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").
The Pacifist
Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.
© Hilaire Belloc
The Night
Most Holy Night, that still dost keepThe keys of all the doors of sleep,To me when my tired eyelids closeGive thou repose.And let the far lament of..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Mirror
The mirror held your fair, my Fair,A fickle moment's space.You looked into mine eyes, and thereFor ever fixed your face.Keep rather to your..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Microbe
The Microbe is so very smallYou cannot make him out at all,But many sanguine people hopeTo see him through a microscope.His jointed tongue that lies..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Marmozet
The species Man and MarmozetAre intimately linked;The Marmozet survives as yet,But Men are all extinct.
© Hilaire Belloc
The Loser
He lost his money first of allAnd losing that is half the storyAnd later on he tried a fallWith fate, in things less transitoryHe lost his heart-and..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Llama
The Llama is a wooly sort of fleecy hairy goat,With an indolent expression and an undulating throatLike an unsuccessful literary man.And I know the..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Lion
The Lion, the Lion, he dwells in the Waste,He has a big head and a very small waist;But his shoulders are stark, and his jaws they are grim,And a..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Hippopotamus
I shoot the HippopotamusWith bullets made of platinum,Because if I use leaden onesHis hide is sure to flatten 'em.
© Hilaire Belloc
The Gnu
G stands for Gnu, whose weapon of defenceAre long, sharp, curling horns, and common sense.To these he adds a name so short and strong,That even hardy..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Frog
Be kind and tender to the Frog,And do not call him names,As 'Slimy skin,' or 'Polly-wog,'Or likewise 'Ugly James,'Or 'Gap-a-grin,' or..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Fragment
Towards the evening of her splendid dayThose who are little children now shall say(Finding this verse),'Who wrote it, Juliet?'And Juliet answer..
© Hilaire Belloc
The False Heart
I said to Heart, 'How goes it?' Heart replied:'Right as a Ribstone Pippin!' But it lied.
© Hilaire Belloc
The Face
A face Sir Joshua might have painted! Yea:Sir Joshua painted anything for pay . . .And after all you're painted every day.
© Hilaire Belloc
The Evenlode
I will not try to reach again,I will not set my sail alone,To moor a boat bereft of menAt Yarnton's tiny docks of stone.But I will sit beside the..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Elm
This is the place where Dorothea smiled.I did not know the reason, nor did she.But there she stood, and turned, and smiled at me:A sudden glory had..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Elephant
When people call this beast to mind,They marvel more and moreAt such a little tail behind,So large a trunk before.
© Hilaire Belloc
The Early Morning
The moon on the one hand, the dawn on the other:The moon is my sister, the dawn is my brother.The moon on my left and the dawn on my right.My..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Dromedary
The Dromedary is a cheerful bird:I cannot say the same about the Kurd.
© Hilaire Belloc
The Diamond
This diamond, Juliet, will adornEphemeral beauties yet unborn.While my strong verse, for ever new,Shall still adorn immortal you.
© Hilaire Belloc
The Death And Last Confession Of Wandering Peter
When Peter Wanderwide was youngHe wandered everywhere he would:All that he approved was sung,And most of what he saw was good.When Peter Wanderwide..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Catholic Sun
Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,There’s always laughter and good red wine.At least I’ve always found it so.Benedicamus Domino!
© Hilaire Belloc
The Bison
The Bison is vain, and (I write it with pain)The Door-mat you see on his headIs not, as some learned professors maintain,The opulent growth of a..
© Hilaire Belloc
The Birds
When Jesus Christ was four years oldThe angels brought Him toys of gold,Which no man ever had bought or sold.And yet with these He would not play.He..
© Hilaire Belloc
Tarantella
Do you remember an Inn,Miranda?Do you remember an Inn?And the tedding and the spreadingOf the straw for a bedding,And the fleas that tease in the..
© Hilaire Belloc