The Poem Reader

From east and south the holy clanOf Bishops gathered to a man;To Synod, called Pan-Anglican,In flocking crowds they came. Among them was a Bishop, whoHad lately been appointed toThe balmy isle of Rum-ti-Foo,And PETER was his name. His people - twenty-three in sum -They played the eloquent tum-tum,And lived on scalps served up, in rum -The only sauce they knew. When first good BISHOP PETER came(For...

The sun was shining on the sea,Shining with all his might:He did his very best to makeThe billows smooth and bright--And this was odd, because it wasThe middle of the night. The moon was shining sulkily,Because she thought the sunHad got no business to be thereAfter the day was done--"It's very rude of him," she said,"To come and spoil the fun!"The sea was wet as wet could be,The sands were dry as...

It freezes- all across a soundless skyThe birds go home. The governing dark's begun:The steadfast dark that waits not for a sun;The ultimate dark wherein the race shall die. Death, with his evil finger to his lip,Leers in at human windows, turning spyTo learn the country where his rule shall lieWhen he assumes perpetual generalship. The undefeated enemy, the chillThat shall benumb the voiceful ear...

What can be said in New Year rhymes,That’s not been said a thousand times?  The new years come, the old years go,We know we dream, we dream we know.  We rise up laughing with the light,We lie down weeping with the night.  We hug the world until it stings,We curse it then and sigh for wings.  We live, we love, we woo, we wed,We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead.  We laugh, we weep, we hope, we...

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,    The flying cloud, the frosty light:    The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new,    Ring, happy bells, across the snow:    The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind    For those that here we see no more;    Ring out the feud of r...

Good King Wences'las looked out,on the Feast of Stephen,When the snow lay round about,deep and crisp and even;Brightly shone the moon that night,tho' the frost was cruel,When a poor man came in sight,gath'ring winter fuel. "Hither, page, and stand by me,if thou know'st it, telling,Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?""Sire, he lives a good league hence,underneath the mountain;Ri...

Hark! The herald angels sing,“Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild,God and sinners reconciled.”Joyful, all ye nations rise,Join the triumph of the skies,With th’angelic host proclaim:“Christ is born in Bethlehem.”Hark! The herald angels sing,“Glory to the newborn King!” Christ by highest heav'n adored,Christ the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come,Offspring of a Virg...

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the houseNot a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds,While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap....

In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moanEarth stood hard as iron,Water like a stone;Snow had fallen, snow on snow,Snow on snow,In the bleak mid-winterLong ago. Our God, heaven cannot hold HimNor earth sustain,Heaven and earth shall flee awayWhen He comes to reign:In the bleak mid-winterA stable-place sufficedThe Lord God Almighty —Jesus Christ. Enough for Him, whom cherubimWorship night and da...

How like a winter hath my absence beenFrom thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! What old December's bareness everywhere! And yet this time remov'd was summer's time,The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,Bearing the wanton burthen of the prime,Like widow'd wombs after their lords' decease:Yet this abundant issue seem'd to meBut hope of orpha...

Go and open the door. Maybe outside there’sa tree, or a wood,a garden,or a magic city. Go and open the door. Maybe a dog’s rummaging. Maybe you’ll see a face,or an eye,or the pictureof a picture. Go and open the door. If there’s a fogit will clear. Go and open the door. Even if there’s onlythe darkness ticking,even if there’s onlythe hollow wind,even ifnothingis there,go and open the door. At leas...

My soul doth sing and my heart doth leap,When I catch sight of compost heap. Let me explain what there is to behold In this putrefying, festering mound of mould. Cut grass and leaves, bygone meals, Old tea bags, stale bread, potato peel, Bananas turned black and egg shells galore, All coated in powdery-blue fungal spore. All those things you don’t want, you just throw them here And nutritious soil...

Because I could not stop for Death —He kindly stopped for me —The Carriage held but just Ourselves —And Immortality. We slowly drove — He knew no hasteAnd I had put awayMy labor and my leisure too,For His Civility —We passed the School, where Children stroveAt Recess — in the Ring —We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain —We passed the Setting Sun —Or rather — He passed Us —The Dews drew quivering an...

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? — Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,— The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in...

Remember, remember!    The fifth of November,    The Gunpowder treason and plot;    I know of no reason    Why the Gunpowder treason    Should ever be forgot!    Guy Fawkes and his companions    Did the scheme contrive,    To blow the King and Parliament    All up alive.    Threescore barrels, laid below,    To prove old England's overthrow.    But, by God's providence, him they catch,    With a d...

I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The...

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,    Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless    With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,    And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;       To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells    With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flo...

The rustling of leaves under the feet in woods and under      hedges;The crumpling of cat-ice and snow down wood-rides,      narrow lanes and every street causeway;Rustling through a wood or rather rushing, while the wind      halloos in the oak-toop like thunder;The rustle of birds' wings startled from their nests or flying      unseen into the bushes;The whizzing of larger birds overhead in a wo...

That time of year thou mayst in me beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the cold,Bare ruin’d choirs where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such dayAs after sunset fadeth in the west,Which by and by black night doth take away,Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou seest the glowing of such fireThat on...

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;Lengthen night and shorten day;Every leaf speaks bliss to meFluttering from the autumn tree. I shall smile when wreaths of snowBlossom where the rose should grow;I shall sing when night’s decayUshers in a drearier day. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thepoemreader.co...

Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desireI hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice,I think I know enough of hateTo say that for destruction iceIs also greatAnd would suffice. . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thepoemreader.com

When I was a kid I loved to dig holesThere's a part of me that must have been mole. Holes got bigger and deeper as I aged. My utensils went from spoon to spade. A small depression is the start of a hole,you dig on down with no particular goal. Come back tomorrow and dig some more,dig and dig till you can't dig no more. Sometimes a neighbor kid would join in the fun. The dirt would fly and imaginat...

Between my finger and my thumb   The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound   When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:   My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds   Bends low, comes up twenty years away   Stooping in rhythm through potato drills   Where he was digging. The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft   Against the i...

A wood near Athens. A Fairy speaks. "How now, spirit? Whither wander you?" Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander every where, Swifter than the moon's sphere; And I serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green: The cowslips tall her pensioners be; In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favour...

When I was fair and young, then favor graced me. Of many was I sought their mistress for to be. But I did scorn them all and answered them therefore:Go, go, go, seek some other where; importune me no more. How many weeping eyes I made to pine in woe,How many sighing hearts I have not skill to show,But I the prouder grew and still this spake therefore:Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me...