1. My friend must be a Bird - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 10152 times on American Poems.

My friend must be a Bird --
Because it flies!
Mortal, my friend must be,
Because it dies!
Barbs has it, like a Bee!
Ah, curious friend!
Thou puzzlest me!(Read full poem)

My friend attacks my friend!
Oh Battle picturesque!
Then I turn Soldier too,
And he turns Satirist!
How martial is this place!
Had I a mighty gun
I think I'd shoot the human race
And then to glory run!(Read full poem)

3. Death is potential to that Man - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 2084 times on American Poems.

Death is potential to that Man
Who dies -- and to his friend --
Beyond that -- unconspicuous
To Anyone but God --

Of these Two -- God remembers
The longest -- for the friend --
Is integral -- and therefore
Itself dissolved -- of God --(Read full poem)

Candor -- my tepid friend --
Come not to play with me --
The Myrrhs, and Mochas, of the Mind
Are its iniquity --(Read full poem)

5. Dream Song 130: When I saw my friend covered with blood, I thought - written by John Berryman
From His Toy, His Dream, His Rest. Published in 1968. Read 1043 times on American Poems.

When I saw my friend covered with blood, I thought
This is the end of the dream, now I'll wake up.
That was more years ago
than I care to reckon, and my friend is not 
dying but adhering to an élite group
in California O.

Why did I... (Read full poem)

A shady friend -- for Torrid days --
Is easier to find --
Than one of higher temperature
For Frigid -- hour of Mind --

The Vane a little to the East --
Scares Muslin souls -- away --
If Broadcloth Hearts are firmer --
Than those of Organdy --

Who... (Read full poem)

7. Recorders Ages Hence. - written by Walt Whitman
From Leaves of Grass. Published in 1900. Read 1684 times on American Poems.

RECORDERS ages hence! 
Come, I will take you down underneath this impassive exterior—I will tell you what to
    say
	of
	me; 
Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of the tenderest lover, 
The friend, the lover’s portrait, of... (Read full poem)

I should not dare to leave my friend,
Because -- because if he should die
While I was gone -- and I -- too late --
Should reach the Heart that wanted me --

If I should disappoint the eyes
That hunted -- hunted so -- to see --
And could not bear to... (Read full poem)

9. Friend, your white beard sweeps the ground - written by Stephen Crane
From The Black Riders & Other Lines. Published in 1905. Read 2885 times on American Poems.

Friend, your white beard sweeps the ground.
Why do you stand, expectant?
Do you hope to see it
In one of your withered days?
With your old eyes
Do you hope to see
The triumphal march of justice?
Do not wait, friend!
Take your white beard
And your... (Read full poem)

And do not be indiscreet or unconventional. Play it safe.

Listen here. I've never played it safe
in spite of what the critics say.
Ask my imaginary brother, that waif,
that childhood best friend who comes to play
dress-up and stick-up and jacks and... (Read full poem)

11. If anybody's friend be dead - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 3473 times on American Poems.

If anybody's friend be dead
It's sharpest of the theme
The thinking how they walked alive --
At such and such a time --

Their costume, of a Sunday,
Some manner of the Hair --
A prank nobody knew but them
Lost, in the Sepulchre --

How warm, they... (Read full poem)

And where, friend Quo, lay you hiding
across malignant half my years or so?
One evil faery
it was workt night, with amoroso pleasing
menace, the panes shake
where Lie-by-the-fire is waiting for his cream.

A tiger by a torrent in rain,... (Read full poem)

13. A Prison gets to be a friend -- - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 2249 times on American Poems.

A Prison gets to be a friend --
Between its Ponderous face
And Ours -- a Kinsmanship express --
And in its narrow Eyes --

We come to look with gratitude
For the appointed Beam
It deal us -- stated as our food --
And hungered for -- the same --

We... (Read full poem)

Friend of my youth, let us talk of old times; 
Of the long lost golden hours. 
When "Winter" meant only Christmas chimes, 
And "Summer" wreaths of flowers. 
Life has grown old, and cold, my friend, 
And the winter now, means death. 
And... (Read full poem)

15. Dream Song 127: Again, his friend's death made the man sit still - written by John Berryman
From His Toy, His Dream, His Rest. Published in 1968. Read 1012 times on American Poems.

Again, his friend's death made the man sit still
and freeze inside—his daughter won first price—
his wife scowled over at him—
It seemed to be Hallowe'en.
His friend's death had been adjudged suicide,
which dangles a... (Read full poem)

To see her is a Picture --
To hear her is a Tune --
To know her an Intemperance
As innocent as June --
To know her not -- Affliction --
To own her for a Friend
A warmth as near as if the Sun
Were shining in your Hand.(Read full poem)

17. Karma - written by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Read 7023 times on American Poems.

Christmas was in the air and all was well
With him, but for a few confusing flaws
In divers of God's images. Because
A friend of his would neither buy nor sell,
Was he to answer for the axe that fell?
He pondered; and the reason for it was,
Partly,... (Read full poem)

There is another Loneliness
That many die without --
Not want of friend occasions it
Or circumstances of Lot

But nature, sometimes, sometimes thought
And whoso it befall
Is richer than could be revealed
By mortal numeral --(Read full poem)

19. With Mercy For The Greedy - written by Anne Sexton
From All My Pretty Ones. Published in 1962. Read 3362 times on American Poems.

for my friend Ruth, who urges me to make an
appointment for the Sacrament of Confesson

Concerning your letter in which you ask
me to call a priest and in which you ask
me to wear The Cross that you enclose;
your own cross,
your dog-bitten cross,
no... (Read full poem)

HOW solemn, as one by one, 
As the ranks returning, all worn and sweaty—as the men file by where I stand; 
As the faces, the masks appear—as I glance at the faces, studying the masks; 
(As I glance upward out of this page, studying you,... (Read full poem)

21. This Life - written by Grace Paley
From Begin Again, Collected Poems. Published in 2001. Read 2131 times on American Poems.

My friend tells me
a man in my house jumped off the roof
the roof is the eighth floor of this building
the roof door was locked   how did he manage?
his girlfriend had said   goodbye I'm leaving
he was 22
his mother and father were hurrying
at that... (Read full poem)

The Soul unto itself
Is an imperial friend --
Or the most agonizing Spy --
An Enemy -- could send --

Secure against its own --
No treason it can fear --
Itself -- its Sovereign -- of itself
The Soul should stand in Awe --(Read full poem)

23. My Friend, My Friend - written by Anne Sexton
Read 8373 times on American Poems.

Who will forgive me for the things I do?
With no special legend of God to refer to,
With my calm white pedigree, my yankee kin,
I think it would be better to be a Jew.

I forgive you for what you did not do.
I am impossibly quilty. Unlike you,
My... (Read full poem)

A Rat surrendered here
A brief career of Cheer
And Fraud and Fear.

Of Ignominy's due
Let all addicted to
Beware.

The most obliging Trap
Its tendency to snap
Cannot resist --

Temptation is the Friend
Repugnantly resigned
At last.(Read full poem)

25. I send Two Sunsets - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 4171 times on American Poems.

I send Two Sunsets --
Day and I -- in competition ran --
I finished Two -- and several Stars --
While He -- was making One --

His own was ampler -- but as I
Was saying to a friend --
Mine -- is the more convenient
To Carry in the Hand --(Read full poem)