Famous Forsaking Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

Natural Magic

by George William Russell
 WE air tired who follow after
Phantasy and truth that flies:
You with only look and laughter
Stain our hearts with richest dyes.


When you break upon our study
Vanish all our frosty cares;
As the diamond deep grows ruddy,
Filled with morning unawares.


With the stuff that dreams are made of
But an empty house we build:
Glooms we are ourselves afraid of,
By the ancient starlight chilled.


All unwise...Read more of this...

They Flee from Me

by Sir Thomas Wyatt
They flee from me that sometime did me seek
   With naked foot stalking in my chamber.
I have seen them gentle tame and meek
   That now are wild and do not remember
   That sometime they put themselves in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range
Busily seeking with a continual change.

Thanked be fortune,...Read more of this...

A Night-Piece By Millet

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 Wind and sea and cloud and cloud-forsaking
Mirth of moonlight where the storm leaves free
Heaven awhile, for all the wrath of waking
Wind and sea.

Bright with glad mad rapture, fierce with glee,
Laughs the moon, borne on past cloud's o'ertaking
Fast, it seems, as wind or sail can flee.

One blown sail beneath her, hardly making
Forth, wild-winged for harbourage yet to be,
Strives and leaps...Read more of this...

The Dream of the Children

by George William Russell
 THE CHILDREN awoke in their dreaming
 While earth lay dewy and still:
They followed the rill in its gleaming
 To the heart-light of the hill.


Its sounds and sights were forsaking
 The world as they faded in sleep,
When they heard a music breaking
 Out from the heart-light deep.


It ran where the rill in its flowing
 Under the star-light gay,
With wonderful colour...Read more of this...

To my son

by John Matthew
 You will realize this wisdom,
When you are my age, and experience,
Gained from being in vexing situations,
Yet, being out of it. You do the same,
There is a joy in detachment,
Forsaking instant pleasures, pains,
For things deeper and enduring.

Don’t be a slave to the work,
Of smart slave-drivers in cubicles,
Instead explore the works of men,
Who have experienced the truths,
And distilled in their words,...Read more of this...

To the Muses

by William Blake
WHETHER on Ida's shady brow 
Or in the chambers of the East  
The chambers of the Sun that now 
From ancient melody have ceased; 

Whether in heaven ye wander fair 5 
Or the green corners of the earth  
Or the blue regions of the air 
Where the melodious winds have birth; 

Whether on crystal rocks ye rove ...Read more of this...

A Ramble in St. Jamess Park

by John Wilmot
 Much wine had passed, with grave discourse
Of who fucks who, and who does worse
(Such as you usually do hear
From those that diet at the Bear),
When I, who still take care to see
Drunkenness relieved by lechery,
Went out into St. James's Park
To cool my head and fire my heart.
But though St. James has th' honor on 't,
'Tis consecrate to prick and...Read more of this...

What shall I your true love tell?

by Francis Thompson
 What shall I your true love tell, 
Earth forsaking maid? 
What shall I your true love tell 
When life's spectre's laid? 
"Tell him that, our side the grave, 
Maid may not believe 
Life should be so sad to have, 
That's so sad to leave!" 
What shall I your true love tell 
When I come to him? 
What shall I...Read more of this...

All Things Will Die

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing

 Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing

 Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating

 Full merrily;
 Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart...Read more of this...

The Armadillo

by Elizabeth Bishop
for Robert Lowell


This is the time of year
when almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,

rising toward a saint
still honored in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.

Once up against the sky it's hard 
to tell them from the stars--
planets, that is--the tinted ones:
Venus going down, or Mars,

or the pale...Read more of this...

Proverbs 28:13

by The Bible
If we keep hiding away our sin
And cover our transgressions up
And we do not come to a place of confession
To allow the light of His love
To reveal to us where we're in need
Of forgiveness from the Lord
Then we will not prosper in our ways
Or know His mercy at all
But when we confess all of our sins
Forsaking what is not right,
We...Read more of this...

The Spring Bird's Lesson

by Anonymous
Thou’rt up betimes, my little bird,And out this morning early,For still the tender bud is closed,And still the grass is pearly.Why rise so soon, thou little bird,Thy soft, warm nest forsaking?To brave the dull, cold morning sky,While day is scarcely breaking?Ah! thou art wise, thou little bird,For fast the hours are flying;And this young day, but dawning now,Will soon, alas!...Read more of this...

An Apology for my fearfull temper

by Anne Kingsmill Finch
 Tis true of courage I'm no mistress
No Boadicia nor Thalestriss
Nor shall I e'er be famed hereafter
For such a Soul as Cato's Daughter
Nor active valour nor enduring 
Nor leading troops nor forts securing
Like Teckley's wife or Pucell valiant
Will e'er be reckonded for my talent
Who all things fear whilst day is shining
And my own shadow light declining 
And from the Spleen's...Read more of this...

Sonnet CCV

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CCV. Fresco ambroso fiorito e verde colle. HE CONGRATULATES HIS HEART ON ITS REMAINING WITH HER.  O hill with green o'erspread, with groves o'erhung!Where musing now, now trilling her sweet lay,Most like what bards of heavenly spirits say,Sits she by fame through every region sung:My heart, which wisely unto her...Read more of this...

The Gardener LXXV: At Midnight

by Rabindranath Tagore
 At midnight the would-be ascetic
announced:
"This is the time to give up my
home and seek for God. Ah, who has
held me so long in delusion here?"
God whispered, "I," but the ears
of the man were stopped.
With a baby asleep at her breast
lay his wife, peacefully sleeping on
one side of the bed.
The man said, "Who are ye that
have fooled me so long?"
The...Read more of this...

The House Of Dust: Part 03: 10: Letter

by Conrad Aiken
 From time to time, lifting his eyes, he sees
The soft blue starlight through the one small window,
The moon above black trees, and clouds, and Venus,—
And turns to write . . . The clock, behind ticks softly.

It is so long, indeed, since I have written,—
Two years, almost, your last is turning yellow,—
That these first words I write seem cold and...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Forsaking poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace