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Best Famous Consorts Poems

Here is a collection of the all-time best famous Consorts poems. This is a select list of the best famous Consorts poetry. Reading, writing, and enjoying famous Consorts poetry (as well as classical and contemporary poems) is a great past time. These top poems are the best examples of consorts poems.

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Written by Andrew Marvell | Create an image from this poem

A Dialogue Between Thyrsis And Dorinda

 Dorinda
When Death, shall snatch us from these Kids,
And shut up our divided Lids,
Tell me Thyrsis, prethee do,
Whither thou and I must go.

Thyrsis
To the Elizium: (Dorinda) oh where i'st?

Thyrsis
A Chast Soul, can never mis't.

Dorinda
I know no way, but one, our home
Is our Elizium?

Thyrsis
Cast thine Eye to yonder Skie,
There the milky way doth lye;
'Tis a sure but rugged way,
That leads to Everlasting day.

Dorinda
There Birds may nest, but how can I,
That have no wings and cannot fly.

Thyrsis
Do not sigh (fair Nimph) for fire
Hath no wings, yet doth aspire
Till it hit, against the pole,
Heaven's the Center of the Soul.

Dorinda
But in Elizium how do they
Pass Eternity away.

Thyrsis
Ho, ther's, neither hope nor fear
Ther's no Wolf, no Fox, no Bear.
No need of Dog to fetch our stray,
Our Lightfoot we may give away;
And there most sweetly thine Ear
May feast with Musick of the Sphear.
How I my future state
By silent thinking, Antidate:
I preethe let us spend, our time come,
In talking of Elizium.

Thyrsis
Then I'le go on: There, sheep are full
Of softest grass, and softest wooll;
There, birds sing Consorts, garlands grow,
Cold winds do whisper,springs do flow.
There, alwayes is, a rising Sun,
And day is ever, but begun.
Shepheards there, bear equal sway,
And every Nimph's a Queen of May.

Dorinda
Ah me, ah me.

Thyrsis
Dorinda, why do'st Cry?

Dorinda
I'm sick, I'm sick, and fain would dye:
Convinc't me now, that this is true,
By bidding, with mee, all adieu
I cannot live, without thee, I
Will for thee,much more with thee dye.

Dorinda
Then let us give Corellia charge o'th Sheep,
And thou and I'le pick poppies and them steep
In wine, and drink on't even till we weep,
So shall we smoothly pass away in sleep.


Written by Rudyard Kipling | Create an image from this poem

The Merchantmen

 King Solomon drew merchantmen,
 Because of his desire
 For peacocks, apes, and ivory,
 From Tarshish unto Tyre,
 With cedars out of Lebanon
 Which Hiram rafted down;
 But we be only sailormen
 That use in London town.

Coastwise -- cross-seas -- round the world and back again --
 Where the paw shall head us or the full Trade suits --
Plain-sail -- storm-sail -- lay your board and tack again --
 And that's the way we'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots!

 We bring no store of ingots,
 Of spice or precious stones,
 But what we have we gathered
 With sweat and aching bones:
 In flame beneath the Tropics,
 In frost upon the floe,
 And jeopardy of every wind
 That does between them go.

 And some we got by purchase,
 And some we had by trade,
 And some we found by courtesy
 Of pike and carronade --
 At midnight, 'mid-sea meetings,
 For charity to keep,
 And light the rolling homeward-bound
 That rowed a foot too deep!

 By sport of bitter weather
 We're walty, strained, and scarred
 From the kentledge on the kelson
 To the slings upon the yard.
 Six oceans had their will of us
 To carry all away --
 Our galley's in the Baltic,
 And our boom's in Mossel Bay.

 We've floundered off the Texel,
 Awash with sodden deals,
 We've shipped from Valparaiso
 With the Norther at our heels:
 We're ratched beyond the Crossets
 That tusk the Southern Pole,
 And dipped our gunnels under
 To the dread Agulhas roll.

 Beyond all outer charting
 We sailed where none have sailed,
 And saw the land-lights burning
 On islands none have hailed;
 Our hair stood up for wonder,
 But, when the night was done,
 There danced the deep to windward
 Blue-empty'neath the sun!

 Strange consorts rode beside us
 And brought us evil luck;
 The witch-fire climbed our channels,
 And flared on vane and truck,
 Till, through the red tornado,
 That lashed us nigh to blind,
 We saw The Dutchman plunging,
 Full canvas, head to wind!

 We've heard the Midnight Leadsman
 That calls the black deep down --
 Ay, thrice we've heard The Swimmer,
 The Thing that may not drown.
 On frozen bunt and gasket
 The sleet-cloud drave her hosts,
 When, manned by more than signed with us
 We passed the Isle of Ghosts! 

 And north, amid the hummocks,
 A biscuit-toss below,
 We met the silent shallop
 That frighted whalers know;
 For, down a cruel ice-lane,
 That opened as he sped,
 We saw dead Hendrick Hudson
 Steer, North by West, his dead.

 So dealt God's waters with us
 Beneath the roaring skies,
 So walked His signs and marrvels
 All naked to our eyes:
 But we were heading homeward
 With trade to lose or make --
 Good Lord, they slipped behind us
 In the tailing of our wake!

 Let go, let go the anchors;
 Now shamed at heart are we
 To bring so poor a cargo home
 That had for gift the sea!
 Let go the great bow-anchor --
 Ah, fools were we and blind --
 The worst we stored with utter toil,
 The best we left behind!

Coastwise -- cross-seas -- round the world and back again,
 Whither flaw shall fail us or the Trades drive down:
Plain-sail -- storm-sail -- lay your board and tack again --
 And all to bring a cargo up to London Town!
Written by Rudyard Kipling | Create an image from this poem

The Coastwise Lights

 Our brows are bound with spindrift and the weed is on our knees;
Our loins are battered 'neath us by the swinging, smoking seas.
From reef and rock and skerry -- over headland, ness, and voe --
The Coastwise Lights of England watch the ships of England go!

Through the endless summer evenings, on the lineless, level floors;
Through the yelling Channel tempest when the siren hoots and roars --
By day the dipping house-flag and by night the rocket's trail --
As the sheep that graze behind us so we know them where they hail.

We bridge across the dark and bid the helmsman have a care,
The flash that wheeling 
 That use in London Town.

Coastwise -- cross-seas -- round the world and back again --
 Where the flaw shall head us or the full Trade suits --
Plain-sail -- storm-sail -- lay your board and tack again --
 And that's the way we'll pay Paddy Doyle for his boots!

We bring no store of ingots,
 Of spice or precious stones,
But that we have we gathered
 With sweat and aching bones:
In flame beneath the tropics,
 In frost upon the floe,
And jeopardy of every wind
 That does between them go.

And some we got by purchase,
 And some we had by trade,
And some we found by courtesy
 Of pike and carronade --
At midnight, 'mid-sea meetings,
 For charity to keep,
And light the rolling homeward-bound
 That rode a foot too deep.

By sport of bitter weather
 We're walty, strained, and scarred
From the kentledge on the kelson
 To the slings upon the yard.
Six oceans had their will of us
 To carry all away --
Our galley's in the Baltic,
 And our boom's in Mossel Bay!

We've floundered off the Texel,
 Awash with sodden deals,
We've slipped from Valparaiso
 With the Norther at our heels:
We've ratched beyond the Crossets
 That tusk the Southern Pole,
And dipped our gunnels under
 To the dread Agulhas roll.

Beyond all outer charting
 We sailed where none have sailed,
And saw the land-lights burning
 On islands none have hailed;
Our hair stood up for wonder,
 But, when the night was done,
There danced the deep to windward
 Blue-empty 'neath the sun!

Strange consorts rode beside us
 And brought us evil luck;
The witch-fire climbed our channels,
 And flared on vane and truck:
Till, through the red tornado,
 That lashed us nigh to blind,
We saw The Dutchman plunging,
 Full canvas, head to wind!

We've heard the Midnight Leadsman
 That calls the black deep down --
Ay, thrice we've heard The Swimmer,
 The Thing that may not drown.
On frozen bunt and gasket
 The sleet-cloud drave her hosts,
When, manned by more than signed with us,
 We passed the Isle o' Ghosts!

And north, amid the hummocks,
 A biscuit-toss below,
We met the silent shallop
 That frighted whalers know;
For, down a cruel ice-lane,
 That opened as he sped,
We saw dead Henry Hudson
 Steer, North by West, his dead.

So dealt God's waters with us
 Beneath the roaring skies,
So walked His signs and marvels
 All naked to our eyes:
But we were heading homeward
 With trade to lose or make --
Good Lord, they slipped behind us
 In the tailing of our wake!

Let go, let go the anchors;
 Now shamed at heart are we
To bring so poor a cargo home
 That had for gift the sea!
Let go the great bow-anchors --
 Ah, fools were we and blind --
The worst we stored with utter toil,
 The best we left behind!

Coastwise -- cross-seas -- round the world and back again,
 Whither flaw shall fail us or the Trades drive down:
Plain-sail -- storm-sail -- lay your board and tack again --
 And all to bring a cargo up to London Town!

Book: Reflection on the Important Things