Dictionary Poems

YOU will come one day in a waver of love,Tender as dew, impetuous as rain,The tan of the sun will be on your skin,The purr of the breeze in your murmuring speech,You will pose with a hill-flower grace. You will come, with your slim, expressive arms,A poise of the head no sculptor has caughtAnd nuances … Continued

Ask me no more: the moon may draw the sea; The cloud may stoop from heaven and take the shape, With fold to fold, of mountain or of cape; But O too fond, when have I answer’d thee? Ask me no more. Ask me no more: what answer should I give? I love not hollow … Continued

I had been hungry all the years;My noon had come, to dine;I, trembling, drew the table near,And touched the curious wine. ‘T was this on tables I had seen,When turning, hungry, lone,I looked in windows, for the wealthI could not hope to own. I did not know the ample bread,‘T was so unlike the crumbThe … Continued

This is winter, this is night, small love —A sort of black horsehair,A rough, dumb country stuffSteeled with the sheenOf what green stars can make it to our gate.I hold you on my arm.It is very late.The dull bells tongue the hour.The mirror floats us at one candle power. This is the fluid in which … Continued

Between the cliff-rise and the beachA slip of emerald I own;With fig and olive, almond, peach,cherry and plum-tree overgrown;Glad-watered by a crystal springThat carols through the silver night,And populous with birds who singGay madrigals for my delight. Some merchants fain would buy my landTo build a stately pleasure dome.Poor fools! they cannot understandhow pricelessly it … Continued

I count the dismal time by months and yearsSince last I felt the green sward under foot,And the great breath of all things summer-Met mine upon my lips. Now earth appearsAs strange to me as dreams of distant spheresOr thoughts of Heaven we weep at. Nature’s luteSounds on, behind this door so closely shut,A strange … Continued

‘Tis true my garments threadbare are, And sorry poor I seem;But inly I am richer far Than any poet’s dream.For I’ve a hidden life no one Can ever hope to see;A sacred sanctuary none May share with me. Aloof I stand from out the strife, Within my heart a song;By virtue of my inner life … Continued

Why need we newer arms invent, Poor peoples to destroy?With what we have let’s be content And perfect their employ.With weapons that may millions kill, Why should we seek for more,A brighter spate of blood to spill, A deeper sea of gore? The lurid blaze of atom light Vast continents will blind,And steep in centuries … Continued

There is a smile of love,And there is a smile of deceit,And there is a smile of smilesIn which these two smiles meet. And there is a frown of hate,And there is a frown of disdain,And there is a frown of frownsWhich you strive to forget in vain, For it sticks in the heart’s deep … Continued

Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow– You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream: Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision or in none, Is it therefore the less _gone_? … Continued