BEST LOVED POEMS Read online

The Old Song by Charles Kingsley

  The Vampire by Rudyard Kipling

  A Woman’s Answer to the Vampire by Felicia Blake

  Drifting Sands and a Caravan by Yolande Langworthy

  The Day Is Done by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Aladdin by James Russell Lowell

  The Man with the Hoe by Edwin Markham

  Sea-Fever by John Masefield

  When I Am Old by Caroline Atherton Briggs Mason

  Anne Rutledge by Edgar Lee Masters

  The Greatest Battle by Joaquin Miller

  ’Tis the Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore

  Who Walks with Beauty by David Morton

  Ode by Arthur William O’Shaughnessy

  Solitude by Alexander Pope

  The Path that Leads to Nowhere by Corinne Roosevelt

  The Wind by Christina Georgina Rossetti

  Soliloquy from “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare

  Tomorrow and Tomorrow from “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare

  In Memoriam—Leo: A Yellow Cat by Margaret Sherwood

  Fate by Susan Marr Spalding

  The Long Ago by Benjamin F. Taylor

  Tears, Idle Tears by Alfred Tennyson

  Break, Break, Break by Alfred Tennyson

  What Is Charm? by Louisa Carroll Thomas

  Far from the Madding Crowd by Nixon Waterman

  Against Idleness and Mischief by Isaac Watts

  Who Has Known Heights by Mary Brent Whiteside

  Hyacinths to Feed Thy Soul, Att. to Moslih Eddin Saudi

  HUMOR AND SATIRE

  A Boston Toast by John C. Bossidy

  The Purple Cow by Gelett Burgess

  The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll

  The Mountain and the Squirrel by Ralph Waldo Emerson

  The Duel by Eugene Field

  The Policeman’s Lot by W. S. Gilbert

  Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog by Oliver Goldsmith

  The Pessimist by Ben King

  The Owl and the Pussy-cat by Edward Lear

  There Was a Little Girl by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  The pelican by Dixon Merritt

  Fleas by Ogden Nash

  What’s The Use by Ogden Nash

  Owed to New York by Byron Rufus Newton

  The Ballad of Yukon Jake by Edward E. Paramore, Jr.

  A Wise Old Owl by Edward Hersey Richards

  The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe

  Song by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

  The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service

  Sorrows of Werther by William Makepeace Thackeray

  Methuselah Anonymous

  Days of Birth Anonymous

  A Maxim Revised Anonymous

  OLD FAVORITE STORY POEMS

  Derelict by Young E. Allison

  The Mistletoe Bough by Thomas Haynes Bayly

  Cleopatra Dying by Thomas Stephens Collier

  The Face Upon the Floor by H. Antoine D’Arcy

  Lasca by Frank Desprez

  The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers by Felicia Hemans

  Casabianca by Felicia Hemans

  The Sands of Dee by Charles Kingsley

  The Three Fishers by Charles Kingsley

  The Man on the Flying Trapeze by George Leybourne

  Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Yussouf by James Russell Lowell

  Antony and Cleopatra by William Haynes Lytle

  A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore

  Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

  The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

  Lochinvar by Sir Walter Scott

  The Spell of the Yukon by Robert W. Service

  The Shooting of Dan McGrew by Robert W. Service

  The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson

  Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

  Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight by Rosa Hartwick Thorpe

  Barbara Frietchie by John Greenleaf Whittier

  Frankie and Johnny Anonymous

  Index of first lines

  Poems of Love

  YOU AND I My hand is lonely for your clasping, dear;

  My ear is tired waiting for your call.

  I want your strength to help, your laugh to cheer;

  Heart, soul and senses need you, one and all.

  I droop without your full, frank sympathy;

  We ought to be together—you and I;

  We want each other so, to comprehend

  The dream, the hope, things planned, or seen, or wrought.

  Companion, comforter and guide and friend,

  As much as love asks love, does thought ask thought.

  Life is so short, so fast the lone hours fly,

  We ought to be together, you and I.

  HENRY ALFORD

  HOW MANY TIMES

  DO I LOVE THEE, DEAR? How many times do I love thee, dear?

  Tell me how many thoughts there be

  In the atmosphere

  Of a new-fall’n year,

  Whose white and sable hours appear

  The latest flake of Eternity:

  So many times do I love thee, dear.

  How many times do I love again?

  Tell me how many beads there are

  In a silver chain

  Of evening rain,

  Unravell’d from the tumbling main,

  And threading the eye of a yellow star:

  So many times do I love again.

  THOMAS L. BEDDOES

  HER ANSWER Today, dear heart, but just today,

  The sunshine over all,

  The roses crimsoning the air

  Along the garden wall!

  Then let the dream and dreamer die

  Whate’er shall be, shall be—

  Today will still be thine and mine

  To all eternity.

  And oh, there is no glory, dear,

  When all the world is done;

  There is no splendor lasteth out

  The sinking of the sun;

  There is no thing that lasts, not one,

  When we have turned to clay,

  But this: you loved me—all the rest

  Fades with the world away.

  So little while, so little while,

  This world shall last for us:

  There is no way to keep it, dear,

  But just to spend it thus:

  There is no hand may stop the sand

  From flowing fast away,

  But his who turns the whole glass down

  And dreams ’tis all today!

  JOHN BENNETT

  IN A ROSE GARDEN A hundred years from now, dear heart,

  We shall not care at all,

  It will not matter then a whit,

  The honey or the gall.

  The summer days that we have known

  Will all forgotten be and flown;

  The garden will be overgrown

  Where now the roses fall.

  A hundred years from now, dear heart,

  We shall not mind the pain;

  The throbbing crimson tide of life

  Will not have left a stain.

  The song we sing together, dear,

  The dream we dream together here,

  Will mean no more than means a tear

  Amid a summer rain.

  A hundred years from now, dear heart,

  The grief will all be o’er;

  The sea of care will surge in vain

  Upon a careless shore.

  These glasses we turn down today

  Here at the parting of the way—

  We shall be wineless then as they,

  And shall not mind it more.

  A hundred years from now, dear heart

  We’ll neither know nor care

  What came of all life’s bitterness,

  Or followed love’s despair.

  Then fill the glasses up again,

  And kiss me through the rose-leaf rain;
/>   We’ll build one castle more in Spain,

  And dream one more dream there.

  JOHN BENNETT

  LOVE’S SECRET Never seek to tell thy love,

  Love that never told can be;

  For the gentle wind doth move

  Silently, invisibly.

  I told my love, I told my love,

  I told her all my heart,

  Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears,

  Ah! she did depart!

  Soon after she was gone from me,

  A traveller came by,

  Silently, invisibly:

  He took her with a sigh.

  WILLIAM BLAKE

  LIGHT The night has a thousand eyes,

  The day but one;

  Yet the light of the bright world dies

  With the dying sun.

  The mind has a thousand eyes,

  And the heart but one;

  Yet the light of a whole life dies

  When its love is done.

  FRANCIS W. BOURDILLON

  SONNET FROM THE PORTUGUESE First time he kissed me, he but only kiss’d

  The fingers of this hand wherewith I write;

  And ever since, it grew more clean and white,

  Slow to world-greetings, quick with its “Oh, list,”

  When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst

  I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,

  Than that first kiss. The second pass’d in height

  The first, and sought the forehead, and half miss’d,

  Half falling on the hair. Oh, beyond meed!

  That was the chrism of love, which love’s own crown,

  With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.

  The third upon my lips was folded down

  In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,

  I have been proud, and said, “My love, my own!”

  ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

  SUMMUM BONUM All the breath and the bloom of the year

  in the bag of one bee;

  All the wonder and wealth of the mine

  in the heart of one gem;

  In the core of one pearl all the shade and

  the shine of the sea;

  Breath and bloom, shade and shine,—

  wonder, wealth, and—how far above them—

  Truth, that’s brighter than gem,

  Truth, that’s purer than pearl—

  Brightest truth, purest trust in the universe—

  all were for me

  In the kiss of one girl.

  ROBERT BROWNING

  AULD LANG SYNE For auld lang syne, my dear,

  For auld lang syne,

  We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet

  For auld lang syne!

  Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

  And never brought to mind?

  Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

  And auld lang syne!

  And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,

  And surely I’ll be mine,

  And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet

  For auld lang syne!

  We twa hae run about the braes,

  And pou’d the gowans fine,

  But we’ve wander’d monie a weary fit

  Sin’ auld lang syne.

  We twa hae paidl’d in the burn

  Frae morning sun till dine,

  But seas between us braid hae roar’d

  Sin’ auld lang syne.

  And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere,

  And gie’s a hand o’ thine,

  And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught

  For auld lang syne!

  For auld lang syne, my dear,

  For auld lang syne,

  We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet

  For auld lang syne!

  ROBERT BURNS

  MY LUVE’S LIKE

  A RED, RED ROSE O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,

  That’s newly sprung in June:

  O my Luve’s like the melodie

  That’s sweetly played in tune!

  As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

  So deep in luve am I;

  And I will luve thee still, my dear,

  Till a’ the seas gang dry.

  Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

  And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

  I will luve thee still, my dear,

  While the sands o’ life shall run.

  And fare thee weel, my only Luve,

  And fare thee weel a while!

  And I will come again, my Luve,

  Though it were ten thousand mile.

  ROBERT BURNS

  JOHN ANDERSON, MY JO John Anderson, my jo, John,

  When we were first acquent,

  Your locks were like the raven,

  Your bonie brow was brent;

  But now your brow is beld, John,

  Your locks are like the snaw;

  But blessings on your frosty pow,

  John Anderson, my jo!

  John Anderson, my jo, John,

  We clamb the hill thegither;

  And monie a canty day, John,

  We’ve had wi’ ane anither:

  Now we maun totter down, John,

  But hand in hand we’ll go,

  And sleep thegither at the foot,

  John Anderson, my jo.

  ROBERT BURNS

  SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY She walks in beauty like the night

  Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

  And all that’s best of dark and bright

  Meets in her aspect and her eyes:

  Thus mellow’d to that tender light

  Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

  One shade the more, one ray the less,

  Had half impair’d the nameless grace

  Which waves in every raven tress,

  Or softly lightens o’er her face—

  Where thoughts serenely sweet express

  How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

  And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

  So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

  The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

  But tell of days in goodness spent,

  A mind at peace with all below,

  A heart whose love is innocent.

  LORD BYRON

  MAID OF ATHENS Maid of Athens, ere we part,

  Give, O, give me back my heart!

  Or, since that has left my breast,

  Keep it now, and take the rest!

  Hear my vow before I go.

  By those tresses unconfined,

  Woo’d by each Aegean wind;

  By those lids whose jetty fringe

  Kiss thy soft cheeks’ blooming tinge;

  By those wild eyes like the roe;

  By that lip I long to taste;

  By that zone-encircled waist;

  By all the token-flowers that tell

  What words can never speak so well;

  By love’s alternate joy and woe.

  Maid of Athens! I am gone,

  Think of me, sweet, when alone.

  Though I fly to Istambol,

  Athens holds my heart and soul.

  Can I cease to love thee? No!

  LORD BYRON

  OSSIAN’S SERENADE Oh, come with me in my little canoe,

  Where the sea is cairn, and the sky is blue!

  Oh, come with me, for I long to go

  To those isles where the mango apples grow!

  Oh, come with me and be my love!

  For thee the jungle depth I’ll rove;

  I’ll gather the honeycomb bright as gold,

  And chase the elk to its secret hold.

  Refrain:

  I’ll chase the antelope over the plain,

  The tiger’s cub I’ll bind with a chain,

  And the wild gazelle, with its silvery feet,

  I’ll give thee for a playmate sweet.

  I’ll climb the palm for the bia’s nest,

  Red peas I’ll gat
her to deck thy breast;

  I’ll pierce the cocoa’s cup for its wine,

  And haste to thee, if thou’lt be mine.

  Then come with me in my light canoe,

  While the sea is calm and the sky is blue,

  For should we linger another day,

  Storms may arise and love decay.

  Oh, come if the love thou hast for me

  Is pure and fresh as mine for thee—

  Fresh as the fountain under ground,

  When first ’tis by the lapwing found!

  Our sands are bare, and down their slope,

  The silvery-footed antelope,

  As gracefully and gaily springs,

  As o’er the marble courts of kings.

  MAJOR CALDER CAMPBELL

  SALLY IN OUR ALLEY Of all the girls that are so smart,

  There’s none like pretty Sally;

  She is the darling of my heart,

  And she lives in our alley.

  There is no lady in the land

  Is half so sweet as Sally;

  She is the darling of my heart,

  And she lives in our alley.

  Her father he makes cabbage-nets,

  And through the streets does cry ’em;

  Her mother she sells laces long

  To such as please to buy ’em:

  But sure such folks could ne’er beget

  So sweet a girl as Sally!

  She is the darling of my heart,

  And she lives in our alley.

  When she is by I leave my work,

  I love her so sincerely;

  My master comes like any Turk,

  And bangs me most severely—

  But let him bang his bellyful,

  I’ll bear it all for Sally;

  She is the darling of my heart,

  And she lives in our alley.

  Of all the days that’s in the week

  I dearly love but one day,

  And that’s the day that comes betwixt