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").

Road And Hills

I shall go awayTo the brown hills, the quiet ones,The vast, the mountainous, the rolling,Sun-fired and drowsy!My horse snuffs delicatelyAt the..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Young Blood

"But, sir," I said, "they tell me the man is like to die!" The Canon shook his head indulgently. "Young blood, Cousin," he boomed. "Young blood!..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Ghosts Of A Lunatic Asylum

Here, where men's eyes were empty and as brightAs the blank windows set in glaring brick,When the wind strengthens from the sea - and nightDrops like..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Breaking Point

It was not when temptation came,Swiftly and blastingly as flame,And seared me white with burning scars;When I stood up for age-long warsAnd held the..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Campus Sonnets: Before An Examination

The little letters dance across the page,Flaunt and retire, and trick the tired eyes;Sick of the strain, the glaring light, I riseYawning and..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Alexander Vi Dines With The Cardinal Of Capua

Next, then, the peacock, giltWith all its feathers. Look, what gorgeous dyesFlow in the eyes!And how deep, lustrous greens are splashed and..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Innovator

(A Pharaoh Speaks.)I said, "Why should a pyramidStand always dully on its base?I'll change it! Let the top be hid,The bottom take the apex-place!"And..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Mountain Whippoorwill

Up in the mountains, it's lonesome all the time,(Sof' win' slewin' thu' the sweet-potato vine.)Up in the mountains, it's lonesome for a..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Campus Sonnets: Talk

Tobacco smoke drifts up to the dim ceilingFrom half a dozen pipes and cigarettes,Curling in endless shapes, in blue rings wheeling,As formless as our..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Ballad Of William Sycamore [1790-1871]

My father, he was a mountaineer,His fist was a knotty hammer;He was quick on his feet as a running deer,And he spoke with a Yankee stammer.My mother..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

1936

All night they marched, the infantrymen under pack,But the hands gripping the rifles were naked boneAnd the hollow pits of the eyes stared, vacant..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Dedication

To W. R. B.And so, to you, who always werePerseus, D'Artagnan, LancelotTo me, I give these weedy rhymesIn memory of earlier times.Now all those..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Lover In Hell

Eternally the choking steam goes upFrom the black pools of seething oil. . . .How merryThose little devils are! They've stolen the pitchforkFrom Bel..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

American Names

I have fallen in love with American names,The sharp names that never get fat,The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims,The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Poor Devil!

Well, I was tired of life; the silly folk,The tiresome noises, all the common thingsI loved once, crushed me with an iron yoke.I longed for the cool..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Army Of Northern Virginia

Army of Northern Virginia, army of legend,Who were your captains that you could trust them so surely?Who were your battle-flags?Call the shapes from..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Before An Examination

The little letters dance across the page,Flaunt and retire, and trick the tired eyes;Sick of the strain, the glaring light, I riseYawning and..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Difference

My mind’s a map. A mad sea-captain drew itUnder a flowing moon until he knew it;Winds with brass trumpets, puffy-cheeked as jugs,And states..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Music

My friend went to the piano; spun the stoolA little higher; left his pipe to cool;Picked up a fat green volume from the chest;And propped it..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Metropolitan Nightmare

I rained quite a lot, that spring. You woke in the morningAnd saw the sky still clouded, the streets still wet,But nobody noticed so much, except the..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Dinner In A Quick Lunch Room

Soup should be heralded with a mellow horn,Blowing clear notes of gold against the stars;Strange entrees with a jangle of glass barsFantastically..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Ghosts Of A Lunatic Asylum

Here, where men's eyes were empty and as brightAs the blank windows set in glaring brick,When the wind strengthens from the sea -- and nightDrops..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

May Morning

I lie stretched out upon the window-seatAnd doze, and read a page or two, and doze,And feel the air like water on me close,Great waves of sunny air..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

A Minor Poet

I am a shell. From me you shall not hearThe splendid tramplings of insistent drums,The orbed gold of the viol's voice that comes,Heavy with radiance..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Going Back To School

The boat ploughed on. Now Alcatraz was pastAnd all the grey waves flamed to red againAt the dead sun's last glimmer. Far and vastThe Sausalito lights..

© Stephen Vincent Benet