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").
Apollo Laughs
'APOLLO laughs,' the proverb tells,Far echo of old oracles,A Delphic waif, —'Once in the year,Apollo laughs.' O laughter clearAs sunshine, blithe as..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Babushka
THOU whose sunny heart outglowsArctic snows;Russia's hearth-fire, cherishingCourage almost perishing;Torch that beacons overseaTill a world is at thy..
© Katharine Lee Bates
In The Oak
THE leaves and tassels of the oakWere golden-green with May,Pavilion whence forever brokeSome angel roundelay.A carol like a glory cameFrom topmost..
© Katharine Lee Bates
A Song Of Riches
What will you give to a barefoot lass,Morning with breath like wine?Wade, bare feet! In my wide morassStarry marigolds shine.Alms, sweet Noon, for a..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Children Of The War
SHRUNKEN little bodies, pallid baby faces,Eyes of staring terror, innocence defiled,Tiny bones that strew the sand of silent places,— This upon our..
© Katharine Lee Bates
George Macdonald
I HEARD him preach in Oxford years ago,A snowy-haired and tender-faced apostle.I watched the beech against the window blow,And listened to the..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Graves At Christiania
WE bore them their own wild heatherAnd ash-boughs jeweled red,There where they sleep together,Greatest of Norway's dead.More than the hush of..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Beyond
COLOSSAL orb of space,Sparkling with diamondOf countless star on star,All whirling with wild graceIn their enwoven danceIllimitably far,What lies..
© Katharine Lee Bates
At Stonehenge
Grim stones whose gray lips keep your secret well,Our hands that touch you touch an ancient terror,An ancient woe, colossal citadelOf some fierce..
© Katharine Lee Bates
A Mountain Storm
OUR blue sierras shone serene, sublime,When ghostly shapes came crowding up the air,Shadowing the landscape with some vast despair;And all was..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Freedom's Battle-Song
RED, white, blue, the flag that leads us on,Stripes as red as blood well shed by many a hero gone.Now 'tis ours to storm the towers of tyranny and..
© Katharine Lee Bates
England To America
And what of thee, O Lincoln's Land? What gloomIs darkening above the Sunset Sea?Vowed Champion of Liberty, deplumeThy war-crest, bow thy knee,Before..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Don'T You See?
The day was hotter than words can tell,So hot the jelly-fish wouldn't jell.The halibut went all to butter,And the catfish had only force to utterA..
© Katharine Lee Bates
April In September
WHAT song is in the sap of this brave oak-treeThat to the north-star faces,Ravened each June by caterpillar massesTill all its leaves are laces,Poor..
© Katharine Lee Bates
America To England
1899Who would trust England, let him lift his eyesTo Nelson, columned o'er Trafalgar Square,Her hieroglyph of duty, written whereThe roar of traffic..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Fodder For Cannon
Bodies glad, erect,Beautiful with youth,Life's elect,Nature's truth,Marching host on host,Those bright, unblemished ones,Manhood's boast,Feed them to..
© Katharine Lee Bates
New Year
WHITE year, white year,Muffled soft in snow,A diamond spray whose gems are goneBefore their grace we know,A crystal-coated spray whose hoursMelt when..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Glory
At the crowded gangway they kissed good-bye.He had half a mind to scold her.An officer's mother and not keep dryThe epaulet on his shoulder.He had..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Above The Battle
Honor and pity for the smitten field,The valorous ranks mown down like precious corn,Whose want must famish love morn after morn,Till Death, the good..
© Katharine Lee Bates
If You Could Come
My love, my love, if you could come once moreFrom your high place,I would not question you for heavenly lore,But, silent, take the comfort of your..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Anniversary Hymn
[sung to tune: "All Saints New"]Our fathers, in the years grown dim, reared slowly, wall by wallA holy dwelling-place for Him, that filleth all in..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Blood Road
The Old Year groaned as he trudged away,His guilty shadow black on the snow,And the heart of the glad New Year turned greyAt the road Time bade him..
© Katharine Lee Bates
Eavesdropping
THOUGH the winds but stir on their hoary thronesOf hemlock and pungent pine,All the whispering woodland tonesGossip of things divine, —Why God is..
© Katharine Lee Bates
America The Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies,For amber waves of grain,For purple mountain majestiesAbove the fruited plain!America! America!God shed His grace on..
© Katharine Lee Bates
#(Buddha) 21 Mustard Seeds
One day, a woman cameCarrying in her armsHer dead child and kept it,With tears, at Buddha’s feet.She cried and begged,“Give life to my child, ”He..
© Rajaram Ramachandran