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Best Famous Expenses Poems

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

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Written by Charles Bukowski | Create an image from this poem

Let It Enfold You

 either peace or happiness,
let it enfold you

when i was a young man
I felt these things were
dumb,unsophisticated.
I had bad blood,a twisted
mind, a pecarious
upbringing.

I was hard as granite,I
leered at the 
sun.
I trusted no man and
especially no
woman.

I was living a hell in
small rooms, I broke
things, smashed things,
walked through glass,
cursed.
I challenged everything,
was continually being
evicted,jailed,in and
out of fights,in and aout
of my mind.
women were something
to screw and rail
at,i had no male
freinds,

I changed jobs and
cities,I hated holidays,
babies,history,
newspapers, museums,
grandmothers,
marriage, movies,
spiders, garbagemen,
english accents,spain,
france,italy,walnuts and
the color 
orange.
algebra angred me,
opera sickened me,
charlie chaplin was a
fake
and flowers were for
pansies.

peace an happiness to me
were signs of
inferiority,
tenants of the weak
an
addled
mind.

but as I went on with
my alley fights,
my suicidal years,
my passage through
any number of 
women-it gradually
began to occur to
me
that I wasn't diffrent

from the
others, I was the same,

they were all fulsome
with hatred,
glossed over with petty
greivances,
the men I fought in
alleys had hearts of stone.
everybody was nudging,
inching, cheating for
some insignificant
advantage,
the lie was the
weapon and the
plot was
emptey,
darkness was the
dictator.

cautiously, I allowed
myself to feel good
at times.
I found moments of 
peace in cheap
rooms
just staring at the 
knobs of some
dresser
or listening to the
rain in the 
dark.
the less i needed
the better i 
felt.

maybe the other life had worn me 
down.
I no longer found
glamour
in topping somebody
in conversation.
or in mounting the
body of some poor
drunken female
whose life had 
slipped away into 
sorrow.

I could never accept
life as it was,
i could never gobble 
down all its
poisons
but there were parts,
tenous magic parts
open for the
asking.

I re formulated
I don't know when,
date,time,all
that
but the change
occured.
something in me
relaxed, smoothed
out.
i no longer had to 
prove that i was a 
man,

I did'nt have to prove
anything.

I began to see things:
coffe cups lined up
behind a counter in a 
cafe.
or a dog walking along
a sidewalk.
or the way the mouse
on my dresser top
stopped there
with its body,
its ears,
its nose,
it was fixed,
a bit of life
caught within itself
and its eyes looked 
at me
and they were
beautiful.
then- it was
gone.

I began to feel good,
I began to feel good
in the worst situations
and there were plenty
of those.
like say, the boss
behind his desk,
he is going to have
to fire me.

I've missed too many 
days.
he is dressed in a
suit, necktie, glasses,
he says, "i am going
to have to let you go"

"it's all right" i tell
him.

He must do what he
must do, he has a 
wife, a house, children.
expenses, most probably
a girlfreind.

I am sorry for him
he is caught.

I walk onto the blazing
sunshine.
the whole day is
mine
temporailiy,
anyhow.

(the whole world is at the
throat of the world,
everybody feels angry,
short-changed, cheated,
everybody is despondent,
dissillusioned)

I welcomed shots of
peace, tattered shards of
happiness.

I embraced that stuff
like the hottest number,
like high heels,breasts,
singing,the
works.

(dont get me wrong,
there is such a thing as cockeyed optimism
that overlooks all
basic problems justr for
the sake of
itself-
this is a sheild and a 
sickness.)

The knife got near my
throat again,
I almost turned on the
gas
again
but when the good
moments arrived
again
I did'nt fight them off
like an alley 
adversary.
I let them take me,
i luxuriated in them,
I bade them welcome
home.
I even looked into
the mirror
once having thought
myself to be
ugly,
I now liked what
I saw,almost
handsome,yes,
a bit ripped and
ragged,
scares,lumps,
odd turns,
but all in all,
not too bad,
almost handsome,
better at least than
some of those movie
star faces
like the cheeks of
a babys
butt.

and finally I discovered
real feelings fo
others,
unhearleded,
like latley,
like this morning,
as I was leaving,
for the track,
i saw my wif in bed,
just the 
shape of
her head there
(not forgetting
centuries of the living
and the dead and
the dying,
the pyarimids,
Mozart dead
but his music still 
there in the
room, weeds growing,
the earth turning,
the toteboard waiting for
me)
I saw the shape of my
wife's head,
she so still,
i ached for her life,
just being there
under the 
covers.

i kissed her in the,
forehead,
got down the stairway,
got outside,
got into my marvelous
car,
fixed the seatbelt,
backed out the
drive.
feeling warm to
the fingertips,
down to my
foot on the gas
pedal,
I entered the world
once
more,
drove down the 
hill
past the houses
full and emptey
of
people,
i saw the mailman,
honked,
he waved
back
at me.


Written by Rudyard Kipling | Create an image from this poem

Arithmetic on the Frontier

 A great and glorious thing it is
 To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
 Ere reckoned fit to face the foe --
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."

Three hundred pounds per annum spent
 On making brain and body meeter
For all the murderous intent
 Comprised in "villanous saltpetre!"
And after -- ask the Yusufzaies
What comes of all our 'ologies.

A scrimmage in a Border Station --
 A canter down some dark defile --
Two thousand pounds of education
 Drops to a ten-rupee jezail --
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

No proposition Euclid wrote,
 No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
 Or ward the tulwar's downward blow
Strike hard who cares -- shoot straight who can --
The odds are on the cheaper man.

One sword-knot stolen from the camp
 Will pay for all the school expenses
Of any Kurrum Valley scamp
 Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
But, being blessed with perfect sight,
Picks off our messmates left and right.

With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem,
 The troop-ships bring us one by one,
At vast expense of time and steam,
 To slay Afridis where they run.
The "captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap -- alas! as we are dear.
Written by Philip Larkin | Create an image from this poem

To Failure

 You do not come dramatically, with dragons
That rear up with my life between their paws
And dash me butchered down beside the wagons,
The horses panicking; nor as a clause
Clearly set out to warn what can be lost,
What out-of-pocket charges must be borne
Expenses met; nor as a draughty ghost
That's seen, some mornings, running down a lawn.

It is these sunless afternoons, I find
Install you at my elbow like a bore
The chestnut trees are caked with silence. I'm
Aware the days pass quicker than before,
Smell staler too. And once they fall behind
They look like ruin. You have been here some time.
Written by William Topaz McGonagall | Create an image from this poem

The Newport Railway

 Success to the Newport Railway,
Along the braes of the Silvery Tay,
And to Dundee straghtway,
Across the Railway Bridge o' the Silvery Tay,
Which was opened on the 12th of May,
In the year of our Lord 1879,
Which will clear all expenses in a very short time
Because the thrifty housewives of Newport
To Dundee will often resort,
Which will be to them profit and sport,
By bringing cheap tea, bread, and jam,
And also some of Lipton's ham,
Which will make their hearts feel light and gay,
And cause them to bless the opening day
Of the Newport Railway. 

The train is most beautiful to be seen,
With its long, white curling cloud of steam,
As the Train passes on her way
Along the bonnie braes o' the Silvery Tay. 

And if the people of Dundee
Should feel inclined to have a spree,
I am sure 'twill fill their hearts with glee
By crossing o'er to Newport,
And there they can have excellent sport,
By viewing the scenery beautiful and gay,
During the livelong summer day, 

And then they can return at night
With spirits light and gay,
By the Newport Railway,
By night or by day,
Across the Railway Gridge o' the Silvery Tay. 

Success to the undertakers of the Newport Railway,
Hoping the Lord will their labours repay,
And prove a blessing to the people
For many a long day
Who live near by Newport
On the bonnie braes o' the Silvery Tay.
Written by Robert Burns | Create an image from this poem

95. Address to the Unco Guid

 O YE wha are sae guid yoursel’,
 Sae pious and sae holy,
Ye’ve nought to do but mark and tell
 Your neibours’ fauts and folly!
Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill,
 Supplied wi’ store o’ water;
The heaped happer’s ebbing still,
 An’ still the clap plays clatter.


Hear me, ye venerable core,
 As counsel for poor mortals
That frequent pass douce Wisdom’s door
 For glaikit Folly’s portals:
I, for their thoughtless, careless sakes,
 Would here propone defences—
Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes,
 Their failings and mischances.


Ye see your state wi’ theirs compared,
 And shudder at the niffer;
But cast a moment’s fair regard,
 What maks the mighty differ;
Discount what scant occasion gave,
 That purity ye pride in;
And (what’s aft mair than a’ the lave),
 Your better art o’ hidin.


Think, when your castigated pulse
 Gies now and then a wallop!
What ragings must his veins convulse,
 That still eternal gallop!
Wi’ wind and tide fair i’ your tail,
 Right on ye scud your sea-way;
But in the teeth o’ baith to sail,
 It maks a unco lee-way.


See Social Life and Glee sit down,
 All joyous and unthinking,
Till, quite transmugrified, they’re grown
 Debauchery and Drinking:
O would they stay to calculate
 Th’ eternal consequences;
Or your more dreaded hell to state,
 Damnation of expenses!


Ye high, exalted, virtuous dames,
 Tied up in godly laces,
Before ye gie poor Frailty names,
 Suppose a change o’ cases;
A dear-lov’d lad, convenience snug,
 A treach’rous inclination—
But let me whisper i’ your lug,
 Ye’re aiblins nae temptation.


Then gently scan your brother man,
 Still gentler sister woman;
Tho’ they may gang a kennin wrang,
 To step aside is human:
One point must still be greatly dark,—
 The moving Why they do it;
And just as lamely can ye mark,
 How far perhaps they rue it.


Who made the heart, ’tis He alone
 Decidedly can try us;
He knows each chord, its various tone,
 Each spring, its various bias:
Then at the balance let’s be mute,
 We never can adjust it;
What’s done we partly may compute,
 But know not what’s resisted.


Written by William Cowper | Create an image from this poem

The Christian

 Honor and happiness unite
To make the Christian's name a praise;
How fair the scene, how clear the light,
That fills the remnant of His days!

A kingly character He bears,
No change His priestly office knows;
Unfading is the crown He wears,
His joys can never reach a close.

Adorn'd with glory from on high,
Salvation shines upon His face;
His robe is of the ethereal dye,
His steps are dignity and grace.

Inferior honors He disdains,
Nor stoops to take applause from earth;
The King of kings Himself maintains
The expenses of His heavenly birth.

The noblest creature seen below,
Ordain'd to fill a throne above;
God gives him all He can bestow,
His kingdom of eternal love!

My soul is ravished at the thought!
Methinks from earth I see Him rise!
Angels congratulate His lot,
And shout Him welcome to the skies.
Written by Andrew Barton Paterson | Create an image from this poem

On Kileys Run

 The roving breezes come and go 
On Kiley's Run, 
The sleepy river murmurs low, 
And far away one dimly sees 
Beyond the stretch of forest trees -- 
Beyond the foothills dusk and dun -- 
The ranges sleeping in the sun 
On Kiley's Run. 

'Tis many years since first I came 
To Kiley's Run, 
More years than I would care to name 
Since I, a stripling, used to ride 
For miles and miles at Kiley's side, 
The while in stirring tones he told 
The stories of the days of old 
On Kiley's Run. 

I see the old bush homestead now 
On Kiley's Run, 
Just nestled down beneath the brow 
Of one small ridge above the sweep 
Of river-flat, where willows weep 
And jasmine flowers and roses bloom, 
The air was laden with perfume 
On Kiley's Run. 

We lived the good old station life 
On Kiley's Run, 
With little thought of care or strife. 
Old Kiley seldom used to roam, 
He liked to make the Run his home, 
The swagman never turned away 
With empty hand at close of day 
From Kiley's Run. 

We kept a racehorse now and then 
On Kiley's Run, 
And neighb'ring stations brought their men 
To meetings where the sport was free, 
And dainty ladies came to see 
Their champions ride; with laugh and song 
The old house rang the whole night long 
On Kiley's Run. 

The station hands were friends I wot 
On Kiley's Run, 
A reckless, merry-hearted lot -- 
All splendid riders, and they knew 
The `boss' was kindness through and through. 
Old Kiley always stood their friend, 
And so they served him to the end 
On Kiley's Run. 

But droughts and losses came apace 
To Kiley's Run, 
Till ruin stared him in the face; 
He toiled and toiled while lived the light, 
He dreamed of overdrafts at night: 
At length, because he could not pay, 
His bankers took the stock away 
From Kiley's Run. 

Old Kiley stood and saw them go 
From Kiley's Run. 
The well-bred cattle marching slow; 
His stockmen, mates for many a day, 
They wrung his hand and went away. 
Too old to make another start, 
Old Kiley died -- of broken heart, 
On Kiley's Run. 

. . . . . 

The owner lives in England now 
Of Kiley's Run. 
He knows a racehorse from a cow; 
But that is all he knows of stock: 
His chiefest care is how to dock 
Expenses, and he sends from town 
To cut the shearers' wages down 
On Kiley's Run. 

There are no neighbours anywhere 
Near Kiley's Run. 
The hospitable homes are bare, 
The gardens gone; for no pretence 
Must hinder cutting down expense: 
The homestead that we held so dear 
Contains a half-paid overseer 
On Kiley's Run. 

All life and sport and hope have died 
On Kiley's Run. 
No longer there the stockmen ride; 
For sour-faced boundary riders creep 
On mongrel horses after sheep, 
Through ranges where, at racing speed, 
Old Kiley used to `wheel the lead' 
On Kiley's Run. 

There runs a lane for thirty miles 
Through Kiley's Run. 
On either side the herbage smiles, 
But wretched trav'lling sheep must pass 
Without a drink or blade of grass 
Thro' that long lane of death and shame: 
The weary drovers curse the name 
Of Kiley's Run. 

The name itself is changed of late 
Of Kiley's Run. 
They call it `Chandos Park Estate'. 
The lonely swagman through the dark 
Must hump his swag past Chandos Park. 
The name is English, don't you see, 
The old name sweeter sounds to me 
Of `Kiley's Run'. 

I cannot guess what fate will bring 
To Kiley's Run -- 
For chances come and changes ring -- 
I scarcely think 'twill always be 
Locked up to suit an absentee; 
And if he lets it out in farms 
His tenants soon will carry arms 
On Kiley's Run.
Written by Paul Laurence Dunbar | Create an image from this poem

The Dilettante: A Modern Type

He scribbles some in prose and verse,
And now and then he prints it;
He paints a little,—gathers some
Of Nature's gold and mints it.
He plays a little, sings a song,
Acts tragic roles, or funny;
He does, because his love is strong,
[Pg 50]But not, oh, not for money!
He studies almost everything
From social art to science;
A thirsty mind, a flowing spring,
Demand and swift compliance.
He looms above the sordid crowd—
At least through friendly lenses;
While his mamma looks pleased and proud,
And kindly pays expenses.
Written by Andrew Barton Paterson | Create an image from this poem

A Mountain Station

 I bought a run a while ago, 
On country rough and ridgy, 
Where wallaroos and wombats grow -- 
The Upper Murrumbidgee. 
The grass is rather scant, it's true, 
But this a fair exchange is, 
The sheep can see a lovely view 
By climbing up the ranges. 

And She-oak Flat's the station's name, 
I'm not surprised at that, sirs: 
The oaks were there before I came, 
And I supplied the flat, sirs. 
A man would wonder how it's done, 
The stock so soon decreases -- 
They sometimes tumble off the run 
And break themselves to pieces. 

I've tried to make expenses meet, 
But wasted all my labours, 
The sheep the dingoes didn't eat 
Were stolen by the neighbours. 
They stole my pears -- my native pears -- 
Those thrice-convicted felons, 
And ravished from me unawares 
My crop of paddy-melons. 

And sometimes under sunny skies, 
Without an explanation, 
The Murrumbidgee used to rise 
And overflow the station. 
But this was caused (as now I know) 
When summer sunshine glowing 
Had melted all Kiandra's snow 
And set the river going. 

And in the news, perhaps you read: 
`Stock passings. Puckawidgee, 
Fat cattle: Seven hundred head 
Swept down the Murrumbidgee; 
Their destination's quite obscure, 
But, somehow, there's a notion, 
Unless the river falls, they're sure 
To reach the Southern Ocean.' 

So after that I'll give it best; 
No more with Fate I'll battle. 
I'll let the river take the rest, 
For those were all my cattle. 
And with one comprehensive curse 
I close my brief narration, 
And advertise it in my verse -- 
`For Sale! A Mountain Station.'
Written by Robert Burns | Create an image from this poem

153. Inscription for the Headstone of Fergusson the Poet

 NO 1 sculptured marble here, nor pompous lay,
 “No storied urn nor animated bust;”
This simple stone directs pale Scotia’s way,
 To pour her sorrows o’er the Poet’s dust.


ADDITIONAL STANZASShe mourns, sweet tuneful youth, thy hapless fate;
 Tho’ all the powers of song thy fancy fired,
Yet Luxury and Wealth lay by in state,
 And, thankless, starv’d what they so much admired.


This tribute, with a tear, now gives
 A brother Bard-he can no more bestow:
But dear to fame thy Song immortal lives,
 A nobler monument than Art can shew.


 Note 1. The stone was erected at Burns’ expenses in February-March, 1789. [back]

Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry