Dictionary Poems

Success is counted sweetestBy those who ne’er succeed.To comprehend a nectarRequires sorest need. Not one of all the purple hostWho took the flag to-dayCan tell the definition,So clear, of victory, As he, defeated, dying,On whose forbidden earThe distant strains of triumphBreak, agonized and clear! – SUCCESS – Success is counted sweetest by Emily Dickinson

This crowded life of God’s good givingNo man has relished more than I;I’ve been so goldarned busy livingI’ve never had the time to die.So busy fishing, hunting, roving,Up on my toes and fighting fit;So busy singing, laughing, loving,I’ve never had the time to quit. I’ve never been one for thinkingI’ve always been the action guy;I’ve … Continued

Cruelty has a human heart,And Jealousy a human face;Terror the human form divine,And Secrecy the human dress. The human dress is forged iron,The human form a fiery forge,The human face a furnace sealed,The human heart its hungry gorge. – A DIVINE IMAGE by William Blake

Here are two pupilswhose moons of blacktransform to cripplesall who look: each lovely ladywho peers insidetake on the bodyof a toad. Within these mirrorsthe world inverts:the fond admirer’sburning darts turn back to injurethe thrusting handand inflame to dangerthe scarlet wound. I sought my imagein the scorching glass,for what fire could damagea witch’s face? So I … Continued

Say! You’ve struck a heap of trouble — Bust in business, lost your wife;No one cares a cent about you, You don’t care a cent for life;Hard luck has of hope bereft you, Health is failing, wish you’d die —Why, you’ve still the sunshine left you And the big, blue sky. Sky so blue it … Continued

Could Fate ordain a lot for me Beyond all human ills,I think that I would choose to be A shephard of the hills;With shaggy cloak and cape where skies Eternally are blueHow I would stare with quiet eyes At passing you! And you would stare at static me, Beside my patient flock;And I would watch … Continued

The world is sadly sick, they say,And plagued by woe and pain.But look! How looms my garden gay,With blooms in golden reign!With lyric music in the air,Of joy fulfilled in song,I can’t believe that anywhere Is hate and harm and wrong. A paradise my garden is,And there my day is spent;A steep myself in sunny … Continued

I CRIED when the moon was mutmuring to the birds:‘Let peewit call and curlew cry where they will,I long for your merry and tender and pitiful words,For the roads are unending, and there is no place to my mind.’The honey-pale moon lay low on the sleepy hill,And I fell asleep upon lonely Echtge of streams. … Continued

Let down the bars, O Death!The tired flocks come inWhose bleating ceases to repeat,Whose wandering is done. Thine is the stillest night,Thine the securest fold;Too near thou art for seeking thee,Too tender to be told. – Let down the bars, O Death by Emily Dickinson

WITH stammering lips and insufficient soundI strive and struggle to deliver rightThat music of my nature, day and nightWith dream and thought and feeling interwoundAnd inly answering all the senses roundWith octaves of a mystic depth and heightWhich step out grandly to the infiniteFrom the dark edges of the sensual ground.This song of soul I … Continued