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").
Blossom
A LONE rose in a garden burned—a quivering flame,But yesterday blindly from out the bud it came;And now an envious wind with itching fingers leantAnd..
© Arthur Henry Adams
The Storm And The Bush
There are only two things in the world—The storm in the air and the stretch of green leaves;The flesh of the forest that quivers and heavesAs the..
© Arthur Henry Adams
On The Plains
ALONE with the silence, the sun and sky,Full length on the tussocky plain I lie:An ocean of yellow from east to westStill rolling and sweeping, far..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Grey Eyes
SHE glanced across the path to me,Grey eyes!Her looks were kisses plain to see.I gave her glances back to her—Glad eyes!She saw the lifting of..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Pansy: Song-Words
IN a crooked angleOf a garden bower,'Neath a weedy tangleGrew a modest flower;Unpretending, unoffending,Gifted but with fancy,Unassuming in his..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Reminiscence
I STAND in old Earth's presence; over allThe warm, pervading sunshine seems to printLife and the Present; and there is no glintOf white bones from..
© Arthur Henry Adams
The New Woman
THE stone that all the sullen centuries,With sluggish hands and massive fingers rude,Against the sepulchre of womanhoodHad sternly held, she has..
© Arthur Henry Adams
On The Sands
ALL the air was tranced and the sea was stilled,And we stood and dreamed of a world to be.When it seemed to me that our souls were thrilledWith a..
© Arthur Henry Adams
A Portrait
HER glance is equable, serene;She looks at life with level brow;She strides through circumstance—a queen!To compromise she cannot bow—Even to love..
© Arthur Henry Adams
And Yet
THEY drew him from the darkened room,Where, swooning in a peace profound,Beneath a heavy fragrance drownedHer grey form glimmered in the gloom.Death..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Written In Australia
THE WIDE sun stares without a cloud:Whipped by his glances truculentThe earth lies quivering and cowed.My heart is hot with discontent:I hate this..
© Arthur Henry Adams
After Long Years
“AND have I changed?” she asked, and as she spokeThe old smile o'er her pale face bravely broke,And in her eyes dead worlds of pathos woke.Changed?..
© Arthur Henry Adams
The Weakling
I AM a weakling. God, who madeThe still, strong man, made also me.The God who could the tiger plan,In his lithe splendour unafraid—A thing of flame..
© Arthur Henry Adams
The Australian
ONCE more this Autumn-earth is ripe,Parturient of another type.While with the Past old nations mergeHis foot is on the Future’s verge.They watch him..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Fleet Street
BENEATH this narrow jostling street,Unruffled by the noise of feet,Like a slow organ-note I hearThe pulses of the great world beat.Unseen beneath the..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Rain In The Bush
The steady soaking of the rain,The bush all sad and sombre;The trees are weeping in their pain,Dank leaves the ground encumber.A dismal ghost of..
© Arthur Henry Adams
The Pleiades
LAST night I saw the Pleiades again,Faint as a drift of steamFrom some tall chimney-stack;And I remembered you as you were then:Awoke dead worlds of..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Bayswater.W.
About me leagues of houses lie,Above me, grim and straight and high,They climb; the terraces lean upLike long grey reefs against the sky.Packed tier..
© Arthur Henry Adams
China 1899
She lies, a grave disdain all her defence,Too imperturbable for scorn. She hearsOnly the murmur of the flowing yearsThat thunder slowly on her shores..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Nemesis
All things must fade. There is for cities tallThe same tomorrow as for daffodils:Time's wind, that casts the seed, the petal spills.Grim London's..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Civilisation
One moment mankind rides the crested wave,A moment glorious, beyond recall;And then the wave, with slow and massive fall,Obliterates the beauty that..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Lovers
I thought, because we had been friends so long,That I knew all your dear lips dared intendBefore they dawned to speech. Our thoughts would blend,I..
© Arthur Henry Adams
A Spring Sonnet
Last night beneath the mockery of the moonI heard the sudden startled whisperingsOf wakened birds settling their restless wings;The North-east..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Sydney
In her grey majesty of ancient stoneShe queens it proudly, though the sun's caressHer piteous cheeks, ravished of bloom, confess,And her dark eyes..
© Arthur Henry Adams
A Pair Of Lovers In The Street
A PAIR of lovers in the street!I dare not mock: with reverence meetMy unforgetting heart I cheat.Ah, God, spare me—so soon againAt the barred door to..
© Arthur Henry Adams