They do not sleep nightsbut stand betweenrows of glowing corn andcabbages grown on acres pastthe edge of the city.Surrendered..

© Erin Belieu

Field

Field is pause field is plot field is red chigger bump wherethe larvae feed corn wig curled in your ear. Field cares nota fig for your resistance..

© Erin Belieu

Loser Bait

Some of usare chum.Some of usare the come-hitherhoneycombgleamy in the middleof the trap's busted smile.Though I let myself a littleoff this hook..

© Erin Belieu

Georgic On Memory

Make your daily monument the Ego,use a masochist's epistemologyof shame and dog-eared certaintythat others less exacting might forgo.If memory's an..

© Erin Belieu

In Ecstasy

at the altarpiece of Saint TeresaNo need to be coy—you know whatshe's doingAnd so did Bernini,when he found Teresain the full-throttle ofher divine..

© Erin Belieu

The Hideous Chair

This hideous,upholstered in gift-wrap fabric, chromedin places, design possibilityfor the future canned ham.Its geniuswonderful, circa I993.I've..

© Erin Belieu

Another Poem For Mothers

Mother, I'm tryingto writea poem to you—which is how mostpoems to mothers mustbegin—or, What I've wantedto say, Mother...but weas children of..

© Erin Belieu

Against Writing About Children

When I think of the many peoplewho privately despise children,I can't say I'm completely shocked,having been one. I was notexceptional, uncomfortable..

© Erin Belieu

From On Being Fired Again

I've known the pleasures of beingfired at least eleven times—most notably by Larry who found my snoodunsuitable, another time by Jack,whom I was..

© Erin Belieu

Amaryllis

Up, Amarylis! Darling, awaken!Through the still brackenSoft airs swell;Iris, all dightly,Vestured so brightly,Coloreth lightlyWood and..

© Carl Michael Bellman

Epistle No. 39

Storm and wave their tumult cease.See, the heav'nly galaxies,Fainter, even dimmerIs their golden glimmerAs the morningSoftly dawningOf the sun's wan..

© Carl Michael Bellman

Art And Politics

'Good servant Mollberg, what's happened to thee,Whom without coat and hatless I see?Bloody thy mouth--and thou'rt lacking a tooth!Where have you..

© Carl Michael Bellman

Fredman's Song No. 10

Drink till after twelve or more,Live it up with madmen !Earth is but my chamber floorAnd the sun my lantern.Nothing else is worth a pinIf my head but..

© Carl Michael Bellman

To Ulla

Ulla, mine Ulla, tell me, may I hand theeReddest of strawberries in milk or wine?Or from the pond a lively fish? Command me!Or, from the well, a bowl..

© Carl Michael Bellman

Epistle No. 36

Our Ulla lay one morning and slept,A hand beneath her ear;Her key alone the taverner keptOr through its hole might peer.Outside in the tavern..

© Carl Michael Bellman

Drink Out Thy Glass

Drink out thy glass! See, on thy threshold, nightly,Staying his sword, stands Death, awaiting thee.Be not alarmed; the grave-door, opened..

© Carl Michael Bellman

Cradle-Song For My Son Carl

Little Carl, sleep soft and sweet:Thou'lt soon enough be waking;Soon enough ill days thou'lt meet,Their bitterness partaking.Earth's an isle with..

© Carl Michael Bellman