From the Mountain by Wang Wei
Here there are others like me Sitting alone in meditation. Look out here from the city. All you will see is White Clouds. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry. Poetry Monster — the multilingual […]
For Mêng Hao-jan by Wang Wei
Never to see that true friend again. Han River gleams wide to the east. I might ask where his island’s found. River and hills. Empty is his place. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry. […]
Fine Apricot Lodge by Wang Wei
Fine apricot cut for roofbeam Fragrant cogongrass tie for eaves Not know ridgepole in cloud Go make people among rain Fine apricot was cut for the roofbeam, Fragrant cogongrass tied for the eaves. I know not when the cloud from this house Will go to make rain among the people. ————— The End And that’s […]
Fields and Gardens by the River Qi by Wang Wei
I dwell apart by the River Qi, Where the Eastern wilds stretch far without hills. The sun darkens beyond the mulberry trees; The river glistens through the villages. Shepherd boys depart, gazing back to their hamlets; Hunting dogs return following their men. When a man’s at peace, what business does he have? I shut fast […]
Farewell (II) by Wang Wei
Hill at mutual escort stop Day dusk shut wood door Spring grass next year green Prince offspring return not return We bid each other farewell beside the hill, As day meets dusk, I close the wooden gate. Next year, in spring, there will be green grass again, But will my honoured friend return? ————— The […]
Chungnan by Wang Wei
Middle-aged now, following the Way. Settled at evening near the Chungnan slopes. Delight, and I wander off by myself Searching for what I need to see alone. I climb up to the roots of the streams, Sit and watch the White Clouds pass, Meet the old man of the woods, Talk and laugh, forget to […]
Birds Calling in the Ravine by Wang Wei
I’m idle, as osmanthus flowers fall, This quiet night in spring, the hill is empty. The moon comes out and startles the birds on the hill, They don’t stop calling in the spring ravine. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — […]
An Evening in the Mountains by Wang Wei
After rain the empty mountain Stands autumnal in the evening, Moonlight in its groves of pine, Stones of crystal in its brooks. Bamboos whisper of washer-girls bound home, Lotus-leaves yield before a fisher-boat — And what does it matter that springtime has gone, While you are here, O Prince of Friends? ————— The End And […]
An Early Audience at the Palace of Light. (Harmonizing a poem for Secretary Jia Zhi.) by Wang Wei
The red-capped Cock-Man has just announced morning; The Keeper of the Robes brings Jade-Cloud Furs; Heaven’s nine doors reveal the palace and its courtyards; And the coats of many countries bow to the Pearl Crown. Sunshine has entered the giants’ carven palms; Incense wreathes the Dragon Robe: The audience adjourns-and the five-coloured edict Sets girdle-beads […]
A View of the Han River by Wang Wei
With its three southern branches reaching the Chu border, And its nine streams touching the gateway of Jing, This river runs beyond heaven and earth, Where the colour of mountains both is and is not. The dwellings of men seem floating along On ripples of the distant sky — These beautiful days here in Xiangyang […]
A Study by Wang Wei
Light cloud pavilion light rain Dark yard day weary open Sit look green moss colour About to on person clothes come There’s light cloud, and drizzle round the pavilion, In the dark yard, I wearily open a gate. I sit and look at the colour of green moss, Ready for people’s clothing to pick up. […]
A Song of Peach-Blossom River by Wang Wei
A fisherman is drifting, enjoying the spring mountains, And the peach-trees on both banks lead him to an ancient source. Watching the fresh-coloured trees, he never thinks of distance Till he comes to the end of the blue stream and suddenly- strange men! It’s a cave-with a mouth so narrow that he has to crawl […]
A Song of an Autumn Night. by Wang Wei
Under the crescent moon a light autumn dew Has chilled the robe she will not change — And she touches a silver lute all night, Afraid to go back to her empty room. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the […]
A Song of a Girl from Loyang by Wang Wei
There’s a girl from Loyang in the door across the street, She looks fifteen, she may be a little older. …While her master rides his rapid horse with jade bit an bridle, Her handmaid brings her cod-fish in a golden plate. On her painted pavilions, facing red towers, Cornices are pink and green with peach-bloom […]
A Song at Weicheng. by Wang Wei
A morning-rain has settled the dust in Weicheng; Willows are green again in the tavern dooryard…. Wait till we empty one more cup — West of Yang Gate there’ll be no old friends. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the […]
A Message to Commissioner Li At Zizhou by Wang Wei
From ten thousand valleys the trees touch heaven; On a thousand peaks cuckoos are calling; And, after a night of mountain rain, From each summit come hundreds of silken cascades. …If girls are asked in tribute the fibre they weave, Or farmers quarrel over taro fields, Preside as wisely as Wenweng did…. Is fame to […]
A Message from my Lodge at Wangchuan to Pei Di by Wang Wei
The mountains are cold and blue now And the autumn waters have run all day. By my thatch door, leaning on my staff, I listen to cicadas in the evening wind. Sunset lingers at the ferry, Supper-smoke floats up from the houses. …Oh, when shall I pledge the great Hermit again And sing a wild […]
A Green Stream. by Wang Wei
I have sailed the River of Yellow Flowers, Borne by the channel of a green stream, Rounding ten thousand turns through the mountains On a journey of less than thirty miles…. Rapids hum over heaped rocks; But where light grows dim in the thick pines, The surface of an inlet sways with nut-horns And weeds […]
A Farmhouse on the Wei River by Wang Wei
In the slant of the sun on the country-side, Cattle and sheep trail home along the lane; And a rugged old man in a thatch door Leans on a staff and thinks of his son, the herdboy. There are whirring pheasants, full wheat-ears, Silk-worms asleep, pared mulberry-leaves. And the farmers, returning with hoes on their […]
A Reply by Wang Wei
I have a place on the Chungnan slopes. Sitting there you can see the Mountains. No one there, no guests, the gate is closed. No plans all day, just time and silence. Nothing stops you gazing and dreaming. Why not come and try to find me there? ————— The End And that’s the End of […]
The War Films by Sir Henry Newbolt
The War Films by Sir Henry Newbolt O living pictures of the dead, O songs without a sound, O fellowship whose phantom tread Hallows a phantom ground — How in a gleam have these revealed The faith we had not found. We have sought God in a cloudy Heaven, We have passed by God on […]
The Black Hawk War of the Artists by Vachel Lindsay
Hawk of the Rocks, Yours is our cause to-day. Watching your foes Here in our war array, Young men we stand, Wolves of the West at bay. Power, power for war Comes from these trees divine; Power from the boughs, Boughs where the dew-beads shine, Power from the cones Yea, from the breath of the […]
Repression of War Experience by Siegfried Sassoon
Now light the candles; one; two; there’s a moth; What silly beggars they are to blunder in And scorch their wings with glory, liquid flame— No, no, not that,—it’s bad to think of war, When thoughts you’ve gagged all day come back to scare you; And it’s been proved that soldiers don’t go mad Unless […]
Epitaph On An Army of Mercenaries by A. E. Housman
These, in the day when heaven was falling, The hour when earth’s foundations fled, Followed their mercenary calling And took their wages and are dead. Their shoulders held the sky suspended; They stood, and earth’s foundations stay; What God abandoned, these defended, And saved the sum of things for pay. ————— The End And that’s […]
CIA Dope Calypso by Allen Ginsberg
In nineteen hundred forty-nine China was won by Mao Tse-tung Chiang Kai-shek’s army ran away They were waiting there in Thailand yesterday Supported by the CIA Pushing junk down Thailand way First they stole from the Meo Tribes Up in the hills they started taking bribes Then they sent their soldiers up to Shan Collecting […]
A Day on the Beach of War by Tony Stringfellow
A Day on the Beach of War by Tony Stringfellow A DAY ON THE BEACH OF WAR Soft and dry, The sand is warm under foot, Each step sinks like broken dreams And there are many footsteps behind them. This hot sand rubs between the toes And scratches under the eyelids. Lips are dry, Closed […]
The Paint-Kings by Washington Allston
Fair Ellen was long the delight of the young, No damsel could with her compare; Her charms were the theme of the heart and the tongue. And bards without number in extacies sung, The beauties of Ellen the fair. Yet cold was the maid; and tho’ legions advanced, All drill’d by Ovidean art, And languish’d, […]
Rosalie by Washington Allston
‘O POUR upon my soul again That sad, unearthly strain, That seems from other worlds to plain; Thus falling, falling from afar, As if some melancholy star Had mingled with her light her sighs, And dropped them from the skies! ‘No,—never came from aught below This melody of woe, That makes my heart to overflow, […]
On The Luxembourg Gallery by Washington Allston
There is a Charm no vulgar mind can reach. No critick thwart, no mighty master teach; A Charm how mingled of the good and ill! Yet still so mingled that the mystick whole Shall captive hold the struggling Gazer’s will, ‘Till vanquish’d reason own its full control. And such, oh Rubens, thy mysterious art, The […]
Eccentricity by Washington Allston
Alas, my friend! what hope have I of fame, Who am, as Nature made me, still the same? And thou, poor suitor to a bankrupt muse, How mad thy toil, how arrogant thy views! What though endued with Genius’ power to move The magick chords of sympathy and love, The painter’s eye, the poet’s fervid […]
Art by Washington Allston
O Art, high gift of Heaven! how oft defamed When seeming praised! To most a craft that fits, By dead, prescriptive Rule, the scattered bits Of gathered knowledge; even so misnamed By some who would invoke thee; but not so By him,-the noble Tuscan,-who gave birth To forms unseen of man, unknown to Earth, Now […]
America To Great Britain by Washington Allston
ALL hail! thou noble land, Our Fathers’ native soil! Oh, stretch thy mighty hand, Gigantic grown by toil, O’er the vast Atlantic wave to our shore! For thou with magic might Canst reach to where the light Of Phœbus travels bright The world o’er! The Genius of our clime, From his pine-embattled steep, Shall hail […]
Year’s End by Weldon Kees
Year’s End by Weldon Kees The state cracked where they left your breath No longer instrument. Along the shore The sand ripped up, and the newer blood Streaked like a vein to every monument. The empty smoke that drifted near the guns Where the stiff motor pounded in the mud Had the smell of a […]
The Upstairs Room by Weldon Kees
The Upstairs Room by Weldon Kees It must have been in March the rug wore through. Now the day passes and I stare At warped pine boards my father’s father nailed, At the twisted grain. Exposed, where emptiness allows, Are the wormholes of eighty years; four generations’ shoes Stumble and scrape and fall To the […]
The Smiles Of The Bathers by Weldon Kees
The Smiles Of The Bathers by Weldon Kees The smiles of the bathers fade as they leave the water, And the lover feels sadness fall as it ends, as he leaves his love. The scholar, closing his book as the midnight clock strikes, is hollow and old: The pilot’s relief on landing is no release. […]
The Furies by Weldon Kees
The Furies by Weldon Kees Not a third that walks beside me, But five or six or more. Whether at dusk or daybreak Or at blinding noon, a retinue Of shadows that no door Excludes.–One like a kind of scrawl, Hands scrawled trembling and blue, A harelipped and hunchbacked dwarf With a smile like a […]
The Doctor Will Return by Weldon Kees
The Doctor Will Return by Weldon Kees The surgical mask, the rubber teat Are singed, give off an evil smell. You seem to weep more now that heat Spreads everywhere we look. It says here none of us is well. The warty spottings on the figurines Are nothing you would care to claim. You seem […]
The Bell From Europe by Weldon Kees
The Bell From Europe by Weldon Kees The tower bell in the Tenth Street Church Rang out nostalgia for the refugee Who knew the source of bells by sound. We liked it, but in ignorance. One meets authorities on bells infrequently. Europe alone made bells with such a tone, Herr Mannheim said. The bell Struck […]
The Beach by Weldon Kees
The Beach by Weldon Kees Squat, unshaven, full of gas, Joseph Samuels, former clerk in four large cities, out of work, waits in the darkened underpass. In sanctuary, out of reach, he stares at the fading light outside: the rain beginning: hears the tide that drums along the empty beach. When drops first fell at […]
Round by Weldon Kees
Round by Weldon Kees “Wondrous life!” cried Marvell at Appleton House. Renan admired Jesus Christ “wholeheartedly.” But here dried ferns keep falling to the floor, And something inside my head Flaps like a worn-out blind. Royal Cortssoz is dead. A blow to the Herald-Tribune. A closet mouse Rattles the wrapper on the breakfast food. Renan […]