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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Ah! wheel of heaven to tyranny inclined,

by Omar Khayyam
Ah! wheel of heaven to tyranny inclined,
'Twas e'er your wont to show yourself unkind;
And, cruel earth, if they should cleave your breast,
What store of buried jewels they would find!...Read more of this...

Which is best? Heaven --

by Emily Dickinson
 Which is best? Heaven --
Or only Heaven to come
With that old Codicil of Doubt?
I cannot help esteem

The "Bird within the Hand"
Superior to the one
The "Bush" may yield me
Or may not
Too late to choose again....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 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...

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...

The Hound of Heaven

by Francis Thompson
 I fled Him down the nights and down the days
I fled Him down the arches of the years
I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind, and in the midst of tears
I hid from him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped and shot precipitated
Adown titanic glooms of chasme d hears
From those strong feet that followed, followed...Read more of this...

All thy secrets are known to the wisdom of Heaven

by Omar Khayyam
All thy secrets are known to the wisdom of Heaven
[God]· He knows them hair by hair and vein by vein.
I admit that by power of hypocrisy you may be able
to deceive men, but what will you do before Him who
knows your misdeeds one by one in every detail?...Read more of this...

We pray -- to Heaven

by Emily Dickinson
 We pray -- to Heaven --
We prate -- of Heaven --
Relate -- when Neighbors die --
At what o'clock to heaven -- they fled --
Who saw them -- Wherefore fly?

Is Heaven a Place -- a Sky -- a Tree?
Location's narrow way is for Ourselves --
Unto the Dead
There's no Geography --

But State -- Endowal -- Focus --
Where -- Omnipresence -- fly?...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...

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (excerpt)

by William Blake
 In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
The cut worm forgives the plow.
Dip him in the river who loves water.
A fool...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...

Thanks to the iniquity of this Wheel of Heaven which

by Omar Khayyam
Thanks to the iniquity of this Wheel of Heaven which
resembles a mirror, thanks to the periodic motion of
time which accords its favors only to the most abject,
my cheeks, hollowed like a cup, are bathed in tears; but,
like a flask, my heart is full of blood.
362...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...

Heaven -- is what I cannot reach!

by Emily Dickinson
 "Heaven" -- is what I cannot reach!
The Apple on the Tree --
Provided it do hopeless -- hang --
That -- "Heaven" is -- to Me!

The Color, on the Cruising Cloud --
The interdicted Land --
Behind the Hill -- the House behind --
There -- Paradise -- is found!

Her teasing Purples -- Afternoons --
The credulous -- decoy --
Enamored -- of the Conjuror --
That...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...

In heaven

by Stephen Crane
 In heaven,
Some little blades of grass
Stood before God.
"What did you do?"
Then all save one of the little blades
Began eagerly to relate
The merits of their lives.
This one stayed a small way behind,
Ashamed.
Presently, God said,
"And what did you do?"
The little blade answered, "Oh my Lord,
Memory is bitter to me,
For, if I did good deeds,
I know not of them."
Then God, in all...Read more of this...

Heaven is what I cannot reach!

by Emily Dickinson
Heaven is what I cannot reach!
   The apple on the tree,
Provided it do hopeless hang,
   That "heaven" is, to me.

The color on the cruising cloud,
   The interdicted ground
Behind the hill, the house behind, --
   There Paradise is found!...Read more of this...

Their Height in Heaven comforts not --

by Emily Dickinson
 Their Height in Heaven comforts not --
Their Glory -- nought to me --
'Twas best imperfect -- as it was --
I'm finite -- I can't see --

The House of Supposition --
The Glimmering Frontier that
Skirts the Acres of Perhaps --
To Me -- shows insecure --

The Wealth I had -- contented me --
If 'twas a meaner size --
Then I had counted it...Read more of this...

Heaven

by Philip Levine
 If you were twenty-seven 
and had done time for beating 
our ex-wife and had 
no dreams you remembered 
in the morning, you might 
lie on your bed and listen 
to a mad canary sing 
and think it all right to be 
there every Saturday 
ignoring your neighbors, the streets, 
the signs that said join, 
and the need to be...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...

I would to heaven that I were so much clay

by George (Lord) Byron
 I would to heaven that I were so much clay,
As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling -
Because at least the past were passed away -
And for the future - (but I write this reeling,
Having got drunk exceedingly today,
So that I seem to stand upon the ceiling)
I say - the future is a serious matter - 
And so -...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...

Not One by Heaven defrauded stay --

by Emily Dickinson
 Not One by Heaven defrauded stay --
Although he seem to steal
He restitutes in some sweet way
Secreted in his will --...Read more of this...

The Heaven vests for Each

by Emily Dickinson
 The Heaven vests for Each
In that small Deity
It craved the grace to worship
Some bashful Summer's Day --

Half shrinking from the Glory
It importuned to see
Till these faint Tabernacles drop
In full Eternity --

How imminent the Venture --
As one should sue a Star --
For His mean sake to leave the Row
And entertain Despair --

A Clemency so common --
We almost cease to fear...Read more of this...

Is Heaven a Physician?

by Emily Dickinson
 Is Heaven a Physician?
They say that He can heal --
But Medicine Posthumous
Is unavailable --
Is Heaven an Exchequer?
They speak of what we owe --
But that negotiation
I'm not a Party to --...Read more of this...

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