Poems Jan

Stop all the clocks WH Auden From 'Twelve Songs', number IX Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good. Note: Also known as 'Funeral Blues' this poem was read in the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' by John Hannah. Auden was gay, so it is particularly appropriate that the poem is read at a funeral in the film by the gay partner of the deceased.

“Messy Room” by Shel Silverstein Whosever room this is should be ashamed! His underwear is hanging on the lamp. His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair, And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp. His workbook is wedged in the window, His sweater’s been thrown on the floor. His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV, And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door. His books are all jammed in the closet, His vest has been left in the hall. A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed, And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall. Whosever room this is should be ashamed! Donald or Robert or Willie or– Huh? You say it’s mine? Oh, dear, I knew it looked familiar! Subscribe to Hack Spirit! Get updates on the latest posts and more from Hack Spirit straight to your inbox. SUBSCRIBE I consent to receiving emails and personalized ads. “I Didn’t Go To Church Today” by Ogden Nash I didn’t go to church today, I trust the Lord to understand. The surf was swirling blue and white, The children swirling on the sand. He knows, He knows how brief my stay, How brief this spell of summer weather, He knows when I am said and done We’ll have plenty of time together “Now We Are Six” by A. A. Milne When I was One, I had just begun. When I was Two, I was nearly new. When I was Three I was hardly me. When I was Four, I was not much more. When I was Five, I was just alive. But now I am Six, I’m as clever as clever, So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever. QUIZ: What’s your hidden superpower? We all have a personality trait that makes us special… and important to the world. Discover YOUR secret superpower with my new quiz. Check out the quiz here. “The Rose Family” by Robert Frost The rose is a rose, And was always a rose. But the theory now goes That the apple’s a rose, And the pear is, and so’s The plum, I suppose. The dear only knows What will next prove a rose. You, of course, are a rose – But were always a rose. “When You Come” by Maya Angelou When you come to me, unbidden, Beckoning me To long-ago rooms, Where memories lie. Offering me, as to a child, an attic, Gatherings of days too few. Baubles of stolen kisses. Trinkets of borrowed loves. Trunks of secret words, I CRY. “Sonnet 29” by William Shakespeare When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, (Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate; For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. “It’s All I Have To Bring Today” by Emily Dickinson It’s all I have to bring today— This, and my heart beside— This, and my heart, and all the fields— And all the meadows wide— Be sure you count—should I forget Some one the sum could tell— This, and my heart, and all the Bees Which in the Clover dwell. “A Glimpse” by Walt Whitman A glimpse through an interstice caught, Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room around the stove late of a winter night, and I unremark’d seated in a corner, Of a youth who loves me and whom I love, silently approaching and seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand, A long while amid the noises of coming and going, of drinking and oath and smutty jest, There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little, perhaps not a word. “A Love Song for Lucinda” by Langston Hughes Love Is a ripe plum Growing on a purple tree. Taste it once And the spell of its enchantment Will never let you be. Love Is a bright star Glowing in far Southern skies. Look too hard And its burning flame Will always hurt your eyes. Love Is a high mountain Stark in a windy sky. If you Would never lose your breath Do not climb too high. Related Stories from Hack Spirit 10 classic signs he’s slowly falling for you (even if he doesn’t say it) 9 morning habits that indicate a high level of discipline 10 things high achievers say to themselves every single day “I Love You” by Carl Sandberg I love you for what you are, but I love you yet more for what you are going to be. I love you not so much for your realities as for your ideals. I pray for your desires that they may be great, rather than for your satisfactions, which may be so hazardously little. A satisfied flower is one whose petals are about to fall. The most beautiful rose is one hardly more than a bud wherein the pangs and ecstasies of desire are working for a larger and finer growth. Not always shall you be what you are now. You are going forward toward something great. I am on the way with you and therefore I love you. “Sonnet XLIII” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right; I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. “Defeated by Love” by Rumi The sky was lit by the splendor of the moon So powerful I fell to the ground Your love has made me sure I am ready to forsake this worldly life and surrender to the magnificence of your Being “Love Is A Place” by E.E. Cummings Love is a place & through this place of love move (with brightness of peace) all places yes is a world & in this world of yes live (skilfully curled) all worlds “Your Feet” by Pablo Neruda When I cannot look at your face I look at your feet. Your feet of arched bone, your hard little feet. I know that they support you, and that your sweet weight rises upon them. Your waist and your breasts, the doubled purple of your nipples, the sockets of your eyes that have just flown away, your wide fruit mouth, your red tresses, my little tower. But I love your feet only because they walked upon the earth and upon the wind and upon the waters, until they found me. “Never Give All The Heart” by W.B Yeats Never give all the heart, for love Will hardly seem worth thinking of To passionate women if it seem Certain, and they never dream That it fades out from kiss to kiss; For everything that’s lovely is But a brief, dreamy, kind delight. O never give the heart outright, For they, for all smooth lips can say, Have given their hearts up to the play. And who could play it well enough If deaf and dumb and blind with love? He that made this knows all the cost, For he gave all his heart and lost. “You Fit Into Me” by Margaret Atwood you fit into me like a hook into an eye a fish hook an open eye QUIZ: Are you ready to find out your hidden superpower? My epic new quiz will help you discover the truly unique thing you bring to the world. Click here to take my quiz. “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. “Risk” by Anais Nin And then the day came, when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. “Awakening In New York” by Maya Angelou Curtains forcing their will against the wind, children sleep, exchanging dreams with seraphim. The city drags itself awake on subway straps; and I, an alarm, awake as a rumor of war lie stretching into dawn unasked and unheeded. “Housekeeping” by Natasha Tretheway We mourn the broken things, chair legs wrenched from their seats, chipped plates, the threadbare clothes. We work the magic of glue, drive the nails, mend the holes. We save what we can, melt small pieces of soap, gather fallen pecans, keep neck bones for soup. Beating rugs against the house, we watch dust, lit like stars, spreading across the yard. Late afternoon, we draw the blinds to cool the rooms, drive the bugs out. My mother irons, singing, lost in reverie. I mark the pages of a mail-order catalog, listen for passing cars. All day we watch for the mail, some news from a distant place. “Church” by Jacqueline Woodson On Sundays, the preacher gives everyone a chance to repent their sins. Miss Edna makes me go to church. She wears a bright hat I wear my suit. Babies dress in lace. Girls my age, some pretty, some not so pretty. Old ladies and men nodding. Miss Edna every now and then throwing her hand in the air. Saying Yes, Lord and Preach! I sneak a pen from my back pocket, bend down low like I dropped something. The chorus marches up behind the preacher clapping and humming and getting ready to sing. I write the word HOPE on my hand. “September Tomatoes” by Karina Borowicz The whiskey stink of rot has settled in the garden, and a burst of fruit flies rises when I touch the dying tomato plants. Still, the claws of tiny yellow blossoms flail in the air as I pull the vines up by the roots and toss them in the compost. It feels cruel. Something in me isn’t ready to let go of summer so easily. To destroy what I’ve carefully cultivated all these months. Those pale flowers might still have time to fruit. My great-grandmother sang with the girls of her village as they pulled the flax. Songs so old and so tied to the season that the very sound seemed to turn the weather. “Good Bones” by Maggie Smith Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children. For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird. For every loved child, a child broken, bagged, sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world is at least half terrible, and for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you, though I keep this from my children. I am trying to sell them the world. Any decent realtor, walking you through a real shithole, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful. “The Peace Of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. QUIZ: What’s your hidden superpower? We all have a personality trait that makes us special… and important to the world. Discover YOUR secret superpower with my new quiz. Check out the quiz here. You may also like reading: How a regular guy became his own life coach (and how you can too) I was deeply unhappy…then I discovered this one Buddhist teaching What J.K Rowling can teach us about mental toughness Related Stories from Hack Spirit 10 classic signs he’s slowly falling for you (even if he doesn’t say it) 9 morning habits that indicate a high level of discipline 10 things high achievers say to themselves every single day Are you ready to unlock your true potential? 💥 As you reach the end of this article, don’t forget to take our revealing quiz, “What is your hidden superpower?”! 🚀 Unleash your inner superhero by rediscovering the powerful personality trait you possess, but may have lost touch with. This quiz will help you: Reveal the unique gifts you bring to the world 🌎 Embrace your authentic self 💫 Break free from society’s expectations 🚧 Your hidden superpower is waiting to be unleashed! Are you ready to embark on this (quick and fun!) journey of self-discovery? 🌟 Click on the link below to take the quiz and ignite your inner superhero today! 🔗🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️ Take the Quiz Now Jude Paler I am a poet with a positive outlook in life and a writer with a purpose in mind. I write to express my thoughts so that others will be inspired. MORE FROM: MINDFUL LIVING 10 classic signs he’s slowly falling for you (even if he doesn’t say it) by Tina Fey Last Updated January 26, 2024, 5:01 pm 9 morning habits that indicate a high level of discipline by Eliza Hartley January 21, 2024, 4:00 pm 10 things high achievers say to themselves every single day by Ethan Sterling January 18, 2024, 9:00 pm People who have mastered the art of living authentically usually display these 7 behaviors by Alexandra Plesa January 17, 2024, 8:00 pm My partner never allowed herself to feel anything but happiness. 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