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").

Sestina: Altaforte

Loquitur: En Bertrans de Born.Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was astirrer-up of strife.Eccovi!Judge ye!Have I dug him up again?The..

© Ezra Pound

Ione, Dead The Long Year

Empty are the ways,Empty are the ways of this landAnd the flowersBend over with heavy heads.They bend in vain.Empty are the ways of this landWhere..

© Ezra Pound

Ts'Ai Chi'H

The petals fall in the fountain,the orange-coloured rose-leaves,Their ochre clings to the stone.

© Ezra Pound

Albatre

This lady in the white bath-robe which she calls apeignoir,Is, for the time being, the mistress of my friend,And the delicate white feet of her..

© Ezra Pound

The Jewel Stairs' Grievance

The jewelled steps are already quite white with dew,It is so late that the dew soaks my gauze stockings,And I let down the crystal curtainAnd watch..

© Ezra Pound

Villanelle: The Psychological Hour

I had over prepared the event,that much was ominous.With middle-ageing careI had laid out just the right books.I had almost turned down the..

© Ezra Pound

The Summons

I can not bow to woo theeWith honey words and flower kissesAnd the dew of sweet half-truthsFallen on the grass of old quaint love-talesOf broidered..

© Ezra Pound

Statement Of Being

I am a grave poetic henThat lays poetic eggsAnd to enhance my temperamentA little quiet begs.We make the yolk philosophy,True beauty the albumen.And..

© Ezra Pound

Nicotine

Hymn to the DopeGoddess of the murmuring courts,Nicotine, my Nicotine,Houri of the mystic sports,trailing-robed in gabardine,Gliding where the breath..

© Ezra Pound

Grace Before Song

Lord God of heaven that with mercy dightTh'alternate prayer wheel of the night and lightEternal hath to thee, and in whose sightOur days as rain..

© Ezra Pound

The Fault Of It

Some may have blamed us that we cease to speakOf things we spoke of in our verses early,Saying: a lovely voice is such as such;Saying: that lady's..

© Ezra Pound

Ancient Wisdom, Rather Cosmic

So-shu dreamed,And having dreamed that he was a bird, a bee, and a butterfly,He was uncertain why he should try to feel like anything else,Hence his..

© Ezra Pound

Fan-Piece, For Her Imperial Lord

O fan of white silk,clear as frost on the grass-blade,You also are laid aside.

© Ezra Pound

Epilogue

O chansons foregoingYou were a seven days' wonder.When you came out in the magazinesYou created considerable stir in Chicago,And now you are stale..

© Ezra Pound

The Lake Isle

O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,Give me in due time, I beseech you, a little tobacco-shop,With the little bright boxespiled up neatly..

© Ezra Pound

Song

Winter is icummen in,Lhude sing Goddamm,Raineth drop and staineth slop,and how the wind doth ramm,Sing: Goddamm.Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,An ague..

© Ezra Pound

The Bath-Tub

As a bathtub lined with white porcelain,When the hot water gives out or goes tepid,So is the slow cooling of our chivalrous passion,O my much praised..

© Ezra Pound

Portrait D'Une Femme

Your mind and you are our Sargasso Sea,London has swept about you this score yearsAnd bright ships left you this or that in fee:Ideas, old gossip..

© Ezra Pound

The Garrett

Come, let us pity those who are better off than we are.Come, my friend, and remember that the rich have butlers and no friends,And we have..

© Ezra Pound

Cino

Italian Campagna 1309, the open roadBah! I have sung women in three cities,But it is all the same;And I will sing of the sun.Lips, words, and you..

© Ezra Pound

Further Instructions

Come, my songs, let us express our baser passions.Let us express our envy for the man with a steady job and no worry about the future.You are very..

© Ezra Pound

The Seeing Eye

The small dogs look at the big dogs;They observe unwieldy dimensionsAnd curious imperfections of odor.Here is the formal male group:The young men..

© Ezra Pound

The Plunge

I would bathe myself in strangeness:These comforts heaped upon me, smother me!I burn, I scald so for the new,New friends, new faces,Places!Oh to be..

© Ezra Pound

The Needle

Come, or the stellar tide will slip away.Eastward avoid the hour of its decline,Now! for the needle trembles in my soul!Here have we had the vantage..

© Ezra Pound

Salutation

O generation of the thoroughly smug and thoroughly uncomfortable,I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,I have seen them with untidy..

© Ezra Pound