Famous Long Medium Poems

Famous Long Medium Poems. Long Medium Poetry by Famous Poets. A collection of the all-time best Medium long poems

See also: Long Member Poems

AN A.B.C.
Here begins the song according to the order of the
letters of the alphabet 

A.

ALMIGHTY and all-merciable* Queen,                         *all-merciful
To whom all this world fleeth for succour,
To have release of sin, of sorrow, of teen!*                 *affliction
Glorious Virgin! of all flowers flow'r,
To thee I flee, confounded in errour!
Help and relieve, almighty debonair,*                  *gracious, gentle
Have mercy of my perilous languour!
Vanquish'd me hath my cruel adversair.

                               B.

Bounty* so fix'd hath in thy heart his tent,          *goodness, charity
That well I wot thou wilt my succour be;
Thou canst not *warne that* with good intent             *refuse he who*
Asketh thy...
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 [The late Mr. Jonathan Swift Somers, laureate of Spoon River, planned The Spooniad as an epic in twenty-four books, but unfortunately did not live to complete even the first book. The fragment was found among his papers by William Marion Reedy and was for the first time published in Reedy's Mirror of December 18th, 1914.]


Of John Cabanis' wrath and of the strife
Of hostile parties, and his dire defeat
Who led the common people in the cause
Of freedom for Spoon River, and the fall
Of Rhodes' bank that brought unnumbered woes
And loss to many, with engendered hate
That flamed into the torch in Anarch hands
To burn the court-house, on whose blackened wreck
A fairer temple rose and Progress stood --
Sing, muse, that lit the Chian's face with smiles,
Who saw the ant-like Greeks and Trojans crawl
About Scamander, over walls, pursued
Or else pursuing, and the funeral pyres
And sacred hecatombs, and first because
Of Helen who with Paris fled to Troy
As soul-mate; and the wrath of Peleus' son,
Decreed to lose Chryseis, lovely spoil
Of war, and dearest concubine.
Say first,
Thou son of night, called Momus, from whose eyes
No secret hides, and Thalia, smiling one,
What bred 'twixt Thomas Rhodes and John Cabanis
The deadly strife? His daughter Flossie, she,
Returning from her wandering...
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 1
COME closer to me; 
Push close, my lovers, and take the best I possess; 
Yield closer and closer, and give me the best you possess. 

This is unfinish’d business with me—How is it with you? 
(I was chill’d with the cold types, cylinder, wet paper between us.)

Male and Female! 
I pass so poorly with paper and types, I must pass with the contact of bodies and souls. 

American masses! 
I do not thank you for liking me as I am, and liking the touch of me—I know that it
 is
 good for
 you to do so. 

2
This is the carol of occupations;
In the labor of engines and trades, and the labor of fields, I find the developments, 
And find the eternal meanings. 

Workmen and Workwomen! 
Were all educations, practical and ornamental, well display’d out of me, what would
 it
 amount
 to? 
Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor, wise statesman, what would it amount
 to?
Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that satisfy you? 

The learn’d, virtuous, benevolent, and the usual terms; 
A man like me, and never the usual terms. 

Neither a servant nor a master am I; 
I take no sooner...
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 Ne Rubeam, Pingui donatus Munere
(Horace, Epistles II.i.267)
While you, great patron of mankind, sustain 
The balanc'd world, and open all the main;
Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend,
At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend;
How shall the Muse, from such a monarch steal
An hour, and not defraud the public weal?
Edward and Henry, now the boast of fame,
And virtuous Alfred, a more sacred name,
After a life of gen'rous toils endur'd,
The Gaul subdu'd, or property secur'd,
Ambition humbled, mighty cities storm'd,
Or laws establish'd, and the world reform'd;
Clos'd their long glories with a sigh, to find
Th' unwilling gratitude of base mankind!
All human virtue, to its latest breath
Finds envy never conquer'd, but by death.
The great Alcides, ev'ry labour past,
Had still this monster to subdue at last.
Sure fate of all, beneath whose rising ray
Each star of meaner merit fades away!
Oppress'd we feel the beam directly beat,
Those suns of glory please not till they set.

To thee the world its present homage pays,
The harvest early, but mature the praise:
Great friend of liberty! in kings a name
Above all Greek, above all Roman fame:
Whose word is truth, as sacred and rever'd,
As Heav'n's own oracles from altars heard.
Wonder of kings! like whom, to mortal eyes
None e'er has risen, and none e'er...
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 Let Elizur rejoice with the Partridge, who is a prisoner of state and is proud of his keepers. 

Let Shedeur rejoice with Pyrausta, who dwelleth in a medium of fire, which God hath adapted for him. 

Let Shelumiel rejoice with Olor, who is of a goodly savour, and the very look of him harmonizes the mind. 

Let Jael rejoice with the Plover, who whistles for his live, and foils the marksmen and their guns. 

Let Raguel rejoice with the Cock of Portugal -- God send good Angels to the allies of England! 

Let Hobab rejoice with Necydalus, who is the Greek of a Grub. 

Let Zurishaddai with the Polish Cock rejoice -- The Lord restore peace to Europe. 

Let Zuar rejoice with the Guinea Hen -- The Lord add to his mercies in the WEST! 

Let Chesed rejoice with Strepsiceros, whose weapons are the ornaments of his peace. 

Let Hagar rejoice with Gnesion, who is the right sort of eagle, and towers the highest. 

Let Libni rejoice with the Redshank, who migrates not but is translated to the upper regions. 

Let Nahshon rejoice with the Seabreese, the Lord give the sailors of his Spirit. 

Let Helon rejoice with the...
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 LARA. [1] 

CANTO THE FIRST. 

I. 

The Serfs are glad through Lara's wide domain, [2] 
And slavery half forgets her feudal chain; 
He, their unhoped, but unforgotten lord — 
The long self-exiled chieftain is restored: 
There be bright faces in the busy hall, 
Bowls on the board, and banners on the wall; 
Far chequering o'er the pictured window, plays 
The unwonted fagots' hospitable blaze; 
And gay retainers gather round the hearth, 
With tongues all loudness, and with eyes all mirth. 

II. 

The chief of Lara is return'd again: 
And why had Lara cross'd the bounding main? 
Left by his sire, too young such loss to know, 
Lord of himself; — that heritage of woe, 
That fearful empire which the human breast 
But holds to rob the heart within of rest! — 
With none to check, and few to point in time 
The thousand paths that slope the way to crime; 
Then, when he most required commandment, then 
Had Lara's daring boyhood govern'd men. 
It skills not, boots not, step by step to trace 
His youth through all the mazes of its race; 
Short was the course his restlessness had run, 
But long enough to leave him half undone. 

III....
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