Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Kipling's Vermont

Kipling's Vermont
The summer like a rajah dies,
And every widowed tree
Kindles for Congregationalist eyes
An alien suttee.

227
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Introspective Reflection

Introspective Reflection
I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance
Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nouciance.

345
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Grandpa Is Ashamed

Grandpa Is Ashamed
A child need not be very clever
To learn that "Later, dear" means "Never."

211
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

I Do, I Will, I Have

I Do, I Will, I Have
How wise I am to have instructed the butler
to instruct the first footman to instruct the second
footman to instruct the doorman to …

225
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Good-By Now or Pardon My Gauntlet

Good-By Now or Pardon My Gauntlet
Bring down the moon for genteel Janet;
She's too refined for this gross planet.
She wears garments and you wear clothes…

249
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Family Court

Family Court
One would be in less danger
From the wiles of a stranger
If one's own kin and kith
Were more fun to be with.

360
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Crossing The Border

Crossing The Border
Senescence begins
And middle age ends
The day your descendents
Outnumber your friends.

230
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Come On In, The Senility Is Fine

Come On In, The Senility Is Fine
People live forever in Jacksonville and St. Petersburg and Tampa,
But you don't have to live forever to become a grampa.

250
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Biological Reflection

Biological Reflection
A girl whose cheeks are covered with paint
Has an advantage with me over one whose ain't.

202
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Children's Party

Children's Party
May I join you in the doghouse, Rover?
I wish to retire till the party's over.
Since three o'clock I've done my best
To entertai…

296
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

A Word to Husbands

A Word to Husbands
To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

188
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

Always Marry An April Girl

Always Marry An April Girl
Praise the spells and bless the charms,
I found April in my arms.
April golden, April cloudy,
Gracious, cruel, tender,…

296
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

A Lady Who Thinks She Is Thirty

A Lady Who Thinks She Is Thirty
Unwillingly Miranda wakes,
Feels the sun with terror,
One unwilling step she takes,
Shuddering to the mirror.

255
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

A Caution To Everybody

A Caution To Everybody
Consider the auk;
Becoming extinct because he forgot how to fly, and could only walk.
Consider man, who may well become extinct

326
Novalis
Novalis

Hymns to the Night :

Hymns to the Night :
Now I know when will come the last morning -- when the Light no more scares away
Night and Love -- when sleep shall be without waking, and …

318
Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash

À Bas Ben Adhem

À Bas Ben Adhem
My fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What's he there for?
The only answer I can find
Is, Reproduction of his k…

276
Novalis
Novalis

Hymns to the Night :

Hymns to the Night :
Must the morning always return? Will the despotism of the earthly never cease? Unholy
activity consumes the angel-visit of the Night. Will …

322
Novalis
Novalis

Hymns to the Night :

Hymns to the Night :
Before all the wondrous shows of the widespread space around him, what living,
sentient thing loves not the all-joyous light -- with its co…

387
Nazim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet

Some Advice To Those Who Will Serve Time In Prison

Some Advice To Those Who Will Serve Time In Prison
If instead of being hanged by the neck
you're thrown inside
for not giving up hope
in the worl…

347
Nazim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet

Things I Didn't Know I Loved

Things I Didn't Know I Loved
it's March th
I'm sitting by the window on the Prague-Berlin train
night is falling
I never knew I liked
ni…

375
Nazim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet

Our Eyes

Our Eyes
Our eyes
are limpid
drops of water.
In each drop exists
a tiny sign
of our genius
which has given life to cold i…

362
Nazim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet

On Living

On Living
I
Living is no laughing matter:
you must live with great seriousness
like a squirrel, for example--
I mean without looking for s…

385
Nazim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet

Last Will And Testament

Last Will And Testament
Comrades, if I don't live to see the day
-- I mean,if I die before freedom comes --
take me away
and bury me in a village…

327
Nazim Hikmet
Nazim Hikmet

Letters From A Man In Solitary

Letters From A Man In Solitary

I carved your name on my watchband
with my fingernail.
Where I am, you know,
I don't have a pearl-handled …

353