Explore all poems

Poked me once and said –
“Sing me a song!” I said
I don’t sing so well
Poked me twice and said –
“Write me a poem!” I said
I don’t write well either
Poked me thrice and said –
“Then what can you do?”
I said darling,...

Fresh tunes of new promises
A tiny buzz from loving smiles
And lo! The mutual melody
As hum by hum
Deeper you both fall
Until what we were
Is but an echo.
All these the wind whispers
Little whispers that break...

Happy the lab'rer in his Sunday clothes!
In light-drab coat, smart waistcoat, well-darn'd hose,
And hat upon his head, to church he goes;
As oft, with conscious pride, he downward throws
A glance upon the ample cabbage...

Where i would have fallen,
Now I only stumble
To the brother I would have struck
I suffice with an insult

I am yet to turn the other cheek
Or take a brother the extra mile
It may only have been yesterday
When I was...

I’ll tell you how the sun rose, —
A ribbon at a time.
The steeples swam in amethyst,
The news like squirrels ran.

The hills untied their bonnets,
The bobolinks begun.
Then I said softly to myself,
“That must have...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or...

I have robbed the garrulous streets,
Thieved a fair girl from their blight,
I have stolen her for a sacrifice
That I shall make to this night.

I have brought her, laughing,
To my quietly dreaming garden.
For what will be...

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of...

Squares, circles, and stars
invite me to play.
Lines, curves, and squiggles
show me the way.
Letters, numbers, and signs
never suffice to say
that you mean the world to me,
more than the light of day.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous illusion!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never...

He stands, arms folded,
the forest alive around him.
Sunlight filters through the green,
but he's calm, rooted,
like he belongs here.

Maybe he's thinking,
maybe just breathing,
but in this moment,
he's part of...

“It seems to me,” said Booker T.,
“It shows a mighty lot of cheek
To study chemistry and Greek
When Mister Charlie needs a hand
To hoe the cotton on his land,
And when Miss Ann looks for a cook,
Why stick your nose inside a...