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Famous Nirvana Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...he milkfat shivering
sinew isinglass
uncrumpling transient
greed to reinvest

 *

names have been
given (revelation
kif nirvana
syncope) for
whatever gift
unasked
gives birth to

torrents
fixities
reincarnations of
the angels
Joseph Smith
enduring
martyrdom

a cavernous
compunction driving
founder-charlatans
who saw in it
the infinite
love of God
and had
(George Fox
was one)
great openings...Read more of this...
by Clampitt, Amy



...on, 
The gospel of the Great Renunciation, 
The ragged cloak, the staff, the rain and sun, 
The beggar's life, with far Nirvana gleaming: 
Lord, make us Buddhas, dreaming....Read more of this...
by Lindsay, Vachel
....”

“You may be right, you may be wrong,” said I; 
“But what has this that you are saying now— 
This nineteenth-century Nirvana-talk— 
To do with you and me?” The Captain raised 
His hand and held it westward, where a patched
And unwashed attic-window filtered in 
What barren light could reach us, and then said, 
With a suave, complacent resonance: “There shines 
The sun. Behold it. We go round and round, 
And wisdom comes to us with every whirl
We count throughout the circui...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...
and the weight of serrated keys . . . 

They wither into mystery, waiting
to find out why they are,

patiently, before nirvana
when the rain comes down like vitriol....Read more of this...
by Raine, Craig
...birth cave Lassithi Plains -- Otsego County
 farmhouse, Kansas front porch?
Buddha's a help, promises ordinary mind no nirvana --
coffee, alcohol, cocaine, mushrooms, marijuana, laughing gas?
Nope, too heavy for this lightness lifts the brain into blue sky
at May dawn when birds start singing on East 12th street --
Where does it come from, where does it go forever?

 May 1996...Read more of this...
by Ginsberg, Allen



...orth, 
Out to the westers sky still bright with noon, 
I feel well spurred and booted for the strife
That ends not till Nirvana is attained.

Battling with fate, with men and with myself, 
Up the steep summit of my life’s forenoon, 
Three things I learned, three things of precious worth
To guide and help me down the western slope.
I have learned how to pray, and toil, and save.
To pray for courage to receive what comes, 
Knowing what comes to be divinely sent.
To toil for uni...Read more of this...
by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
...What is death, I ask. 
What is life, you ask. 
I give them both my buttocks, 
my two wheels rolling off toward Nirvana. 
They are neat as a wallet, 
opening and closing on their coins, 
the quarters, the nickels, 
straight into the crapper. 
Why shouldn't I pull down my pants 
and moon the executioner 
as well as paste raisins on my breasts? 
Why shouldn't I pull down my pants 
and show my little cunny to Tom 
and Albert? They wee-wee funny. 
I wee-wee like a squaw. ...Read more of this...
by Sexton, Anne
...not much chance,
completely cut loose from
purpose,
he was a young man
riding a bus
through North Carolina
on the wat to somewhere
and it began to snow
and the bus stopped 
at a little cafe
in the hills
and the passengers 
entered.
he sat at the counter
with the others,
he ordered and the 
food arived.
the meal was
particularly
good 
and the
coffee.
the wa...Read more of this...
by Lanier, Sidney
...of phantasies,
Through seas of solitudes and vacancies,
And through my Self, the deepest of the seas,
I strive to thee, Nirvana.

Oh long ago the billow-flow of sense,
Aroused by passion's windy vehemence,
Upbore me out of depths to heights intense,
But not to thee, Nirvana.

By waves swept on, I learned to ride the waves.
I served my masters till I made them slaves.
I baffled Death by hiding in his graves,
His watery graves, Nirvana.

And once I clomb a mountain's stony crow...Read more of this...
by Lanier, Sidney
...he sweet grass,
The stars sparkle, the whippoorwill calls,
But thou grievest, while my soul lies rapturous
In the blest Nirvana of eternal light!
Go to the good heart that is my husband,
Who broods upon what he calls our guilty love: --
Tell him that my love for you, no less than my love for him,
Wrought out my destiny -- that through the flesh
I won spirit, and through spirit, peace.
There is no marriage in heaven,
But there is love....Read more of this...
by Masters, Edgar Lee
...endom adored the rose 
Ere Christendom began . . . 

The lotos speaks of slumber: 
The rose is as a dart. 
The lotos is Nirvana: 
The rose is Mary's heart. 
The rose is deathless, restless, 
The splendor of our pain: 
The flush and fire of labor 
That builds, not all in vain. . . . 

The genius of the lotos 
Shall heal earth's too-much fret. 
The rose, in blinding glory, 
Shall waken Asia yet. 
Hail to their loves, ye peoples! 
Behold, a world-wind blows, 
That aids the ivory...Read more of this...
by Lindsay, Vachel
...s beckoning flight, 
And all our mortal moments are 
A session of the Infinite. 
How shall we reach the great, unknown 
Nirvana of thy Lotus-throne?...Read more of this...
by Naidu, Sarojini

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things