Answer

Wert thou by all Affections sought,
And fairer then thou wouldst be thought:
Or had thine Eyes as many Darts
As thou believ'st they shoot at Hearts,
Yet if thy Love were paid to me,
I would not offer mine to thee.

Ide sooner court a Feavers heat,
Then her that owns a Flame as great;
She that my Love will entertain,
Must meet it with no lesse disdain.
For mutual Fires themselves destroy,
And willing Kisses yield no Joy.
I love thee not because alone
Thou canst all Beauty call thine own,

For My Husband Sleeping Alone

He's dead

the dog won't have to
sleep on his potatoes
any more to keep them
from freezing

he's dead
the old bastard—
He's a bastard because

there's nothing
legitimate in him any
more
he's dead

He's sick-dead


he's
a godforsaken curio
without
any breath in it

He's nothing at all
he's dead

Shrunken up to skin
Put his head on
one chair and his
feet on another and
he'll lie there
like an acrobat—

Love's beaten. He

The Storm-Flower

THE STORM-FLOWER BLOOMS BY THE OUTER MOAT
OF MY CASTLE OF LOVE, WHILE THE PERILOUS RAIN
SHRIEKS AND BEATS AT THE GRANITE WALLS ,
AT THE DOORS, AT EACH THICK WINDOW-PANE
BUT IN THE KEEP, STILL, STILL, AND DEEP
MY SWEET LOVE WAITS IN IVORY ROOMS :
SHE WEARS NEW SILK FROM FAIRY LOOMS :
OUR LIPS BURN SWEETLY, WITHOUT FEAR :
OUR NEST IS STILL. I HEAR HER SIGH.—
AND WHAT CARE I. IF THE STORM-FLOWER BLOOMS!

I love the little pond to mark at spring

I love the little pond to mark at spring
When frogs & toads are croaking round its brink
When blackbirds yellow bills gin first to sing
& green woodpecker rotten trees to clink
I love to see the cattle muse & drink
& water crinkle to the rude march wind
While two ash dotterels flourish on its brink
Bearing key bunches children run to find
& water buttercups they're forced to leave behind.

My Love She Is a Modest Girl

My love she wore a muslin cap and trim[m] ed wi' ribbons blue
What time the trees were full o' sap and meadows cowslips new
In meadows and on meadow banks in baulks and clover too
The white horse daisy's stand in ranks all silvered wi' the dew

My love she wore a pleasant gown and owned a rosy face
The prettiest girl o' half the town the finest i' the place
Her waist was sweet and sweet her size fleshy and fair not tall
Bright as the milkmaids were her eyes her neck white as the wall

Age Unfit for Love

Maidens tell me I am old;
Let me in my Glasse behold
Whether smooth or not I be,
Or if haire remaines to me.
Well, or be't or be't not so,
This for certainty I know;
Ill it fits old men to play,
When that Death bids come away.

The One I Love

The one I love
Is south of the great lakes
What shall I send you?
A tortoise shell hatpin with twin pearls,
With jade I'll braid and plait it.
I hear that you have another love—
I will break it, smash and burn it,
Smash and burn it,
Face into the wind, scatter its ashes.
From this day on
Nevermore will I love you.
My love for you is severed
Cocks crow, dogs bark.
My brother and his wife must find out.
Alas! Oh my!
Autumn winds sough, sough Dawn Wind hastens
The east at a blink whitening will find out!

Song

One sunny time in May
When lambs were sporting,
The sap ran in the spray
And I went courting,
And all the apple-boughs
Were bright with blossom,
I picked an early rose
For my love's bosom.

And then I met her friend,
Down by the water,
Who cried, “She's met her end,
That grey-eyed daughter,
That voice of hers is stilled.
Her beauty broken.”
Oh, me! my love is killed,
My love unspoken.

She was too sweet, too dear,
To die so cruel.
O Death, why leave me here
And take my jewel?

Oh, turn thy bow

Oh , turn thy bow,
Thy power we feel and know,
Fair Cupid, turn away thy bow:
They be those golden arrows,
Bring ladies all their sorrows,
And till there be more truth in men,
Never shoot at maid again.
Fountain-heads, and pathless groves,
Places which pale passion loves:
Moonlight walks, when all the fowls
Are warmly housed, save bats and owls;
A midnight bell, a parting groan,
These are the sounds we feed upon;
Then stretch our bones in a still gloomy valley,
Nothing's so dainty sweet as lovely melancholy.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - love poems