Famous Heaven Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Lest this be Heaven indeed

by Emily Dickinson
 Lest this be Heaven indeed
An Obstacle is given
That always gauges a Degree
Between Ourself and Heaven....Read more of this...

Pen, tablet, heaven and hell I looked to see

by Omar Khayyam
Pen, tablet, heaven and hell I looked to see
Above the skies, from all eternity;
At last the master sage instructed me,
«Pen, tablet, heaven and hell are all in thee.»...Read more of this...

O Wheel of Heaven! thou fillest constantly my heart

by Omar Khayyam
O Wheel of Heaven! thou fillest constantly my heart
with woe. Thou killest in me the germ of joy, with
water ladening the air which, would breathe, and changest
into mud the water that I drink....Read more of this...

Who has not found the Heaven -- below --

by Emily Dickinson
 Who has not found the Heaven -- below --
Will fail of it above --
For Angels rent the House next ours,
Wherever we remove --...Read more of this...

Than Heaven more remote

by Emily Dickinson
 Than Heaven more remote,
For Heaven is the root,
But these the flitted seed.
More flown indeed
Than ones that never were,
Or those that hide, and are.

What madness, by their side,
A vision to provide
Of future days
They cannot praise.

My soul, to find them, come,
They cannot call, they're dumb,
Nor prove, nor woo,
But that they have abode
Is absolute as God,
And instant, too....Read more of this...

A Pit -- but Heaven over it --

by Emily Dickinson
 A Pit -- but Heaven over it --
And Heaven beside, and Heaven abroad,
And yet a Pit --
With Heaven over it.

To stir would be to slip --
To look would be to drop --
To dream -- to sap the Prop
That holds my chances up.
Ah! Pit! With Heaven over it!

The depth is all my thought --
I dare not ask my feet --
'Twould...Read more of this...

The Cold Heaven

by William Butler Yeats
 Suddenly I saw the cold and rook-delighting heaven
That seemed as though ice burned and was but the more ice,
And thereupon imagination and heart were driven
So wild that every casual thought of that and this
Vanished, and left but memories, that should be out of season
With the hot blood of youth, of love crossed long ago;
And I took all thc blame...Read more of this...

God lay dead in heaven

by Stephen Crane
 God lay dead in heaven;
Angels sang the hymn of the end;
Purple winds went moaning,
Their wings drip-dripping
With blood
That fell upon the earth.
It, groaning thing,
Turned black and sank.
Then from the far caverns
Of dead sins
Came monsters, livid with desire.
They fought,
Wrangled over the world,
A morsel.
But of all sadness this was sad --
A woman's arms tried to shield
The head of a sleeping man
From the...Read more of this...

To Heaven

by Robert Herrick
 Good and great God, can I not think of thee
But it must straight my melancholy be?
Is it interpreted in me disease
That, laden with my sins, I seek for ease?
Oh be thou witness, that the reins dost know
And hearts of all, if I be sad for show,
And judge me after; if I dare pretend
To ought but grace or aim at...Read more of this...

Amateurs of Heaven

by Howard Nemerov
 Two lovers to a midnight meadow came
High in the hills, to lie there hand and hand
Like effigies and look up at the stars,
The never-setting ones set in the North
To circle the Pole in idiot majesty,
And wonder what was given them to wonder.

Being amateurs, they knew some of the names
By rote, and could attach the names to stars
And draw the...Read more of this...

How far is it to Heaven?

by Emily Dickinson
 How far is it to Heaven?
As far as Death this way --
Of River or of Ridge beyond
Was no discovery.

How far is it to Hell?
As far as Death this way --
How far left hand the Sepulchre
Defies Topography....Read more of this...

O Wheel of Heaven! Thou art complete in Thy ingratitude

by Omar Khayyam
O Wheel of Heaven! Thou art complete in Thy ingratitude.
Thou keepest me constantly bare [naked]
like a fish. The weaver's loom weaves clothes for human
beings; more charitable is it than Thou, O Wheel of
Heaven!...Read more of this...

The Wheel of Heaven only multiplies our griefs! It

by Omar Khayyam
The Wheel of Heaven only multiplies our griefs! It
places nothing here below that it does not soon bear
away. Oh! if those who have not yet come knew
the suffering this world inflicts, they would guard themselves
well from coming here....Read more of this...

When the Shy Star Goes Forth in Heaven

by James Joyce
 When the shy star goes forth in heaven 
All maidenly, disconsolate, 
Hear you amid the drowsy even 
One who is singing by your gate. 
His song is softer than the dew 
And he is come to visit you. 

O bend no more in revery 
When he at eventide is calling. 
Nor muse: Who may this singer be 
Whose song...Read more of this...

Heaven multiplies our sorrows day by day,

by Omar Khayyam
Heaven multiplies our sorrows day by day,
And grants no joys it does not take away;
If those unborn could know the ills we bear,
What think you, would they rather come or stay?...Read more of this...

I went to Heaven

by Emily Dickinson
 I went to Heaven --
'Twas a small Town --
Lit -- with a Ruby --
Lathed -- with Down --

Stiller -- than the fields
At the full Dew --
Beautiful -- as Pictures --
No Man drew.
People -- like the Moth --
Of Mechlin -- frames --
Duties -- of Gossamer --
And Eider -- names --
Almost -- contented --
I -- could be --
'Mong such unique
Society --...Read more of this...

Immured in Heaven!

by Emily Dickinson
 Immured in Heaven!
What a Cell!
Let every Bondage be,
Thou sweetest of the Universe,
Like that which ravished thee!...Read more of this...

O Wheel of Heaven, thy circular course does not satisfy

by Omar Khayyam
O Wheel of Heaven, thy circular course does not satisfy
me. Deliver me from it, for I am unworthy of thy
chain. If thy good pleasure consists in according thy
favors only to the poor in mind, to idiots, I am neither
intelligent enough or wise enough [to be confounded
by it]....Read more of this...

Except the Heaven had come so near

by Emily Dickinson
 Except the Heaven had come so near --
So seemed to choose My Door --
The Distance would not haunt me so --
I had not hoped -- before --

But just to hear the Grace depart --
I never thought to see --
Afflicts me with a Double loss --
'Tis lost -- and lost to me --...Read more of this...

Heaven has different Signs -- to me --

by Emily Dickinson
 "Heaven" has different Signs -- to me --
Sometimes, I think that Noon
Is but a symbol of the Place --
And when again, at Dawn,

A mighty look runs round the World
And settles in the Hills --
An Awe if it should be like that
Upon the Ignorance steals --

The Orchard, when the Sun is on --
The Triumph of the Birds
When they together Victory...Read more of this...

O wheel of heaven, you thwart my heart's desire,

by Omar Khayyam
O wheel of heaven, you thwart my heart's desire,
And rend to shreds my scanty joy's attire,
The water that I drink you foul with earth,
And turn the very air I breathe to fire!...Read more of this...

If heaven deny me peace and fame, I said,

by Omar Khayyam
«If heaven deny me peace and fame,» I said,
«Let it be open war and shame instead;
The man who scorns bright wine had best beware,
I'll arm me with a stone, and break his head!»...Read more of this...

Heaven--Haven: A Nun Takes The Veil

by Gerard Manley Hopkins
 I have desired to go
 Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
 And a few lilies blow.

 And I have asked to be
 Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
 And out of the swing of the sea....Read more of this...

Heaven is so far of the Mind

by Emily Dickinson
 Heaven is so far of the Mind
That were the Mind dissolved --
The Site -- of it -- by Architect
Could not again be proved --

'Tis vast -- as our Capacity --
As fair -- as our idea --
To Him of adequate desire
No further 'tis, than Here --...Read more of this...

294. Song—To Mary in Heaven

by Robert Burns
 THOU ling’ring star, with lessening ray,
 That lov’st to greet the early morn,
Again thou usher’st in the day
 My Mary from my soul was torn.
O Mary! dear departed shade!
 Where is thy place of blissful rest?
See’st thou thy lover lowly laid?
 Hear’st thou the groans that rend his breast?


That sacred hour can I forget,
 Can I forget the hallow’d...Read more of this...

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