Famous Loafing Poems by Famous Poets

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

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At Loafing-holt

...Since I left the city's heat
For this sylvan, cool retreat,
High upon the hill-side here
Where the air is clean and clear,
I have lost the urban ways.[Pg 264]
Mine are calm and tranquil days,
Sloping lawns of green are mine,
Clustered treasures of the vine;
Long forgotten plants I know,
Where the ...Read more of this...
by Laurence Dunbar, Paul


Dream Song 104: Welcome grinned Henry welcome fifty-one!

...vy clubs from below

and from-”God save the bloody mark-”above
were loosed upon his skull & soles. O love,
what was you loafing of
that fifty put you off, out & away,
leaving the pounding, horrid sleep by day,
nights naught but fits. I pray

the opening decade contravene its promise
to be as bad as all the others. Is
there something Henry miss
in the jungle of the gods whom Henry's prayer to?
Empty temples-”a decade of dark-blue
sins, son, worse than you....Read more of this...
by Berryman, John

Elegy

...The cur foretells the knell of parting day;
The loafing herd winds slowly o'er the lea;
The wise man homewards plods; I only stay
To fiddle-faddle in a minor key....Read more of this...
by Bierce, Ambrose

Johnson's Antidote

...o pass that Johnson, having got the tale by rote, 
Followed every stray goanna, seeking for the antidote. 


. . . . . 
Loafing once beside the river, while he thought his heart would break, 
There he saw a big goanna fighting with a tiger-snake, 
In and out they rolled and wriggled, bit each other, heart and soul, 
Till the valiant old goanna swallowed his opponent whole. 
Breathless, Johnson sat and watched him, saw him struggle up the bank, 
Saw him nibbling at the branche...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Old David Smail

...t air,
The master reckoned him a fool,
And gave him up in dull despair.

When other lads were making hay
You'd find him loafing by the stream;
He'd take a book and slip away,
And just pretend to fish . . . and dream.

His brothers passed him in the race;
They climbed the hill and clutched the prize.
He did not seem to heed, his face
Was tranquil as the evening skies.

He lived apart, he spoke with few;
Abstractedly through life he went;
Oh, what he dreamed of no one knew,
And...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William


Segregation

...patient hope
 To sit anear the Band,
And hear the famous Louie play
 The best hot trumpet of today.

And then a waiter loafing near
 Says in a nasty tone:
"Old coon, we don't want darkies here,
 Beat it before you're thrown."
So knowin' nothin' I could do
 I turned to go and--there was Lou.

I think he slapped that Dago's face;
 His voice was big an' loud;
An' then he leads me from my place
 Through all that tony crowd.
World-famous Louie by the hand
 Took me to meet his fam...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

To Think of Time

...ted, apron, cape, gloves, strap, wet-weather clothes, whip
 carefully chosen, boss, spotter, starter, hostler, somebody loafing on you, you loafing
 on
 somebody, headway, man before and man behind, good day’s work, bad day’s work,
 pet
 stock, mean stock, first out, last out, turning-in at night;
To think that these are so much and so nigh to other drivers—and he there takes no
 interest in them! 

5
The markets, the government, the working-man’s wages—to think what account ...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Work

...When twenty-one I loved to dream,
 And was to loafing well inclined;
Somehow I couldn't get up steam
 To welcome work of any kind.
While students burned the midnight lamp,
 With dour ambition as their goad,
I longed to be a gayful tramp
 And greet adventure on the road.

But now that sixty years have sped,
 Behold! I toil from morn to night.
The thoughts that teem into my head
 I pray: God give me time ...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

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