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Famous Short Water Poems. Short Water Poetry by Famous Poets

Famous Short Water Poems. Short Water Poetry by Famous Poets. A collection of the all-time best Water short poems

See also: Short Member Poems

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by Yosa Buson

Evening wind

 Evening wind:
water laps
 the heron's legs.


by Yosa Buson

Washing the hoe

 Washing the hoe--
ripples on the water;
 far off, wild ducks.


by Matsuo Basho

Awake at night

 Awake at night--
the sound of the water jar
 cracking in the cold.


by Kobayashi Issa

Ducks bobbing on the water

 Ducks bobbing on the water--
are they also, tonight,
hoping to get lucky?


by Charles Simic

Watermelons

 Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.


by

The Red Wheelbarrow

 so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.


by Paul Eluard

The River

 The river I have under my tongue,
Unimaginable water, my little boat,
And curtains lowered, let's speak.


by Ellis Parker Butler

Mary Had A Little Frog

 Mary had a little frog
 And it was water-soaked,
But Mary did not keep it long
 Because, of course, it croaked!


by Emily Dickinson

I could not drink it, Sweet,

 I could not drink it, Sweet,
Till You had tasted first,
Though cooler than the Water was
The Thoughtfullness of Thirst.


by Emily Dickinson

Declaiming Waters none may dread --

 Declaiming Waters none may dread --
But Waters that are still
Are so for that most fatal cause
In Nature -- they are full --


by Emily Dickinson

Though the great Waters sleep,

 Though the great Waters sleep,
That they are still the Deep,
We cannot doubt --
No vacillating God
Ignited this Abode
To put it out --


by Robert Bly

Watering the Horse

How strange to think of giving up all ambition!
Suddenly I see with such clear eyes
The white flake of snow
That has just fallen in the horse's mane!


by Emily Dickinson

Water, is taught by thirst.

 Water, is taught by thirst.
Land -- by the Oceans passed.
Transport -- by throe --
Peace -- by its battles told --
Love, by Memorial Mold --
Birds, by the Snow.


by Li Po

Waterfall at Lu-shan

 Sunlight streams on the river stones.
From high above, the river steadily plunges--

three thousand feet of sparkling water--
the Milky Way pouring down from heaven.


by Walt Whitman

Gliding Over All.

 GLIDING o’er all, through all, 
Through Nature, Time, and Space, 
As a ship on the waters advancing, 
The voyage of the soul—not life alone, 
Death, many deaths I’ll sing. 5


by Omar Khayyam

Irám indeed is gone

Irám indeed is gone with all its Rose,
And Jamshýd’s Sev’n-ring’d Cup where no one knows:
But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,
And still a Garden by the Water blows.


by Marina Tsvetaeva

Girlfriend

 "I will not part! -- There is no end!" She clings and clings...
And in the breast -- the rise
Of threatening waters,
Of notes...Steadfast: like an immutable
Mystery: we will part!


by Li Po

Autumn River Song

 The moon shimmers in green water.
White herons fly through the moonlight.

The young man hears a girl gathering water-chestnuts:
into the night, singing, they paddle home together.


by Emily Dickinson

These Fevered Days -- to take them to the Forest

 These Fevered Days -- to take them to the Forest
Where Waters cool around the mosses crawl --
And shade is all that devastates the stillness
Seems it sometimes this would be all --


by Richard Crashaw

Divine Epigrams: To our Lord, upon the Water Made Wine

 Thou water turn'st to wine, fair friend of life,
Thy foe, to cross the sweet arts of thy reign,
Distills from thence the tears of wrath and strife,
And so turns wine to water back again.


by Ezra Pound

The Bath-Tub

 As a bathtub lined with white porcelain, 
When the hot water gives out or goes tepid, 
So is the slow cooling of our chivalrous passion, 
O my much praised but-not-altogether-satisfactory lady.


by Robert Creeley

Water Music

 The words are a beautiful music.
The words bounce like in water.

Water music,
loud in the clearing

off the boats,
birds, leaves.

They look for a place
to sit and eat--

no meaning,
no point.


by Emily Dickinson

So I pull my Stockings off

 So I pull my Stockings off
Wading in the Water
For the Disobedience' Sake
Boy that lived for "or'ter"

Went to Heaven perhaps at Death
And perhaps he didn't
Moses wasn't fairly used --
Ananias wasn't --


by Emily Dickinson

To One denied the drink

 To One denied the drink
To tell what Water is
Would be acuter, would it not
Than letting Him surmise?

To lead Him to the Well
And let Him hear it drip
Remind Him, would it not, somewhat
Of His condemned lip?


by Emily Dickinson

Water makes many Beds

 Water makes many Beds
For those averse to sleep --
Its awful chamber open stands --
Its Curtains blandly sweep --
Abhorrent is the Rest
In undulating Rooms
Whose Amplitude no end invades --
Whose Axis never comes.


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