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").

Beguiling

She is so beguilingThat when she beckonsI can run a mileIn twenty seconds.

© Roger McGough

oodbat Nightman

God bless all policemenand fighters of crime,May thieves go to jailfor a very long time.They've had a hard dayhelping clean up the town,Now they hang..

© Roger McGough

The Time I Like Best

The time I like best is 6amwhen the snow is 6 inches deepwhich I'm yet to discover'cause I'm under the coversfast, fast asleep.

© Roger McGough

Mrs Moon

Mrs Moonsitting up in the skylittle old ladyrock-a-byewith a ball of fading lightand silvery needlesknitting the night

© Roger McGough

The Leader

I wanna be the leaderI wanna be the leaderCan I be the leader?Can I? I can?Promise? Promise?Yippee I'm the leaderI'm the leaderOK what shall we do?

© Roger McGough

The Identification

So you think its Stephen?Then I'd best make sureBe on the safe side as it were.Ah, theres been a mistake. The hairyou see, its black, now Stephens..

© Roger McGough

Soil

we've ignored eachother for a long timeand I'm strictly an indoor mananytime to call would be the wrong timeI'll avoid you as long as I canWhen I was..

© Roger McGough

The Trouble With Snowmen

'The trouble with snowmen,'Said my father one year'They are no sooner madethan they just disappear.I'll build you a snowmanAnd I'll build it to..

© Roger McGough

Cake

i wanted one lifeyou wanted anotherwe couldn't have our cakeso we ate eachother.

© Roger McGough

Survivor

Everyday,I think about dying.About disease, starvation,violence, terrorism, war,the end of the world.It helpskeep my mind off things.

© Roger McGough

You And I

I explain quietly. Youhear me shouting. Youtry a new tack. Ifeel old wounds reopen.You see both sides. Isee your blinkers. Iam placatory. Yousense a..

© Roger McGough

First Day At School

A millionbillionwillion miles from homeWaiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)Why are they all so big, other children?So noisy? So much at home..

© Roger McGough

The Lesson

Chaos ruled OK in the classroomas bravely the teacher walked inthe nooligans ignored himhis voice was lost in the din'The theme for today is..

© Roger McGough

Let Me Die A Youngman's Death

Let me die a youngman's deathnot a clean and inbetweenthe sheets holywater deathnot a famous-last-wordspeaceful out of breath deathWhen I'm 73and in..

© Roger McGough

Roundel

In Shrewsbury Town e'en Hercules wox tired,Tired of the streets that end not up nor down;Tired of the Quarry, though seats may be hiredOf Shrewsbury..

© Wilfred Owen

A Palinode

Some little while ago, I had a moodWhen what we know as 'Nature' seemed to meSo sympathetic, ample, sweet, and goodThat I preferred it to Society.Not..

© Wilfred Owen

Sonnet: On Seeing A Piece Of Our Heavy Artillery Brought Into Action

Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm,Great Gun towering towards Heaven, about to curse;Sway steep against them, and for years rehearseHuge..

© Wilfred Owen

Sonnet To My Friend - With An Identity Disc

If ever I had dreamed of my dead nameHigh in the heart of London, unsurpassedBy Time for ever, and the Fugitive, Fame,There seeking a long sanctuary..

© Wilfred Owen

Shadwell Stair

I am the ghost of Shadwell Stair.Along the wharves by the water-house,And through the cavernous slaughter-house,I am the shadow that walks there.Yet..

© Wilfred Owen

My Shy Hand

My shy hand shades a hermitage apart, -O large enough for thee, and thy brief hours.Life there is sweeter held than in God's heart,Stiller than in..

© Wilfred Owen

The Calls [unfinished]

A dismal fog-hoarse siren howls at dawn.I watch the man it calls for, pushed and drawnBackwards and forwards, helpless as a pawn.But I'm lazy, and..

© Wilfred Owen

Antaeus: [a Fragment]

So neck to stubborn neck, and obstinate knee to knee,Wrestled those two; and peerless HeraclesCould not prevail, nor get at any vantage…So those huge..

© Wilfred Owen

Song Of Songs

Sing me at morn but only with your laugh;Even as Spring that laugheth into leaf;Even as Love that laugheth after Life.Sing me but only with your..

© Wilfred Owen

Maundy Thursday

Between the brown hands of a server-ladThe silver cross was offered to be kissed.The men came up, lugubrious, but not sad,And knelt reluctantly..

© Wilfred Owen

O World Of Many Worlds

O World of many worlds, O life of lives,What centre hast thou? Where am I?O whither is it thy fierce onrush drives?Fight I, or drift; or stand; or..

© Wilfred Owen