Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
China 1899
She lies, a grave disdain all her defence,Too imperturbable for scorn. She hearsOnly the murmur of the flowing yearsThat thunder slowly on her shores..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Nemesis
All things must fade. There is for cities tallThe same tomorrow as for daffodils:Time's wind, that casts the seed, the petal spills.Grim London's..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Civilisation
One moment mankind rides the crested wave,A moment glorious, beyond recall;And then the wave, with slow and massive fall,Obliterates the beauty that..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Lovers
I thought, because we had been friends so long,That I knew all your dear lips dared intendBefore they dawned to speech. Our thoughts would blend,I..
© Arthur Henry Adams
A Spring Sonnet
Last night beneath the mockery of the moonI heard the sudden startled whisperingsOf wakened birds settling their restless wings;The North-east..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Sydney
In her grey majesty of ancient stoneShe queens it proudly, though the sun's caressHer piteous cheeks, ravished of bloom, confess,And her dark eyes..
© Arthur Henry Adams
A Pair Of Lovers In The Street
A PAIR of lovers in the street!I dare not mock: with reverence meetMy unforgetting heart I cheat.Ah, God, spare me—so soon againAt the barred door to..
© Arthur Henry Adams
Holy Russia
CROUCHED in the terrible land,The circle of pitiless ice,With frozen bloody feetAnd her pestilential summer'sFever-throb in her brow,Look, in her..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Fling Out The Flag
(For the Australian Labour Federation)FLING out the Flag! Let her flap and rise in the rush of the eager air,With the ring of the wild swan's wings..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Belgravia By Night
'Move on!''THE foxes have holes,And the birds of the air have nests,But where shall the heads of the sons of menBe laid, be laid?''Where the cold..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Hagar
SHE went along the road,Her baby in her arms,The night and its alarmsMade deadlier her load.Her shrunken breasts were dry;She felt the hunger..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Father Abe
(Song of the American Sons of Labour)The SongO WE knew so well, dear Father,When we answered to your call,And the Southern Moloch strickenShook and..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Analogy
(To ——)HAD you lived when a tyrant KingStrove to make all the slaves of one,With Nobles and with Churchmen youHad stood unflinching, pure and true,To..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Farewell To The Children
IN the early summer morningI stand and watch them come,The Children to the School-house;They chatter and laugh and hum.The little boys with..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
In The Sea-Gardens
(Sydney)'The Man of the Nation'YONDER the band is playingAnd the fine Young People walk.They are envying each other and talkingTheir pretty empty..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Labour — Capital — Land
IN that rich Archipelago of seaWith fiery hills, thick woods wherein the miasBrowses along the trees, and god-like menLeave monuments of speech too..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
To The Christians
TAKE, then, your paltry Christ,Your gentleman God.We want the carpenter's son,With his saw and hod.We want the man who lovedThe poor and the..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
To India
O INDIA, India, O my lovely land —At whose sweet throat the greedy English Snake,With fangs and lips that suck and never slake,Clings, while around..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
To England
ITHERE was a time when all thy sons were proudTo speak thy name,England, when Europe echoed back aloudThy fearless fame:When Spain reeled shattered..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Jesus
WHERE is poor Jesus gone?He sits with Dives now,And his dogs flesh their teethOn Lazarus below.Where is poor Jesus gone?He is with Magdalen.He doles..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Gordon's Grave
All the heat and the glow and the hush of the summer afternoon;the scent of the sweet-briar bush over bowing grass-blades and broom;the birds..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
The New Locksley Hall
'Forty Years After'COMRADE, yet a little further I would go before the nightCloses round and chills in darkness all the glorious sunset light —Yet a..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Post-Mortem
BURY me with clenched handsAnd eyes open wide,For in storm and struggle I lived,And in struggle and storm I died.
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
Song Of The Dispossessed
'BE with us by day, by night,O lover, O friend;Hold before us thy lightUnto the end!'See, all these children of oursStarved and ill-clad.Speak to thy..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams
To Japan
SIMPLE You were, and good. No kindlier heartBeat than the heart within your gentle breast.Labour You had, and happiness, and rest,And were the maid..
© Francis William Lauderdale Adams