You Have No Enemies by Charles Mackay You have no enemies, you say? Alas! my friend, the boast is poor He who has mingled in the fray Of duty, that the brave endure, Must have made foes! If you have 6
In and Out of Time by Maya Angelou The sun has come. The mist has gone. We see in the distance... our long way home. I was always yours to have. 15 32
Going, Going by Philip Larkin I thought it would last my time— The sense that, beyond the town, There would always be fields and f Where the village louts could clim Such trees as were not cut down; 4 11
Reflections by R. S. Thomas The furies are at home in the mirror; it is their address Even the clearest water, if deep enough can drown. Never think to surprise them. 4
The Strongest of the Strange by Charles Bukowski you won’t see them often for wherever the crowd is they are not. those odd ones, not 3 25
Celia, Celia by Adrian Mitchell When I am sad and weary When I think all hope has gone When I walk along High Holborn I think of you with nothing on 1 12
The Jaguar by Ted Hughes The apes yawn and adore their flea The parrots shriek as if they were Like cheap tarts to attract the st Fatigued with indolence, tiger and Lie still as the sun. The boa-con 1 3
To the Sea by Philip Larkin To step over the low wall that div Road from concrete walk above the Brings sharply back something know The miniature gaiety of seasides. Everything crowds under the low ho 8
Friendly advice to a lot of young men by Charles Bukowski Go to Tibet. Ride a camel. Read the Bible. Dye your shoes blue. Grow a Beard. 16 42
A Song for Simeon by T. S. Eliot Lord, the Roman hyacinths are blo The winter sun creeps by the snow The stubborn season has made stand My life is light, waiting for the Like a feather on the back of my h 3
Come, and Be my Baby by Maya Angelou The highway is full of big cars going nowhere fast And folks is smoking anything that Some people wrap their lies around And you sit wondering 5 15
Journey to the Interior by Margaret Atwood There are similarities I notice: that the hills which the eyes make flat as a wall together, open as I move to let me through; become 8 23
“Doubt thou the stars are fire” by William Shakespeare Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love. 1 11
The Figure a Poem Makes by Robert Frost Abstraction is an old story with t Granted no one but a humanist much Then there is this wildness whereo It should be of the pleasure of a No tears in the writer, no tears i 1
The Pig by Ogden Nash The pig, if I am not mistaken; Supplies us sausage, ham, and baco Let others say his heart is big— I call it stupid of the pig. 1
Bone by Mary Oliver Understand, I am always trying to what the soul is, and where hidden, and what shape and so, last week, 5
When I Think About Myself by Maya Angelou When I think about myself, I almost laugh myself to death, My life has been one great big jok A dance that’s walked A song that’s spoke, 21 59
The Skunk by Seamus Heaney Up, black, striped and demasked li At a funeral mass, the skunk’s tai Paraded the skunk. Night after ni I expected her like a visitor. The refrigerator whinnied into sil 2 2
Fifth Philosopher’s Song by Aldous Huxley A million million spermatozoa All of them alive; Out of their cataclysm but one poo Dare hope to survive. And among that billion minus one 1 4
The Soldier, His Wife and the Bum by Charles Bukowski I was a bum in San Francisco but to go to a symphony concert along and the music was good but somethi audience was not and something about the orchestra 8
Fireflies by Rabindranath Tagore My fancies are fireflies, — Specks of living light twinkling in the dark. he voice of wayside pansies, that do not attract the careless g 2
A Flea and a Fly in a Flue by Ogden Nash A flea and a fly in a flue Were imprisoned, so what could the Said the fly, “let us flee!” “Let us fly!” said the flea. So they flew through a flaw in the
The Blackbird of Glanmore by Seamus Heaney On the grass when I arrive, Filling the stillness with life, But ready to scare off At the very first wrong move. In the ivy when I leave. 3 4
Miss Gee by W. H. Auden Let me tell you a little story About Miss Edith Gee; She lived in Clevedon Terrace At number 83. She’d a slight squint in her left 2 7
Messenger by Mary Oliver My work is loving the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hum equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there t Here the clam deep in the speckled 9
Where Does the Dance Begin, Where Does It End? by Mary Oliver Don’t call this world adorable, or It’s frisky, and a theater for mor The eyelash of lightning is neithe The struck tree burns like a pilla But the blue rain sinks, straight 3 2
The Otter by Seamus Heaney When you plunged The light of Tuscany wavered And swung through the pool From top to bottom. I loved your wet head and smashing
Toads by Philip Larkin Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life? Can’t I use my wit as a pitchfork And drive the brute off? Six days of the week it soils 1
roll the dice by Charles Bukowski if you’re going to try, go all the way. otherwise, don’t even start. if you’re going to try, go all the way. 5
Born Yesterday by Philip Larkin Tightly-folded bud, I have wished you something None of the others would: Not the usual stuff About being beautiful, 5
The Phoenix by Sylvia Townsend Warner Many authorities on bird life had It was a remarkably fine phoenix, It costs a great deal of money to For quite a while Mr. Poldero con But then business slackened. The 1 1
Death's Echo by W. H. Auden “O who can ever gaze his fill,” Farmer and fisherman say, “On native shore and local hill, Grudge aching limb or callus on th Father, grandfather stood upon thi 1
The Mask by Maya Angelou We wear the mask that grins and li It shades our cheeks and hides our This debt we pay to human guile With torn and bleeding hearts… We smile and mouth the myriad subt 4 22