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").

From Laughter To Labor

We have wandered afar in our hunting for pleasure,We have scorned the soul's duty to gather up treasure;We have lived for our laughter and toiled for..

© Edgar Albert Guest

Faces

I look into the faces of the people passing by,The glad ones and the sad ones, and the lined with misery,And I wonder why the sorrow or the twinkle..

© Edgar Albert Guest

The Reason For Work

Some struggle hard for worldly fame,Some toil to have an honored name,And some have great ambition.A few there are who strive that theyMay save the..

© Edgar Albert Guest

At The Peace Table

Who shall sit at the table, then, when the termsof peace are made-The wisest men of the troubled lands in theirsilver and gold brocade?Yes, they..

© Edgar Albert Guest

The Unknown Friends

We cannot count our friends, nor sayHow many praise us day by day.Each one of us has friends that heHas yet to meet and really know,Who guard him..

© Edgar Albert Guest

Learn To Smile

The good Lord understood us when He taught us how to smile;He knew we couldn't stand it to be solemn all the while;He knew He'd have to shape us so..

© Edgar Albert Guest

Give Me A Single Day

GIVE me a single day, I ask no moreFrom dawn to dusk, ah, that is time enoughTo reach the goal that I am striving for;There is no need of further..

© Edgar Albert Guest

Autumn

The leaves are falling one by one,The Summer days are past and gone,The nights are cool and damp;The little children think it strangeAt tea-time, for..

© Edgar Albert Guest

Our Little Needs

A LITTLE more of loving, a little less of pain,A little more of sunshine, a little less of rain;A little more of friendship, a little less of..

© Edgar Albert Guest

The Lonely Garden

I WONDER what the trees will say,The trees that used to share his play,An' knew him as the little ladWho used to wander with his dad.They've watched..

© Edgar Albert Guest

Service

I have no wealth of gold to give away,But I can pledge to worthy causes these:I'll give my strength, my days and hours of ease,My finest thought and..

© Edgar Albert Guest

Christmas, 1918

They give their all, this Christmastide, that peace on earth shall reign;Upon the snows of Flanders now, brave blood has left its stain;With ribbons..

© Edgar Albert Guest

The Homes Of Joy

I LIKE the homes where a Teddy BearMonopolizes the best arm chair,Where the sofa a rag doll occupiesAnd a train of cars in the corner lies;For those..

© Edgar Albert Guest

Two-An'-Six

Merry voices chatterin',Nimble feet dem patterin',Big an' little, faces gay,Happy day dis market day.Sateday, de marnin' break,Soon, soon..

© Claude McKay

Joy In The Woods

There is joy in the woods just now,The leaves are whispers of song,And the birds make mirth on the boughAnd music the whole day long,And God! to..

© Claude McKay

Winter In The Country

Sweet life! how lovely to be hereAnd feel the soft sea-laden breezeStrike my flushed face, the spruce's fairFree limbs to see, the lesser trees'Bare..

© Claude McKay

Wild May

Aleta mentions in her tender letters,Among a chain of quaint and touching things,That you are feeble, weighted down with fetters,And given to strange..

© Claude McKay

Homing Swallows

Swift swallows sailing from the Spanish main,O rain-birds racing merrily awayFrom hill-tops parched with heat and sultry plainOf wilting plants and..

© Claude McKay

Polarity

Nay, why reproach each other, be unkind,For there's no plane on which we two may meet?Let's both forgive, forget, for both were blind,And life is of..

© Claude McKay

Russian Cathedral

Bow down my soul in worship very lowAnd in the holy silences be lost.Bow down before the marble man of woe,Bow down before the singing angel..

© Claude McKay

To O.E.A.

Your voice is the color of a robin's breast,And there's a sweet sob in it like rain--still rain in the night.Among the leaves of the trumpet-tree..

© Claude McKay

On A Primitive Canoe

Here, passing lonely down this quiet lane,Before a mud-splashed window long I pauseTo gaze and gaze, while through my active brainStill thoughts are..

© Claude McKay

La Paloma In London

About Soho we went before the light;We went, unresting six, craving new fun,New scenes, new raptures, for the fevered nightOf rollicking laughter..

© Claude McKay

Tormented

I will not reason, wrestle here with you,Though you pursue and worry me about;As well put forth my swarthy arm to stopThe wild wind howling, darkly..

© Claude McKay

Morning Joy

At night the wide and level stretch of wold,Which at high noon had basked in quiet gold,Far as the eye could see was ghostly white;Dark was the night..

© Claude McKay