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Famous Cistern Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Cistern poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous cistern poems. These examples illustrate what a famous cistern poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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by Allingham, William
...lly, never shorn, 
Whose partner cheers her little brooding breast, 
Piping from some near bough. O simple song! 
O cistern deep of that harmonious rillet, 
And these fair juicy stems that climb and throng 
The vernal world, and unexhausted seas 
Of flowing life, and soul that asks to fill it, 
Each and all of these,--and more, and more than these!...Read more of this...



by Thomas, Dylan
...the mortal error
Of birth and death, the two sad knaves of thieves,
And the hunger's emperor;
He pulls that chain, the cistern moves....Read more of this...

by Blake, William
...the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant watch the fruits.
The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
One thought fills immensity.
Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.
Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.
The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow.
The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion.
Th...Read more of this...

by Watts, Isaac
...rink
Their songs the lark and linnet raise,
And chide our silence in his praise.

PAUSE I.

God from his cloudy cistern pours
On the parched earth enriching showers;
The grove, the garden, and the field,
A thousand joyful blessings yield.

He makes the grassy food arise,
And gives the cattle large supplies
With herbs for man of various power,
To nourish nature or to dire.

What noble fruit the vines produce!
The olive yields a shining juice;
Our hearts are che...Read more of this...

by Vaughan, Henry
...nt 
Some use for ears, 
And on the dumb shades language spent 
The music of her tears; 
I drew her near, and found 
The cistern full 
Of diverse stones, some bright, and round 
Others ill'shap'd, and dull.

8.

The first (pray mark,) as quick as light 
Danc'd through the flood, 
But, th'last more heavy than the night 
Nail'd to the center stood; 
I wonder'd much, but tir'd 
At last with thought, 
My restless eye that still desir'd 
As strange an object brought;

9.Read more of this...



by García Lorca, Federico
...for you! 
How many times would she wait for you, 
cool face, black hair, 
on this green balcony! 
Over the mouth of the cistern
the gypsy girl was swinging, 
green flesh, her hair green, 
with eyes of cold silver. 
An icicle of moon
holds her up above the water. 
The night became intimate 
like a little plaza.
Drunken "Guardias Civiles"
were pounding on the door. 
Green, how I want you green. 
Green wind. Green branches. 
The ship out on the sea.Read more of this...

by Tessimond, A S J
...gold
Of cupolas.

Sea-runnelled streets
Channelled by salt air
That wears the white stone.

The sunlight-filled cistern
Of a dry-dock. Square shadows.
Sun-slatted smoke above meticulous stooping of cranes.

Water pressed up by ships' prows
Going, coming.

City dust turned
Back by the sea-wind's
Wall....Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...urned our naked feet?
Whose tavern 'mid the palm-trees?
 What quenchings of what heat?
Oh, fountain in the desert!
 Oh, cistern in the waste!
Oh, bread we ate in secret!
 Oh, cup we spilled in haste!

The youth new-taught of longing,
 The widow curbed and wan,
The goodwife proud at season,
 And the maid aware of man --
All souls unslaked, consuming,
 Defrauded in delays,
Desire not more their quittance
 Than I those forfeit days!

I dreamed to wait my pleasure
 Unchanged my s...Read more of this...

by Blake, William
...e mouse, the fox, the rabbet; watch the roots, the
lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant, watch the fruits.

The cistern contains: the fountain overflows 
One thought. fills immensity.
Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid
you.

Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.

The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn
of the crow.


PLATE 9

The fox provides for himself. but God provides f...Read more of this...

by Blake, William
...the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant watch the fruits.
The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
One thought fills immensity.
Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.
Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.
The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow.
The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion.
Th...Read more of this...

by Yeats, William Butler
...n my womb.

Had I not found content among the shows
Every common woman knows,
Chimney corner, garden walk,
Or rocky cistern where we tread the clothes
And gather all the talk?

What is this flesh I purchased with my pains,
This fallen star my milk sustains,
This love that makes my heart's blood stop
Or strikes a Sudden chill into my bones
And bids my hair stand up?...Read more of this...

by Herbert, George
...mself down from a swaying light-bulb,
Running over the coverlet, down under the iron bedstead.
Water roars into the cistern.

We lie closer on the gritty pillow,
Breathing heavily, hoping--
For the great last leap of the wave over the breakwater,
The flat boom on the beach of the towering sea-swell,
The sudden shudder as the jutting sea-cliff collapses,
And the hurricane drives the dead straw into the living pine-tree....Read more of this...

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