The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

My Suburban Girl

I know a sweet suburban girl,
She’s witty, bright and brief;
With dimples in her cheeks; and pearl
In rubies set, for teeth.

Beneath her glossy raven hair
There beams the hazel eye,
Bright as the star of evening there
Where the yellow sunbeams die.

Her breath is like a flower blown,
In fragrance and perfume;
Her voice seems from the blissful throne
Where their harps the angels tune.

Her waist is just a trifle more
Than a cubit in its girth;
But when there my arms I throw,
I’ve all there is of earth.

And when she turns her dimpled cheek
Toward me for a kiss,
I lose expression—cannot speak—
And take all there is of bliss.

Samuel Alfred Beadle

A Moment To Remember

A magic moment I remember:
I raised my eyes and you were there.
A fleeting vision, the quintessence
Of all that’s beautiful and rare.

I pray to mute despair and anguish
To vain pursuits the world esteems,
Long did I near your soothing accents,
Long did your features haunt my dreams.

Time passed. A rebel storm-blast scattered
The reveries that once were mine
And I forgot your soothing accents,
Your features gracefully divine.

In dark days of enforced retirement
I gazed upon grey skies above
With no ideals to inspire me,
No one to cry for, live for, love.

Then came a moment of renaissance,
I looked up - you again are there,
A fleeting vision, the quintessence
Of all that’s beautiful and rare.

Alexander Pushkin

Wanted

God wants you,
As I want you; 
It must come to pass,
Before I come to pass.
My heart still falters
When I think of you.

P.V.

Who Ever Loved, That Loved Not At First Sight?

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should love, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows, let it suffice,
What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?

Christopher Marlowe

An Equal Music

Perhaps this could have stayed unstated.
Had our words turned to other things
In the grey park, the rain abated,
Life would have quickened other strings.
I list your gifts in this creation:
Pen, paper, ink and inspiration,
Peace to the heart with touch or word,
Ease to the soul with note and chord.

How did that walk, those winter hours,
Occasion this? No lightning came;
Nor did I sense, when touched by flame,
Our story lit with borrowed powers -
Rather, by what our spirits burned,
Embered in words, to us returned.

Vikram Seth

Bygones

I walk to church. I sit, I’m forgiven,
And wonder whether my thoughts are just.
I feel dirty, worn, corrupted,
My prayers half-hearted, belief is a must.
The more I learn, the worse I feel,
Each waking day more difficult than the last.
Excuses made, I don’t know what’s real,
Mistakes I’ve made still haunt my past.

P.V.

She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

George Gordon Byron

Forgiven

You’ve given me my everything, all of which I don’t deserve;
You put me on this Earth to live, and faithfully I’ll serve.
Oh great, oh good, oh awesome Lord, please relieve me of my sin;
For through Christ’s dying blood and grace, I just wish to live for him.

From dust I came and to dust I’ll fall, as my time on this Earth ends;
Oh Holy one, oh righteous Lord, you forgave the sins of men.
My deceit, my lies, my darkest thoughts, from all of these I’m free;
Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, I yearn just to be with thee.

P.V.

Jenny Kissed Me

Jenny kissed me when we met, 
Jumping from the chair she sat in. 
Time, you thief, who love to get 
Sweets into your list, put that in.  
Say I’m weary, say I’m sad; 
Say that health and wealth have missed me; 
Say I’m growing old, but add —
Jenny kissed me!

James Henry Leigh Hunt

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W.H. Auden

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Robert Frost