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").
An Assassin
. . . They caught him at the bend. He and his sonSat in the car, revolvers in their laps.From either side the stone-walled wintry roadThere flashed..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
A South-Sea Islander
ALOLL in the warm clear water,On her back with languorous limbs,She lies. The baby upon her breastsPaddles and falls and swims.With half-closed eyes..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
The Peasants' Revolt
THRO' the mists of years,Thro' the lies of men,Your bloody sweat and tears,Your desperate hopes and fearsReach us once again,Brothers, who long..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Elsie
A MemoryLITTLE elfin maid,Old, though scarce two years,With your big dark hazel eyesTenderer than tears,And your rosebud mouthLisping jocund..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
The Caged Eagle
. . . I went the other dayTo see the birds and beasts they keep enmewedIn the London Zoo. One of the first I saw —One of the first I noticed, was an..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
At The West India Docks
(A Memory of August, 1883)I STOOD in the ghastly gleaming night by the swollen, sullen flowOf the dreadful river that rolls her tides through the..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
To Sydney Jephcott
(The friend my verse won for me)With a Copy of My 'Poetical Works''TAKE with all my heart, friend, this,The labour of my past,Though the heart here..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
To The Girls Of The Unions
GIRLS, we love you, and loveAsks you to give againThat which draws it above,Beautiful, without stain.Give us weariless faithIn our Cause pure..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Dirge
(Brisbane)'A little Soldier of the Army of the Night'BURY him without a word!No appeal to death;Only the call of the birdAnd the blind spring's..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
A Mahomedan Ship Fireman
UP from the oven pit,The hell where poor men toil,At the sunset hour he comesClean-clothed, washed from soil.On the fo'c's'le head he kneels,His face..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Hong-Kong Lyrics
IAT anchor in that harbour of the island,The Chinese Gate,We lay where, terraced under green-clad highland,The Sea-town sate.Ships, steamers..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Père-La-Chaise
(PARIS)I STOOD in Père-la-Chaise. The putrid City,Paris, the harlot of the nations, lay,The bug-bright thing that knows not love nor pity,Flashing..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Australia
I SEE a Land of desperate droughts and floods:I see a land where Need keeps spreading round,And all but giants perish in the stress:I see a Land..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
William Wallace
(For the Ballarat statue of him)THIS is Scotch William Wallace. It was HeWho in dark hours first raised his face to see:Who watched the English..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Why He Loves Her
YOU ask me why I love her,As I love nought on earth?Why I'll put none above herFor sorrow or for mirth?Though there be others fairer;In spirit..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Drill
WHEN day's hard task's done,Eve's scant meal partaken,Out we steal each one,Weariless, unshaken.In small reeking squares,Garbaged plots, we..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Axiom
LET him who toils, enjoyFruit of his toiling.Let him whom sweats annoy,No more be spoiling.For we would have it beThat, weak or stronger,Not he who..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
London
CRUEL City, London, London,Where, duped slaves of devils' creeds,Men and women desperate, undone,Dream such dreams, and do such deeds:London, London..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Dedication To His Love
SWEETEST, in desperate hoursOf clouds and lightning and rain,You came like a vision of flowersAnd summer and song once again:You came, and I could..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Anarchism
'TIS not when I am here,In these homeless homes,Where sin and shame and diseaseAnd foul death comes;'Tis not when heart and brainWould be still and..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
To Queen Victoria In England
An Address on her Jubilee YearMADAM, you have done well! Let others with praise unholy,Speech addressed to a woman who never breathed upon earth,Daub..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
A Death At Sea
(Coral Sea, Australia)IDEAD in the sheep-pen he lies,Wrapped in an old brown sail.The smiling blue sea and the skiesKnow not sorrow nor wail.Dragged..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
A Street Fight
SIR, we approve your curling lip and noseAt this vile sight.These men, these women are 'brute beasts'? — Who knows,Sir, but that you are..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Love And Death
Death? is it death you give? So be it! O Death, thou hast been long my friend, and now thy palecool cheek shall have my kiss, while the faint..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
A Story
(For the Irish Delegates in Australia)DO you want to hear a story,With a nobler praise than 'glory,'Of a man who loved the right like heaven and..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams