1. Absence disembodies -- so does Death - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 1549 times on American Poems.

Absence disembodies -- so does Death
Hiding individuals from the Earth
Superposition helps, as well as love --
Tenderness decreases as we prove --(Read full poem)

the best often die by their own hand
just to get away,
and those left behind
can never quite understand
why anybody
would ever want to
get away
from
them(Read full poem)

3. Each Scar I'll keep for Him - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 1569 times on American Poems.

Each Scar I'll keep for Him
Instead I'll say of Gem
In His long Absence worn
A Costlier one

But every Tear I bore
Were He to count them o'er
His own would fall so more
I'll mis sum them.(Read full poem)

He found my Being -- set it up --
Adjusted it to place --
Then carved his name -- upon it --
And bade it to the East

Be faithful -- in his absence --
And he would come again --
With Equipage of Amber --
That time -- to take it Home --(Read full poem)

5. We miss Her, not because We see -- - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 2449 times on American Poems.

We miss Her, not because We see --
The Absence of an Eye --
Except its Mind accompany
Abridge Society

As slightly as the Routes of Stars --
Ourselves -- asleep below --
We know that their superior Eyes
Include Us -- as they go --(Read full poem)

We'll pass without the parting
So to spare
Certificate of Absence --
Deeming where

I left Her I could find Her
If I tried --
This way, I keep from missing
Those that died.(Read full poem)

7. As Frost is best conceived - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. Read 1225 times on American Poems.

As Frost is best conceived
By force of its Result --
Affliction is inferred
By subsequent effect --

If when the sun reveal,
The Garden keep the Gash --
If as the Days resume
The wilted countenance

Cannot correct the crease
Or counteract the stain... (Read full poem)

Long Years apart -- can make no
Breach a second cannot fill --
The absence of the Witch does not
Invalidate the spell --

The embers of a Thousand Years
Uncovered by the Hand
That fondled them when they were Fire
Will stir and understand --(Read full poem)

9. Tempestrousseau - written by Bill Knott
Read 548 times on American Poems.

The clock is dressed in drag, I mean it wears
space instead of its own proper aspect
but if it wore time, would it disappear
isn't visibility an effect 

of transvestism, that shield pastime whose
crosscasual aim unmasks the eye: must you
assume the... (Read full poem)

Executioner happy to explain
How his wristwatch works
As he shadows me on the street.
I call him that because he is grim and officious
And wears black.

The clock on the church tower
Had stopped at five to eleven.
The morning newspapers had no... (Read full poem)

11. Circe's Torment - written by Louise Gluck
Read 1378 times on American Poems.

I regret bitterly
The years of loving you in both
Your presence and absence, regret
The law, the vocation
That forbid me to keep you, the sea
A sheet of glass, the sun-bleached
Beauty of the Greek ships: how
Could I have power if
I had no... (Read full poem)

I looked toward the movie, the common dream,
The he and she in close-ups, nearer than life, 
And I accepted such things as they seem,

The easy poise, the absence of the knife, 
The near summer happily ever after, 
The understood question, the... (Read full poem)

13. I Know I Have Been Happiest - written by Dorothy Parker
From Enough Rope. Published in 1926. Read 6476 times on American Poems.

I know I have been happiest at your side;
But what is done, is done, and all's to be.
And small the good, to linger dolefully-
Gayly it lived, and gallantly it died.
I will not make you songs of hearts denied,
And you, being man, would have no tears... (Read full poem)

O dear sweet rosy 
     unattainable desire 
...how sad, no way 
     to change the mad 
cultivated asphodel, the 
     visible reality... 

and skin's appalling 
     petals--how inspired 
to be so Iying in the living 
     room drunk naked 
and... (Read full poem)

15. Out Of Hiding - written by Li-Young Lee
Read 1319 times on American Poems.

Someone said my name in the garden,

while I grew smaller
in the spreading shadow of the peonies,

grew larger by my absence to another,
grew older among the ants, ancient

under the opening heads of the flowers,
new to myself, and... (Read full poem)

Suddenly this defeat.
This rain.
The blues gone gray
And the browns gone gray
And yellow
A terrible amber.
In the cold streets
Your warm body.
In whatever room
Your warm body.
Among all the people
Your absence
The people who are always
Not you.


I... (Read full poem)

17. Glass - written by Robert Francis
Read 3168 times on American Poems.

Words of a poem should be glass
But glass so simple-subtle its shape
Is nothing but the shape of what it holds.

A glass spun for itself is empty,
Brittle, at best Venetian trinket.
Embossed glass hides the poem of its absence.

Words should... (Read full poem)

Words of a poem should be glass
But glass so simple-subtle its shape
Is nothing but the shape of what it holds.

A glass spun for itself is empty,
Brittle, at best Venetian trinket.
Embossed glass hides the poem or its absence.

Words should be... (Read full poem)

19. Absence - written by Amy Lowell
From Sword Blades & Poppy Seed. Read 2616 times on American Poems.

My cup is empty to-night,
Cold and dry are its sides,
Chilled by the wind from the open window.
Empty and void, it sparkles white in the moonlight.
The room is filled with the strange scent
Of wistaria blossoms.
They sway in the moon's... (Read full poem)

When I spread out my hand here today,
I catch no more than a ray
To feel of between thumb and fingers;
No lasting effect of it lingers.

There was one time and only the one
When dust really took in the sun;
And from that one intake of fire
All... (Read full poem)

21. Farm Boy After Summer - written by Robert Francis
Read 821 times on American Poems.

A seated statue of himself he seems.
A bronze slowness becomes him. Patently
The page he contemplates he doesn't see. 

The lesson, the long lesson, has been summer.
His mind holds summer, as his skin holds sun.
For once the homework, all of... (Read full poem)

In every presence there is absence.

When we're together, the spaces between
Threaten to enclose our bodies
And isolate our spirits.
The mirror reflects what we are not,
And we wonder if our mate
Suspects a fatal misreading
Of our original text,
Not... (Read full poem)

23. The Meeting - written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
From Birds Of Passage. Read 1543 times on American Poems.

After so long an absence 
At last we meet agin: 
Does the meeting give us pleasure, 
Or does it give us pain? 

The tree of life has been shaken, 
And but few of us linger now, 
Like the prophets two or three berries 
In the top of the... (Read full poem)

Remember the days of our first happiness,
how strong we were, how dazed by passion,
lying all day, then all night in the narrow bed,
sleeping there, eating there too: it was summer,
it seemed everything had ripened
at once.  And so hot we lay... (Read full poem)

25. Summer - written by Louise Gluck
Read 1068 times on American Poems.

Remember the days of our first happiness,
how strong we were, how dazed by passion,
lying all day, then all night in the narrow bed,
sleeping there, eating there too: it was summer,
it seemed everything had ripened
at once. And so hot we lay... (Read full poem)