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").

Portrait Of A Baby

He lay within a warm, soft worldOf motion. Colors bloomed and fled,Maroon and turquoise, saffron, red,Wave upon wave that broke and whirledTo vanish..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Drug-Shop, Or, Endymion In Edmonstoun

"Oh yes, I went over to Edmonstoun the other day and saw Johnny, mooning around as usual! He will never make his way."Letter of George Keats..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Fiddling Wood

Gods, what a black, fierce day! The clouds were iron,Wrenched to strange, rugged shapes; the red sun winkedOver the rough crest of the hairy woodIn..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Robert E. Lee

The man was loved, the man was idolized,The man had every just and noble gift.He took great burdens and he bore them well,Believed in God but did not..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Congressmen Came Out To See Bull Run

The congressmen came out to see Bull Run,The congressmen who like free shows and spectacles.They brought their wives and carriages along,They brought..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Hemp

(A Virginia Legend.)The Planting of the Hemp.Captain Hawk scourged clean the seas(Black is the gap below the plank)From the Great North Bank to the..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The White Peacock

(France -- Ancient Regime.)I.Go away!Go away; I will not confess to you!His black biretta clings like a hangman's cap; under his twitching fingers..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Winged Man

The moon, a sweeping scimitar, dipped in the stormy straits,The dawn, a crimson cataract, burst through the eastern gates,The cliffs were robed in..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Talk

Tobacco smoke drifts up to the dim ceilingFrom half a dozen pipes and cigarettes,Curling in endless shapes, in blue rings wheeling,As formless as our..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Campus Sonnets: May Morning

I lie stretched out upon the window-seatAnd doze, and read a page or two, and doze,And feel the air like water on me close,Great waves of sunny air..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Quality Of Courage

Black trees against an orange sky,Trees that the wind shook terribly,Like a harsh spume along the road,Quavering up like withered arms,Writhing like..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Road And Hills

I shall go awayTo the brown hills, the quiet ones,The vast, the mountainous, the rolling,Sun-fired and drowsy!My horse snuffs delicatelyAt the..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Young Blood

"But, sir," I said, "they tell me the man is like to die!" The Canon shook his head indulgently. "Young blood, Cousin," he boomed. "Young blood!..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Ghosts Of A Lunatic Asylum

Here, where men's eyes were empty and as brightAs the blank windows set in glaring brick,When the wind strengthens from the sea - and nightDrops like..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Breaking Point

It was not when temptation came,Swiftly and blastingly as flame,And seared me white with burning scars;When I stood up for age-long warsAnd held the..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Campus Sonnets: Before An Examination

The little letters dance across the page,Flaunt and retire, and trick the tired eyes;Sick of the strain, the glaring light, I riseYawning and..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Alexander Vi Dines With The Cardinal Of Capua

Next, then, the peacock, giltWith all its feathers. Look, what gorgeous dyesFlow in the eyes!And how deep, lustrous greens are splashed and..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Innovator

(A Pharaoh Speaks.)I said, "Why should a pyramidStand always dully on its base?I'll change it! Let the top be hid,The bottom take the apex-place!"And..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Mountain Whippoorwill

Up in the mountains, it's lonesome all the time,(Sof' win' slewin' thu' the sweet-potato vine.)Up in the mountains, it's lonesome for a..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Campus Sonnets: Talk

Tobacco smoke drifts up to the dim ceilingFrom half a dozen pipes and cigarettes,Curling in endless shapes, in blue rings wheeling,As formless as our..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Ballad Of William Sycamore [1790-1871]

My father, he was a mountaineer,His fist was a knotty hammer;He was quick on his feet as a running deer,And he spoke with a Yankee stammer.My mother..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

1936

All night they marched, the infantrymen under pack,But the hands gripping the rifles were naked boneAnd the hollow pits of the eyes stared, vacant..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

Dedication

To W. R. B.And so, to you, who always werePerseus, D'Artagnan, LancelotTo me, I give these weedy rhymesIn memory of earlier times.Now all those..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

The Lover In Hell

Eternally the choking steam goes upFrom the black pools of seething oil. . . .How merryThose little devils are! They've stolen the pitchforkFrom Bel..

© Stephen Vincent Benet

American Names

I have fallen in love with American names,The sharp names that never get fat,The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims,The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine..

© Stephen Vincent Benet