Famous Etc Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Rhyming Poem

by Charles Bukowski
 the goldfish sing all night with guitars,
and the whores go down with the stars,
the whores go down with the stars 
I'm sorry, sir, we close at 4:30,
besides yr mother's neck is dirty,
and the whores go down with the etc.,
the whrs. go dn. with the etc. 
I'm sorry jack you can't come back,
I've fallen in love with another sap,
3/4 Italian...Read more of this...

Psalm 2

by Isaac Watts
 Christ dying, rising, interceding, and reigning.

Acts 4:24, etc.

[Maker and sovereign Lord 
Of heav'n, and earth, and seas,
Thy providence confirms thy word,
And answers thy decrees.

The things so long foretold
By David are fulfilled,
When Jews and Gentiles joined to slay
Jesus, thine holy child.]

Why did the Gentiles rage,
And Jews, with one accord,
Bend all their counsels to destroy
Th' Anointed of the Lord?

Rulers and kings...Read more of this...

Two Kopjes

by Rudyard Kipling
 (Made Yeomanry towards End of Boer War)
Only two African kopjes,
 Only the cart-tracks that wind
Empty and open between 'em,
 Only the Transvaal behind;
Only an Aldershot column
 Marching to conquer the land . . .
Only a sudden and solemn
 Visit, unarmed, to the Rand.

 Then scorn not the African kopje,
 The kopje that smiles in the heat,
 The wholly unoccupied...Read more of this...

391. A Tippling Ballad—When Princes and Prelates etc

by Robert Burns
 WHEN Princes and Prelates,
 And hot-headed zealots,
A’ Europe had set in a low, a low,
 The poor man lies down,
 Nor envies a crown,
And comforts himself as he dow, as he dow,
And comforts himself as he dow.


 The black-headed eagle,
 As keen as a beagle,
He hunted o’er height and o’er howe,
 In the braes o’ Gemappe,
 He fell in...Read more of this...

The Complaint Of A Forsaken Indian Woman

by William Wordsworth
[When a Northern Indian, from sickness, is unable to continue his journey with his companions; he is left behind, covered over with Deer-skins, and is supplied with water, food, and fuel if the situation of the place will afford it. He is informed of the track which his companions intend to pursue, and if he is unable to follow, or...Read more of this...

Hymn 97

by Isaac Watts
 Christ our wisdom, righteousness, etc.

1 Cor. 1:30. 

Buried in shadows of the night
We lie till Christ restores the light;
Wisdom descends to heal the blind,
And chase the darkness of the mind.

Our guilty souls are drowned in tears
Till his atoning blood appears;
Then we awake from deep distress,
And sing, "The Lord our Righteousness."

Our very frame is mixed with sin,
His Spirit makes our...Read more of this...

Sappers

by Rudyard Kipling
 When the Waters were dried an' the Earth did appear,
 ("It's all one," says the Sapper),
The Lord He created the Engineer,
 Her Majesty's Royal Engineer,
 With the rank and pay of a Sapper!

When the Flood come along for an extra monsoon,
'Twas Noah constructed the first pontoon
 To the plans of Her Majesty's, etc.

But after fatigue in the wet an'...Read more of this...

Hymn 129

by Isaac Watts
 Submission and deliverance; or, Abraham offering up his son.

Gen. 22:6, etc. 

Saints, at your heav'nly Father's word
Give up your comforts to the Lord;
He shall restore what you resign,
Or grant you blessings more divine.

So Abram with obedient hand
Led forth his son at God's command;
The wood, the fire, the knife, he took,
His arm prepared the dreadful stroke.

"Abram, forbear!" the angel cried,
Thy...Read more of this...

The Sergeants Song

by Thomas Hardy
 WHEN Lawyers strive to heal a breach,
And Parsons practise what they preach;
Then Little Boney he'll pounce down,
And march his men on London town!
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lorum,
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lay!

When Justices hold equal scales,
And Rogues are only found in jails;
Then Little Boney he'll pounce down,
And march his men on London town!
Rollicum-rorum, etc.

When Rich Men find their wealth a curse,
And fill therewith the Poor Man's...Read more of this...

Hymn 124

by Isaac Watts
 The first and second Adam.

Rom. 5:12,etc. 

Deep in the dust before thy throne
Our guilt and our disgrace we own;
Great God! we own th' unhappy name
Whence sprang our nature and our shame;

Adam the sinner: at his fall,
Death like a conqueror seized us
A thousand new-born babes are dead
By fatal union to their head.

But whilst our spirits, filled with awe,
Behold the terrors...Read more of this...

Letters From A Man In Solitary

by Nazim Hikmet
 1
I carved your name on my watchband
with my fingernail.
Where I am, you know,
I don't have a pearl-handled jackknife
(they won't give me anything sharp)
 or a plane tree with its head in the clouds.
Trees may grow in the yard,
but I'm not allowed
 to see the sky overhead...
How many others are in this place?
I don't know.
I'm alone far from them,
they're all...Read more of this...

As Consequent Etc

by Walt Whitman
 AS consequent from store of summer rains, 
Or wayward rivulets in autumn flowing, 
Or many a herb-lined brook’s reticulations, 
Or subterranean sea-rills making for the sea, 
Songs of continued years I sing.

Life’s ever-modern rapids first, (soon, soon to blend, 
With the old streams of death.) 

Some threading Ohio’s farm-fields or the woods, 
Some down Colorado’s cañons from sources of...Read more of this...

My Great Great Etc. Uncle Patrick Henry

by Edward Taylor
 There's a fortune to be made in just about everything
in this country, somebody's father had to invent
everything--baby food, tractors, rat poisoning.
My family's obviously done nothing since the beginning
of time. They invented poverty and bad taste
and getting by and taking it from the boss.
O my mother goes around chewing her nails and
spitting them in a jar: You shouldn't be ashamed
of...Read more of this...

A Pict Song

by Rudyard Kipling
 Rome never looks where she treads.
 Always her heavy hooves fall
On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;
 And Rome never heeds when we bawl.
Her sentries pass on--that is all,
 And we gather behind them in hordes,
And plot to reconquer the Wall,
 With only our tongues for our swords.

We are the Little Folk--we!
 Too little to love or to...Read more of this...

Hymn 98

by Isaac Watts
 Christ our wisdom, righteousness, etc.

1 Cor. 1:30. 

How heavy is the night
That hangs upon our eyes,
Till Christ with his reviving light
Over our souls arise!

Our guilty spirits dread
To meet the wrath of Heav'n;
But, in his righteousness arrayed,
We see our sins forgiv'n.

Unholy and impure
Are all our thoughts and ways;
His hands infected nature cure
With sanctifying grace.

The powers of hell agree
To hold our...Read more of this...

Columns

by Rudyard Kipling
  (Mobile Columns of the Boer War)
Out o' the wilderness, dusty an' dry
 (Time, an' 'igh time to be trekkin' again!)
Oo is it 'eads to the Detail Supply?
 A sectioin, a pompom, an' six 'undred men.

'Ere comes the clerk with 'is lantern an' keys
 (Time, an 'igh time to be trekkin 'again!)
" Surplus of everything--draw what you please
 "For...Read more of this...

the ordinary again

by Rg Gregory
 (1) the ordinary

you are not interested in me
a receiver of food and a giver of ****
my brain knuckled under

i have rendered the skills of my 
limbs to generations of caesars
and caesar's gods have siphoned off my spirit
by day i have been trained to dismember my own brothers
my own pieces travel through the night yearning for union

in every land i...Read more of this...

432. Song—Behold the hour etc. (Second Version)

by Robert Burns
 BEHOLD the hour, the boat arrive;
 Thou goest, the darling of my heart;
Sever’d from thee, can I survive,
 But Fate has will’d and we must part.
I’ll often greet the surging swell,
 Yon distant Isle will often hail:
“E’en here I took the last farewell;
 There, latest mark’d her vanish’d sail.”
Along the solitary shore,
 While flitting sea-fowl round me cry,
Across the...Read more of this...

Oh For the Swords of Former Time

by Thomas Moore
 Oh for the swords of former time! 
Oh for the men who bore them, 
When, arm'd for Right, they stood sublime, 
And tyrants crouch'd before them: 
When free yet, ere courts began 
With honours to enslave him, 
The best honours worn by Man 
Were those which Virtue gave him. 
Oh for the swords, etc., etc. 

Oh for the Kings...Read more of this...

My Great Great Etc. Uncle Patrick Henry

by James Tate
 There's a fortune to be made in just about everything
in this country, somebody's father had to invent
everything--baby food, tractors, rat poisoning.
My family's obviously done nothing since the beginning
of time. They invented poverty and bad taste
and getting by and taking it from the boss.
O my mother goes around chewing her nails and
spitting them in a jar: You shouldn't be ashamed
of...Read more of this...

The Lowestoft Boat

by Rudyard Kipling
 In Lowestoft a boat was laid,
 Mark well what I do say!
And she was built for the herring-trade,
 But she has gone a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin',
 The Lord knows where!

They gave her Government coal to burn,
And a Q.F. gun at bow and stern,
And sent her out a-rovin', etc.

Her skipper was mate of a bucko ship
Which always killed one man per...Read more of this...

Hymn 28

by Isaac Watts
 The triumph of Christ over the enemies of his church.

Isa. 63:1-3, etc. 

What mighty man, or mighty God,
Comes travelling in state,
Along the Idumean road,
Away from Bozrah's gate?

The glory of his robes proclaim
'Tis some victorious king:
"'Tis I, the Just, th' Almighty One,
That your salvation bring."

"Why, mighty Lord," thy saints inquire,
"Why thine apparel's red?
And all thy vesture stained like those
Who in...Read more of this...

Hymn 7

by Isaac Watts
 The invitation of the gospel.

Isa. 55:1,2,etc.

Let every mortal ear attend,
And every heart rejoice;
The trumpet of the gospel sounds
With an inviting voice.

Lo! all ye hungry, starving souls.
That feed upon the wind,
And vainly strive with earthly toys
To fill an empty mind.

Eternal Wisdom has prepared
A soul-reviving feast,
And bids your longing appetites
The rich provision taste.

Ho! ye that pant for living streams,
And pine away...Read more of this...

The Beacon In The Storm

by Victor Hugo
 ("Quels sont ces bruits sourds?") 
 
 {XXIV., July 17, 1836.} 


 Hark to that solemn sound! 
 It steals towards the strand.— 
 Whose is that voice profound 
 Which mourns the swallowed land, 
 With moans, 
 Or groans, 
 New threats of ruin close at hand? 
 It is Triton—the storm to scorn 
 Who doth...Read more of this...

Saturday At The Border

by Hayden Carruth
 "Form follows function follows form . . . , etc."

   --Dr. J. Anthony Wadlington

Here I am writing my first villanelle
At seventy-two, and feeling old and tired--
"Hey, Pops, why dontcha give us the old death knell?"--

And writing it what's more on the rim of hell
In blazing Arizona when all I desired
Was north and solitude and not a villanelle,

Working...Read more of this...

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