1. Dream Song 125: Bards freezing, naked, up to the neck in water - written by John Berryman
From His Toy, His Dream, His Rest. Published in 1968. Read 670 times on American Poems.

Bards freezing, naked, up to the neck in water,
wholly in dark, time limited, different from
initiations now:
the class in writing, clothed & dry & light,
unlimited time, till Poetry takes some,
nobody reads them though,

no trumpets, no... (Read full poem)

The black unicorn is greedy. 
The black unicorn is impatient. 
'The black unicorn was mistaken 
for a shadow or symbol
and taken
through a cold country 
where mist painted mockeries 
of my fury.
It is not on her lap where the horn rests 
but deep in... (Read full poem)

3. Tegner's Drapa - written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
From The Seaside and the Fireside. Read 675 times on American Poems.

Heard a voice, that cried, 
"Balder the Beautiful 
Is dead, is dead!" 
And through the misty air 
Passed like the mournful cry 
Of sunward sailing cranes.

I saw the pallid corpse 
Of the dead sun 
Borne through the Northern sky. 
Blasts... (Read full poem)

Ye aspiring ones, listen to the story of the unknown
Who lies here with no stone to mark the place.
As a boy reckless and wanton,
Wandering with gun in hand through the forest
Near the mansion of Aaron Hatfield,
I shot a hawk perched on the... (Read full poem)

5. To a Blackbird and His Mate Who Died in the Spring - written by Joyce Kilmer
From Trees and Other Poems. Published in 1914. Read 1002 times on American Poems.

(For Kenton)

An iron hand has stilled the throats
That throbbed with loud and rhythmic glee
And dammed the flood of silver notes
That drenched the world in melody.
The blosmy apple boughs are yearning
For their wild choristers'... (Read full poem)

Upon Bottle Miche the autre day
While yet the nuit was early,
Je met a homme whose barbe was grey,
Whose cheveaux long and curly.

“Je am a poete, sir,” dit he,
“Je live where tres grande want teems—
I’m faim, sir. Sil vous plait give me
Un... (Read full poem)

7. Tears - written by Lizette Woodworth Reese
Read 1825 times on American Poems.

When I consider Life and its few years --
A wisp of fog betwixt us and the sun;
A call to battle, and the battle done
Ere the last echo dies within our ears;
A rose choked in the grass; an hour of fears;
The gusts that past a darkening shore do... (Read full poem)

Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people.
Where do the black trees go that drink here?
Their shadows must cover Canada.

A little light is filtering from the water flowers.
Their leaves do not wish us to hurry:
They are round and flat and... (Read full poem)

9. What I can do -- I will - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 5718 times on American Poems.

What I can do -- I will --
Though it be little as a Daffodil --
That I cannot -- must be
Unknown to possibility --(Read full poem)

WHAT are those of the known, but to ascend and enter the Unknown? 
And what are those of life, but for Death?(Read full poem)

11. Black riders came from the sea. - written by Stephen Crane
From The Black Riders & Other Lines. Published in 1905. Read 29997 times on American Poems.

Black riders came from the sea.
There was clang and clang of spear and shield,
And clash and clash of hoof and heel,
Wild shouts and the wave of hair
In the rush upon the wind:
Thus the ride of sin.(Read full poem)

One of the ones that Midas touched
Who failed to touch us all
Was that confiding Prodigal
The reeling Oriole --

So drunk he disavows it
With badinage divine --
So dazzling we mistake him
For an alighting Mine --

A Pleader -- a Dissembler --
An... (Read full poem)

13. The Initiate - written by Charles Simic
From The Book of Gods and Devils. Published in 1990. Read 999 times on American Poems.

St. John of the Cross wore dark glasses
As he passed me on the street.
St. Theresa of Avila, beautiful and grave,
Turned her back on me.

"Soulmate," they hissed. "It's high time."

I was a blind child, a wind-up toy . . .
I was one of death's... (Read full poem)

curling them around
i hold their bodies in obscene embrace
thinking of everything but kinship.
collards and kale
strain against each strange other
away from my kissmaking hand and
the iron bedpot.
the pot is black.
the cutting board is... (Read full poem)

15. If - written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Read 700 times on American Poems.

Dear love, if you and I could sail away, 
With snowy pennons to the wind unfurled, 
Across the waters of some unknown bay, 
And find some island far from all the world;

If we could dwell there, ever more alone, 
While unrecorded years slip by... (Read full poem)

The Black Berry -- wears a Thorn in his side --
But no Man heard Him cry --
He offers His Berry, just the same
To Partridge -- and to Boy --

He sometimes holds upon the Fence --
Or struggles to a Tree --
Or clasps a Rock, with both His Hands --
But... (Read full poem)

17. So proud she was to die - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 2535 times on American Poems.

So proud she was to die
It made us all ashamed
That what we cherished, so unknown
To her desire seemed --
So satisfied to go
Where none of us should be
Immediately -- that Anguish stooped
Almost to Jealousy --(Read full poem)

Walking in the sky,
A man in strange black garb
Encountered a radiant form.
Then his steps were eager;
Bowed he devoutly.
"My Lord," said he.
But the spirit knew him not.(Read full poem)

19. As I Ponder’d in Silence. - written by Walt Whitman
From Leaves of Grass. Published in 1900. Read 33449 times on American Poems.

1
AS I ponder’d in silence, 
Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long, 
A Phantom arose before me, with distrustful aspect, 
Terrible in beauty, age, and power, 
The genius of poets of old lands,
As to me directing like flame its... (Read full poem)

A MARCH in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown; 
A route through a heavy wood, with muffled steps in the darkness; 
Our army foil’d with loss severe, and the sullen remnant retreating; 
Till after midnight glimmer upon us, the lights of... (Read full poem)

21. THE WITNESSES - written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
From Poems on Slavery. Read 3998 times on American Poems.

In Ocean's wide domains,
Half buried in the sands,
Lie skeletons in chains,
With shackled feet and hands.

Beyond the fall of dews,
Deeper than plummet lies,
Float ships, with all their crews,
No more to sink nor rise.

There the black Slave-ship... (Read full poem)

Taped to the wall of my cell are 47 pictures: 47 black
faces: my father, mother, grandmothers (1 dead), grand-
fathers (both dead), brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts,
cousins (1st and 2nd), nieces, and nephews.They stare
across the space at me... (Read full poem)

23. Of this is Day composed - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 1269 times on American Poems.

Of this is Day composed
A morning and a noon
A Revelry unspeakable
And then a gay unknown
Whose Pomps allure and spurn
And dower and deprive
And penury for Glory
Remedilessly leave.(Read full poem)

The long lines of diesels 
groan toward evening 
carrying off the breath 
of the living. 
The face of your house 
is black, 
it is your face, black 
and fire bombed 
in the first street wars, 
a black tooth planted in the earth 
of Michigan 
and... (Read full poem)

25. The going from a world we know - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 1815 times on American Poems.

The going from a world we know
To one a wonder still
Is like the child's adversity
Whose vista is a hill,
Behind the hill is sorcery
And everything unknown,
But will the secret compensate
For climbing it alone?(Read full poem)