The HyperTexts

The Best Poems Ever

compiled and edited by Michael R. Burch
Picking the greatest poems of all time is of course a very sub!ective task
and almost entirely a matter of personal taste and fancy "so if you disagree
#ith my choices please feel free to compile your o#n$. Perhaps the most
interesting thing about my personal canon is that many of the poems are
fairly recent. This leads me to believe that the %death% of poetry has been
greatly exaggerated. &'m including modern English translations of ancient
classics such as %(ulf and Ead#acer% and %)#eet Rose of *irtue% because
many readers may not have read them and that's a shame. +o# here
#ithout further ado are my personal choices for the best poems ever ...
,leyre -e .oucher de )appho by Marc/.harles/,abriel ,leyre
)appho of -esbos is perhaps the 0rst great female poet still kno#n to us
today and she remains one of the very best poets of all time regardless of
gender. 1s you can see from the t#o utterly stellar epigrams belo# she
remains a timeless treasure2
)appho fragment 34
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Eros harro#s my heart2
#ild gales s#eeping desolate mountains
uprooting oaks.
)appho fragment 566
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
1 short revealing frock7
&t's !ust my luck
your lips #ere made to mock8
-yric poetry begins #ith "and derives its name from$ short poems that #ere
either recited or sung to the strummings of a lyre a harp/like instrument. The
most famous of the ancient ,reek lyric poets is )appho #ho #as born on the
island of -esbos around 9:: B.. The homoerotic nature of some of her
poems have given our modern #ords %lesbian% and %sapphic% denotations
and connotations of female homosexuality. But )appho #as far from a one/
trick pony. The second poem above is timeless and might have been #ritten
by any modern girl or #oman #ho found herself caught in an un;attering
light #ith someone else #atching.
(illiam Butler <eats #as the most famous &rish poet of all time and his
poems of unre=uited love for the beautiful and dangerous revolutionary Maud
,onne helped make her almost as famous as he #as in &reland. The 0rst
poem belo# is <eats' loose translation of a Ronsard poem in #hich <eats
imagines the love of his life in her later years tending a #aning 0re. The
second poem %The (ild )#ans at .oole% is surely one of the most beautiful
poems ever #ritten in any language.
(hen <ou 1re >ld
by (illiam Butler <eats
(hen you are old and grey and full of sleep
1nd nodding by the 0re take do#n this book
1nd slo#ly read and dream of the soft look
<our eyes had once and of their shado#s deep?
Ho# many loved your moments of glad grace
1nd loved your beauty #ith love false or true
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you
1nd loved the sorro#s of your changing face?
1nd bending do#n beside the glo#ing bars
Murmur a little sadly ho# -ove ;ed
1nd paced upon the mountains overhead
1nd hid his face amid a cro#d of stars.
The (ild )#ans at .oole
by (illiam Butler <eats
The trees are in their autumn beauty
The #oodland paths are dry
@nder the >ctober t#ilight the #ater
Mirrors a still sky?
@pon the brimming #ater among the stones
1re nine and 0fty s#ans.
The nineteenth 1utumn has come upon me
)ince & 0rst made my count?
& sa# before & had #ell 0nished
1ll suddenly mount
1nd scatter #heeling in great broken rings
@pon their clamorous #ings.
& have looked upon those brilliant creatures
1nd no# my heart is sore.
1llAs changed since & hearing at t#ilight
The 0rst time on this shore
The bell/beat of their #ings above my head
Trod #ith a lighter tread.
@n#earied still lover by lover
They paddle in the cold
.ompanionable streams or climb the air?
Their hearts have not gro#n old?
Passion or con=uest #ander #here they #ill
1ttend upon them still.
But no# they drift on the still #ater
Mysterious beautiful?
1mong #hat rushes #ill they build
By #hat lakeAs edge or pool
Belight menAs eyes #hen & a#ake some day
To 0nd they have ;o#n a#ay7
http2CC###.examiner.comCimagesCblogC#ysi#ygCimageCbarretts/of/#impole/
street/norma/shearer.!pg
EliDabeth Barrett Bro#ning #as an early advocate of #omen's rights and a
staunch opponent of slavery. (hen she married Robert Bro#ning theirs
became the most famous coupling in the annals of English poetry.
Ho# Bo & -ove Thee7
by EliDabeth Barrett Bro#ning
Ho# do & love thee7 -et me count the #ays.
& love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach #hen feeling out of sight
Eor the ends of Being and ideal ,race.
& love thee to the level of every day's
Most =uiet need by sun and candlelight.
& love thee freely as men strive for Right?
& love thee purely as they turn from Praise.
& love #ith a passion put to use
&n my old griefs and #ith my childhood's faith.
& love thee #ith a love & seemed to lose
(ith my lost saintsF& love thee #ith the breath
)miles tears of all my life8Fand if ,od choose
& shall but love thee better after death.
1nne )exton #as a model #ho became a confessional poet #riting about
intimate aspects of her life after her doctor suggested that she take up
poetry as a form of therapy. )he studied under Robert -o#ell at Boston
@niversity #here )ylvia Plath #as one of her classmates. )exton #on the
PulitDer PriDe for Poetry in 5G9H but later committed suicide via carbon
monoxide poisoning. Topics she covered in her poems included adultery
masturbation menstruation abortion despair and suicide.
The Truth the Bead Ino#
by 1nne )exton
Eor my Mother born March 5G:4 died March 5G6G
and my Eather born Eebruary 5G:: died June 5G6G
,one & say and #alk from church
refusing the stiK procession to the grave
letting the dead ride alone in the hearse.
&t is June. & am tired of being brave.
(e drive to the .ape. & cultivate
myself #here the sun gutters from the sky
#here the sea s#ings in like an iron gate
and #e touch. &n another country people die.
My darling the #ind falls in like stones
from the #hitehearted #ater and #hen #e touch
#e enter touch entirely. +o one's alone.
Men kill for this or for as much.
1nd #hat of the dead7 They lie #ithout shoes
in the stone boats. They are more like stone
than the sea #ould be if it stopped. They refuse
to be blessed throat eye and knucklebone.
Mary EliDabeth Erye is perhaps the most mysterious poet #ho appears on
this page and perhaps in the annals of poetry. Rather than spoiling the
mystery & #ill present her poem 0rst then provide the details ...
Bo not stand at my grave and #eep
by Mary EliDabeth Erye
Bo not stand at my grave and #eep2
& am not there? & do not sleep.
& am a thousand #inds that blo#
& am the diamond glints on sno#
& am the sun on ripened grain
& am the gentle autumn rain.
(hen you a#aken in the morningAs hush
& am the s#ift uplifting rush
>f =uiet birds in circling ;ight.
& am the soft starshine at night.
Bo not stand at my grave and cry2
& am not there? & did not die.
This consoling elegy had a very mysterious genesis as it #as #ritten by Mary
EliDabeth Erye a Baltimore house#ife #ho lacked a formal education having
been orphaned at age three. )he had never #ritten poetry before. Erye #rote
the poem on a ripped/oK piece of a bro#n grocery bag in a burst of
compassion for a Je#ish girl #ho had ;ed the Holocaust only to receive ne#s
that her mother had died in ,ermany. The girl #as #eeping inconsolably
because she couldn't visit her mother's grave to share her tears of love and
bereavement. (hen the poem #as named Britain's most popular poem in a
5GG9 Book#orm poll #ith more than L:::: call/in votes despite not having
been one of the critics' nominations an unlettered orphan girl had seemingly
surpassed all England's many cultured and degreed ivory to#erists in the
public's estimation. 1lthough the poem's origin #as disputed for some time
"it had been attributed to +ative 1merican and other sources$ Erye's
authorship #as con0rmed in 5GGM after investigative research by 1bigail *an
Buren the ne#spaper columnist better kno#n as %Bear 1bby.% The poem has
also been called %& 1m% due to its rather biblical repetitions of the phrase.
Erye never formally published or copyrighted the poem so #e believe it is in
the public domain and can be shared although #e recommend that it not be
used for commercial purposes since Erye never tried to pro0t from it herself.
Bylan Thomas's elegy to his dying father is the best villanelle in the English
language in my opinion and one of the most po#erful and haunting poems
ever #ritten in any language. &n poems like %Bo +ot ,o ,entle into that ,ood
+ight% %&n My .raft or )ullen 1rt% and %Eern Hill% the (elsh poet ranks #ith
any poet #ho ever #rote in English. )everal of his poems can be found on the
Masters page of The HyperTexts.
Bo +ot ,o ,entle &nto That ,ood +ight
by Bylan Thomas
Bo not go gentle into that good night
>ld age should burn and rave at close of day?
Rage rage against the dying of the light.
Though #ise men at their end kno# dark is right
Because their #ords had forked no lightning they
Bo not go gentle into that good night.
,ood men the last #ave by crying ho# bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay
Rage rage against the dying of the light.
(ild men #ho caught and sang the sun in ;ight
1nd learn too late they grieved it on its #ay
Bo not go gentle into that good night.
,rave men near death #ho see #ith blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaDe like meteors and be gay
Rage rage against the dying of the light.
1nd you my father there on the sad height
.urse bless me no# #ith your 0erce tears & pray.
Bo not go gentle into that good night.
Rage rage against the dying of the light.
&n My .raft >r )ullen 1rt
by Bylan Thomas
&n my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
(hen only the moon rages
1nd the lovers lie abed
(ith all their griefs in their arms
& labour by singing light
+ot for ambition or bread
>r the strut and trade of charms
>n the ivory stages
But for the common #ages
>f their most secret heart.
+ot for the proud man apart
Erom the raging moon & #rite
>n these spindrift pages
+or for the to#ering dead
(ith their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers their arms
Round the griefs of the ages
(ho pay no praise or #ages
+or heed my craft or art.
Ed#ard Thomas is not as #ell/kno#n as some of the other poets on this page
but %1dlestrop% #as among the top ten most re=uested poems at Poetry
Please so he continues to have fans. %1dlestrop% is a some#hat mysterious
poem because nothing really happens and yet it seems extraordinarily sad.
1dlestrop
by Ed#ard Thomas
<es. & remember 1dlestropF
The name because one afternoon
>f heat the express/train dre# up there
@n#ontedly. &t #as late June.
The steam hissed. )omeone cleared his throat.
+o one left and no one came
>n the bare platform. (hat & sa#
(as 1dlestropFonly the name
1nd #illo#s #illo#/herb and grass
1nd meado#s#eet and haycocks dry
+o #hit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
1nd for that minute a blackbird sang
.lose by and round him mistier
Earther and farther all the birds
>f >xfordshire and ,loucestershire.
Percy Bysshe )helley and Mary (ollstonecraft )helley may have been the
most notorious married couple of their era. He #as a dashing romantic poet
and heretic #ho #rote a tract %The +ecessity of 1theism% that got him
expelled from >xford. He also #rote in favor of nonviolence and against
monarchies imperialism and #ar. )he #as the daughter of one of the earliest
feminist #riters of note Mary (ollstonecraft and the liberal philosopher
(illiam ,od#in. &n 5M53 at age seventeen she became romantically
involved #ith Percy )helley #ho #as married at the time but threatened to
commit suicide if she spurned his advances. They spent time together in
Erance and )#itDerland? #hen they returned Mary #as pregnant. Percy's
#ife Harriet #ho #as also pregnant committed suicide in 5M59? Percy and
Mary married soon thereafter. The same year they spent the summer #ith
-ord Byron. &t #as at this time that Mary conceived the story that became her
famous gothic novel Erankenstein. &n 5M44 Percy dro#ned at sea at age
thirty. (ho kno#s #hat he #ould have accomplished if he had lived longer
but he is still considered to be one of the greatest English poets. Here is one
especially lovely example of his #onderful touch #ith rhythm and rhyme2
Music (hen )oft *oices Bie "To F$
by Percy Bysshe )helley
Music #hen soft voices die
*ibrates in the memoryF
>dours #hen s#eet violets sicken
-ive #ithin the sense they =uicken.
Rose leaves #hen the rose is dead
1re heaped for the belovNd's bed?
1nd so thy thoughts #hen thou art gone
-ove itself shall slumber on.
The )no# Man
by (allace )tevens
>ne must have a mind of #inter
To regard the frost and the boughs
>f the pine/trees crusted #ith sno#?
1nd have been cold a long time
To behold the !unipers shagged #ith ice
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
>f the January sun? and not to think
>f any misery in the sound of the #ind
&n the sound of a fe# leaves
(hich is the sound of the land
Eull of the same #ind
That is blo#ing in the same bare place
Eor the listener #ho listens in the sno#
1nd nothing himself beholds
+othing that is not there and the nothing that is.
(allace )tevens had an ex=uisite touch #ith meter and may have #ritten
more great poems than any modern English language poet. He claimed that
the poet #as the %priest of the invisible% and seemed to see poetry replacing
religion in men's hearts and minds.
Edna )t. *incent Millay #as the 0rst #oman to #in a PulitDer PriDe for poetry.
)he #as openly bisexual and had aKairs #ith other #omen and married men.
(hen she 0nally married hers #as an open marriage. Her 5G4: poetry
collection 1 Ee# Eigs Erom Thistles dre# controversy for its novel exploration
of female sexuality. )he #as one of the earliest and strongest voices for #hat
became kno#n as feminism. >ne of the recurring themes of her poetry #as
that men might use her body but not possess her or have any claim over her.
"1nd perhaps that their desire for her body gave her the upper hand in
relationships.$

& Being Born a (oman and Bistressed
by Edna )t. *incent Millay
& being born a #oman and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind
1m urged by your propin=uity to 0nd
<our person fair and feel a certain Dest
To bear your body's #eight upon my breast2
)o subtly is the fume of life designed
To clarify the pulse and cloud the mind
1nd leave me once again undone possessed.
Think not for this ho#ever this poor treason
>f my stout blood against my staggering brain
& shall remember you #ith love or season
My scorn #ith pity F let me make it plain2
& 0nd this frenDy insuOcient reason
Eor conversation #hen #e meet again.
-ove &s +ot 1ll
by Edna )t. *incent Millay
-ove is not all2 &t is not meat nor drink
+or slumber nor a roof against the rain
+or yet a ;oating spar to men that sink
and rise and sink and rise and sink again.
-ove cannot 0ll the thickened lung #ith breath
+or clean the blood nor set the fractured bone?
<et many a man is making friends #ith death
even as & speak for lack of love alone.
&t #ell may be that in a diOcult hour
pinned do#n by need and moaning for release
or nagged by #ant past resolution's po#er
& might be driven to sell your love for peace
>r trade the memory of this night for food.
&t may #ell be. & do not think & #ould.
Millay is not !ust another penner of sonnets. Her sonnets sparkle #ith life and
lust amid the foreshado#ing of death. )he also has an interesting =uality of
resolve2 she seems #illing to give herself to men but not to give herself
a#ay. &f she is playing games she is playing them kno#ingly and probably
understands the rules better than her partners.
http2CC###.veerybooks.comCimgsC:::5G:.!pg
-ouise Bogan is one of the best unkno#n or under/kno#n poets of all time.
Her best poems make her a ma!or poet in my opinion. )he's a poet #ho
deserves to be read and studied. &n particular her %1fter the Persian% %Juan's
)ong% and %)ong for the -ast 1ct% are %must reads.%
)ong Eor The -ast 1ct
by -ouise Bogan
+o# that & have your face by heart & look
-ess at its features than its darkening frame
(here =uince and melon yello# as young ;ame
-ie #ith =uilled dahlias and the shepherd's crook.
Beyond a garden. There in insolent ease
The lead and marble 0gures #atch the sho#
>f yet another summer loath to go
1lthough the scythes hang in the apple trees.
+o# that & have your face by heart & look.
+o# that & have your voice by heart & read
&n the black chords upon a dulling page
Music that is not meant for music's cage
(hose emblems mix #ith #ords that shake and bleed.
The staves are shuttled over #ith a stark
@nprinted silence. &n a double dream
& must spell out the storm the running stream.
The beat's too s#ift. The notes shift in the dark.
+o# that & have your voice by heart & read.
+o# that & have your heart by heart & see
The #harves #ith their great ships and architraves?
The rigging and the cargo and the slaves
>n a strange beach under a broken sky.
> not departure but a voyage done8
The bales stand on the stone? the anchor #eeps
&ts red rust do#n#ard and the long vine creeps
Beside the salt herb in the lengthening sun.
+o# that & have your heart by heart & see.
Bante ,abriel Rossetti #as an English romantic poet painter illustrator and
translator. He #as also one of the founders of the Pre/Raphaelite
Brotherhood. His art #as characteriDed by sensuality and medieval
revivalism. He fre=uently #rote sonnets to accompany his #orks of visual art.
&n 5M6: he met EliDabeth )iddal "pictured above$ #ho became his model his
passion and eventually in 5M9: his #ife. But his sister .hristina Rossetti
may have been the better poet.
)udden -ight
by Bante ,abriel Rossetti
& have been here before
But #hen or ho# & cannot tell2
& kno# the grass beyond the door
The s#eet keen smell
The sighing sound the lights around the shore.
<ou have been mine beforeF
Ho# long ago & may not kno#2
But !ust #hen at that s#allo#'s soar
<our neck turned so
)ome veil did fallF& kne# it all of yore.
Has this been thus before7
1nd shall not thus time's eddying ;ight
)till #ith our lives our love restore
&n death's despite
1nd day and night yield one delight once more7
)ong
by .hristina Rossetti
(hen & am dead my dearest
)ing no sad songs for me?
Plant thou no roses at my head
+or shady cypress tree2
Be the green grass above me
(ith sho#ers and de#drops #et?
1nd if thou #ilt remember
1nd if thou #ilt forget.
& shall not see the shado#s
& shall not feel the rain?
& shall not hear the nightingale
)ing on as if in pain2
1nd dreaming through the t#ilight
That doth not rise nor set
Haply & may remember
1nd haply may forget.
(illiam Bunbar's #onderful %)#eet Rose of *irtue% is one of my favorite
poems from the good auld days of English poetry.
)#eet Rose of *irtue
by (illiam Bunbar P539:/5646Q
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
)#eet rose of virtue and of gentleness
delightful lily of youthful #antonness
richest in bounty and in beauty clear
and in every virtue that is held most dearR
except only that you are merciless.
&nto your garden today & follo#ed you?
there & sa# ;o#ers of freshest hue
both #hite and red delightful to see
and #holesome herbs #aving resplendentlyR
yet every#here no odor but bitter rue.
& fear that March #ith his last arctic blast
has slain my fair rose of pallid and gentle cast
#hose piteous death does my heart such pain
that if & could & #ould compose her roots againR
so comforting her bo#ering leaves have been.
.onrad 1iken in his best poems rivals (allace )tevens and Hart .rane as
masters of modern English poetic meter. 1iken's %Bread and Music% is one of
my very favorite poems regardless of era.
Bread and Music
by .onrad 1iken
Music & heard #ith you #as more than music
1nd bread & broke #ith you #as more than bread?
+o# that & am #ithout you all is desolate?
1ll that #as once so beautiful is dead.
<our hands once touched this table and this silver
1nd & have seen your 0ngers hold this glass.
These things do not remember you belovNd
1nd yet your touch upon them #ill not pass.
Eor it #as in my heart you moved among them
1nd blessed them #ith your hands and #ith your eyes?
1nd in my heart they #ill remember al#aysF
They kne# you once > beautiful and #ise.
B. H. -a#rence is better kno#n today for his novels than for his poetry but
%Piano% is an immortal poem and thus makes -a#rence an immortal poet.
Piano
by B. H. -a#rence
)oftly in the dusk a #oman is singing to me?
Taking me back do#n the vista of years till & see
1 child sitting under the piano in the boom of the tingling strings
1nd pressing the small poised feet of a mother #ho smiles as she sings.
&n spite of myself the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back till the heart of me #eeps to belong
To the old )unday evenings at home #ith #inter outside
1nd hymns in the coDy parlor the tinkling piano our guide.
)o no# it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor
(ith the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
>f childish days is upon me my manhood is cast
Bo#n in the ;ood of remembrance & #eep like a child for the past.
)ylvia Plath #as one of the 0rst and best of the modern confessional poets.
)he #on a PulitDer PriDe posthumously for her .ollected Poems after
committing suicide at the age of L5 something she seemed to have been
predicting in her #riting and practicing for in real life.
(inter landscape #ith rocks
by )ylvia Plath
(ater in the millrace through a sluice of stone
plunges headlong into that black pond
#here absurd and out/of/season a single s#an
;oats chaste as sno# taunting the clouded mind
#hich hungers to haul the #hite re;ection do#n.
The austere sun descends above the fen
an orange cyclops/eye scorning to look
longer on this landscape of chagrin?
feathered dark in thought & stalk like a rook
brooding as the #inter night comes on.
-ast summer's reeds are all engraved in ice
as is your image in my eye? dry frost
glaDes the #indo# of my hurt? #hat solace
can be struck from rock to make heart's #aste
gro# green again7 (ho'd #alk in this bleak place7
)ir Thomas (yatt has been credited #ith introducing the Petrarchan sonnet
into the English language. His father Henry (yatt had been one of Henry
*&&'s Privy .ouncilors and remained a trusted adviser #hen Henry *&&& came
to the throne in 56:G. Thomas (yatt follo#ed his father to court. But it
seems the young poet may have fallen in love #ith the kingAs mistress. Many
legends and con!ectures suggest that an unhappily married (yatt had a
relationship #ith 1nne Boleyn. Their ac=uaintance is certain but #hether or
not the t#o actually shared a romantic relationship remains unkno#n. But in
his poetry (yatt called his mistress 1nna and sometimes embedded pieces
of information that seem to correspond #ith her life. Eor instance this poem
might #ell have been #ritten about the IingAs claim on 1nne Boleyn2
(hoso -ist to Hunt
by )ir Thomas (yatt
(hoso list to hunt & kno# #here is an hind P(hoever longs to hunt & kno#
#here there is a female deerQ
But as for me alas & may no more.
The vain travail hath #earied me so sore
& am of them that farthest cometh behind.
<et may & by no means my #earied mind
Bra# from the deer but as she ;eeth afore
Eainting & follo#. & leave oK therefore
)ince in a net & seek to hold the #ind.
(ho list her hunt & put him out of doubt
1s #ell as & may spend his time in vain.
1nd graven #ith diamonds in letters plain
There is #ritten her fair neck round about2
+oli me tangere for .aesar's & am PTouch me not for & belong to the IingQ
1nd #ild for to hold though & seem tame.
+oli me tangere means %Touch me not.% 1ccording to the Bible this is #hat
Jesus said to Mary Magdalene #hen she tried to embrace him after the
resurrection. )o perhaps after her betrothal to Henry religious vo#s also
entered into the picture and left (yatt out.
They Elee from Me
by Thomas (yatt
They ;ee from me that sometime did me seek
(ith naked foot stalking in my chamber.
& have seen them gentle tame and meek
That no# are #ild and do not remember
That sometime they put themselves in danger
To take bread at my hand? and no# they range
Busily seeking #ith a continual change.
Thanked be fortune it hath been other#ise
T#enty times better? but once in special
&n thin array after a pleasant guise
(hen her loose go#n from her shoulders did fall
1nd she me caught in her arms long and small?
1nd there#ithal s#eetly did me kiss
1nd softly said Bear heart ho# like you this7
&t #as no dream & lay broad #aking.
But all is turned thorough my gentleness
&nto a strange fashion of forsaking?
1nd & have leave to go of her goodness
1nd she also to use ne#fangleness.
But since that & so kindly am served
& #ould fain kno# #hat she hath deserved.
&n my opinion Hart .rane's %*oyages% is the best love poem of all time and
the second/best love poem isn't even close. Because of its length %*oyages%
appears on the follo#ing page. >ther poems of .rane's such as %To Brooklyn
Bridge% and %The Broken To#er% also rank #ith the best poems in the English
language.
To Brooklyn Bridge
by Hart .rane
Ho# many da#ns chill from his rippling rest
The seagull's #ings shall dip and pivot him
)hedding #hite rings of tumult building high
>ver the chained bay #aters -ibertyF
Then #ith inviolate curve forsake our eyes
1s apparitional as sails that cross
)ome page of 0gures to be 0led a#ay?
FTill elevators drop us from our day ...
& think of cinemas panoramic sleights
(ith multitudes bent to#ard some ;ashing scene
+ever disclosed but hastened to again
Eoretold to other eyes on the same screen?
1nd Thee across the harbor silver/paced
1s though the sun took step of thee yet left
)ome motion ever unspent in thy strideF
&mplicitly thy freedom staying thee8
>ut of some sub#ay scuttle cell or loft
1 bedlamite speeds to thy parapets
Tilting there momently shrill shirt ballooning
1 !est falls from the speechless caravan.
Bo#n (all from girder into street noon leaks
1 rip/tooth of the sky's acetylene?
1ll afternoon the cloud/;o#n derricks turn ...
Thy cables breathe the +orth 1tlantic still.
1nd obscure as that heaven of the Je#s
Thy guerdon ... 1ccolade thou dost besto#
>f anonymity time cannot raise2
*ibrant reprieve and pardon thou dost sho#.
> harp and altar of the fury fused
"Ho# could mere toil align thy choiring strings8$
Terri0c threshold of the prophet's pledge
Prayer of pariah and the lover's cryF
1gain the traOc lights that skim thy s#ift
@nfractioned idiom immaculate sigh of stars
Beading thy pathFcondense eternity2
1nd #e have seen night lifted in thine arms.
@nder thy shado# by the piers & #aited?
>nly in darkness is thy shado# clear.
The .ity's 0ery parcels all undone
1lready sno# submerges an iron year ...
> )leepless as the river under thee
*aulting the sea the prairies' dreaming sod
@nto us lo#liest sometime s#eep descend
1nd of the curveship lend a myth to ,od.
>scar (ilde may be the most notorious %bad boy% in the annals of poetry and
literature. He #as ;amboyantly gay at a time #hen polite society #as prim
proper and violently homophobic. 1s a result he #as sentenced to hard labor
at Reading ,aol and died soon after his release. (ilde is !ustly famous today
for his disdain for %respectability% and dull and dulling conformity as his #itty
epigrams prove. But the lovely #onderfully moving poem belo# proves that
he #as also a true poet.
Re=uiescat
by >scar (ilde
Tread lightly she is near
@nder the sno#
)peak gently she can hear
The daisies gro#.
1ll her bright golden hair
Tarnished #ith rust
)he that #as young and fair
Eallen to dust.
-ily/like #hite as sno#
)he hardly kne#
)he #as a #oman so
)#eetly she gre#.
.oOn/board heavy stone
-ie on her breast
& vex my heart alone
)he is at rest.
Peace Peace she cannot hear
-yre or sonnet
1ll my life's buried here
Heap earth upon it.
To continue reading the Best Poems Ever "listed belo#$ please click the
hyperlinked page title ...
1fter the Persian by -ouise Bogan
Juan's )ong by -ouise Bogan
1 Red Red Rose by Robert Burns
& / Easter Hymn by 1. E. Housman
Those (inter )undays by Robert Hayden
The ,arden by EDra Pound
& Too )ing 1merica by -angston Hughes
1 Blessing by James (right
The Beath of a Toad by Richard (ilbur
The Broken To#er by Hart .rane
1t Melville's Tomb by Hart .rane
Bistant light by (alid IhaDindar
+on sum =ualis eram bonae sub regno .ynarae by Ernest Bo#son
-a Eiglia .he Piange "The (eeping ,irl$ by T. ). Eliot
-ullaby by (. H. 1uden
Bulce Et Becorum Est by (ilfred >#en
The Man (hose Pharynx (as Bad by (allace )tevens
Tea at the PalaD of Hoon by (allace )tevens
)unday Morning by (allace )tevens
The -ight of >ther Bays by Tom Moore
in Just/ by E. E. .ummings
Jerusalem by (illiam Blake
.radle )ong by (illiam Blake
1c=uainted (ith The +ight by Robert Erost
The Most of &t by Robert Erost
+othing ,old .an )tay by Robert Erost
Birective by Robert Erost
1 +oiseless Patient )pider by (alt (hitman
(hen & Heard The -earn'd 1stronomer by (alt (hitman
Bover Beach by Matthe# 1rnold
-uke Havergal by Ed#ard 1rlington Robinson
S&& "%The la#s of ,od the la#s of man%$ by 1. E. Housman
SSS*& "%Here dead lie #e%$ by 1. E. Housman
The Barkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy
)ong "%,o and catch a falling star%$ by John Bonne
(ulf and Ead#acer "1nonymous Ballad circa G9:/GG: 1B$ loose translation
by Michael R. Burch
.Tdmon's Hymn "circa 96M/9M: 1B$ loose translation by Michael R. Burch
.ome -ord and -ift by T. Merrill
)ometimes Mysteriously by -uis >mar )alinas
)arabande >n 1ttaining The 1ge >f )eventy/)even by 1nthony Hecht
The -ayers by )tanley IunitD
&n The Bark )eason by Richard Moore
+aming of Parts by Henry Reed
1n &rish 1irman Eoresees His Beath by (illiam Butler <eats
-eda and the )#an by (illiam Butler <eats
The Turtle by >gden +ash
The Hippopotamus by Hillaire Belloc
The -isteners by (alter Be -a Mare
Eor Her )urgery by Jack Butler
1 )upermarket in .alifornia by 1llen ,insberg
>n the Eve of His Execution by .hidiock Tichborne
Bagpipe Music by -ouis Mac+eice
Mouse's +est by John .lare
The (indhover by ,erard Manley Hopkins
>ne 1rt by EliDabeth Bishop
Hope &s 1 Thing (ith Eeathers by Emily Bickinson
My Heart -eaps @p (hen & Behold by (illiam (ords#orth
Madame -aBouche by T. Merrill
Time in Eternity by T. Merrill
The ,host )hip by 1. E. )tallings
The @nreturning by (ilfred >#en
To .elia by Ben Jonson
>n His )eventy/Eifth Birthday by (alter )avage -andor
To BaKodils by Robert Herrick
,o -ovely Rose by Edmund (aller
)ea Eevers by 1gnes (athall
)onnet 53H "%My love is as a fever longing still%$ by (illiam )hakespeare
Eull Eathom Eive by (illiam )hakespeare
The )keleton's Befense of .arnality by Jack Eoley
Bu by Janet Ienny
Eriday by 1nn Brysdale
(ord Made Elesh by 1nn Brysdale
1fter the Rain by Jared .arter
1lone by Edgar 1lan Poe
True -ove by Robert Penn (arren
Tom >' Bedlam's )ong anonymous ballad
*oyages by Hart .rane
His .onfession by the 1rchpoet? translated from the original medieval -atin
by Helen (addell
The High#ayman by 1lfred +oyes
Mariana by -ord 1lfred Tennyson
The -ove )ong of J. 1lfred Prufrock by T. ). Eliot