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Famous No Chance Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous No Chance poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous no chance poems. These examples illustrate what a famous no chance poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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by Bukowski, Charles
...
crawling in and out 
of beds. 
flesh covers 
the bone and the 
flesh searches 
for more than 
flesh. 

there's no chance 
at all: 
we are all trapped 
by a singular 
fate. 

nobody ever finds 
the one. 

the city dumps fill 
the junkyards fill 
the madhouses fill 
the hospitals fill 
the graveyards fill 

nothing else 
fills....Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...true,
Holding him forever dear
Whom she never knew.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Cinderellas of to-day
Take no chance of loss;
When a good guy comes your way,
Nail him to the cross.
Let some ordinary cuss
Your coy heart convince;
Never miss the nuptial bus
Waiting for a Prince....Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...d mother were honest, though poor--"
"Skip all that!" cried the Bellman in haste.
"If it once becomes dark, there's no chance of a Snark--
We have hardly a minute to waste!" 

"I skip forty years," said the Baker in tears,
"And proceed without further remark
To the day when you took me aboard of your ship
To help you in hunting the Snark. 

"A dear uncle of mine (after whom I was named)
Remarked, when I bade him farewell--"
"Oh, skip your dear uncle!" the Bellman excl...Read more of this...

by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
...osper for a day, 
But in good time true merit leads the van, 
And vain pretense, unnoticed, goes its way. 
There is no Chance, no Destiny, no Fate, 
But Fortune smiles on those who work and wait, 
In the long run.

In the long run all goodly sorrow pays, 
There is no better thing than righteous pain, 
The sleepless nights, the awful thorn-crowned days, 
Bring sure reward to tortured soul and brain. 
Unmeaning joys enervate in the end, 
But sorrow yields a glorious...Read more of this...

by Sassoon, Siegfried
...d until the trees were dark and huge, 
And I was lost, cut off from all return 
By swamps and birdless jungles. I’d no chance
Of getting home for tea. I woke with shivers, 
And thought of crocodiles in crawling rivers. 

Some day I’ll build (more ruggedly than Doughty) 
A dark tremendous song you’ll never hear. 
My beard will be a snow-storm, drifting whiter 
On bowed, prophetic shoulders, year by year. 
And some will say, ‘His work has grown so dreary.Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...gloom where mocks that will-o'-wisp, Free-will
I heard a voice cry: "Say, give us a chance."

Chance! Oh, there is no chance! The scene is set.
Up with the curtain! Man, the marionette,
 Resumes his part. The gods will work the wires.
They've got it all down fine, you bet, you bet!

It's all decreed -- the mighty earthquake crash,
The countless constellations' wheel and flash;
 The rise and fall of empires, war's red tide;
The composition of your dinner hash....Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...you for Saltbush Bill." 

"I'll take the job," said the fighting man; "and, hot as this cove appears, 
He'll stand no chance with a bloke like me, what's lived on the game for years; 
For he's maybe learnt in a boxing school, and sparred for a round or so, 
But I've fought all hands in a ten-foot ring each night in a travelling show; 
They earned a pound if they stayed three rounds, and they tried for it every night. 
In a ten-foot ring! Oh, that's the game that teac...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
..., 
For he must ha' known, if they caught him, 'twas nothin' but sudden death. 
Ad' he'd got no fire in his furnace, no chance to put out to sea, 
So he stood by his gun and waited with his vessel against the quay. 
Well, they sent him a civil message to say that the war was done, 
And most of his side were corpses, and all that were left had run, 
And blood had been spilt sufficient; so they gave him a chance to decide 
If he's haul down his bit of bunting and come on...Read more of this...

by Masefield, John
...d save him 
He didn't care what pain it gave him. 
He called the music and the dance 
For five rounds more and gave no chance.

Try to imagine if you can 
The kind of manhood in the man, 
And if you'd like to feel his pain 
You sprain your thumb and hit the sprain. 
And hit it hard with all your power 
On something hard for half-an-hour, 
While someone thumps you black and blue, 
And then you'll know what Billy knew. 
Bill took that pain without a sound 
Till ...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...mother were honest, though poor--"
 "Skip all that!" cried the Bellman in haste.
"If it once becomes dark, there's no chance of a Snark--
 We have hardly a minute to waste!"

"I skip forty years," said the Baker, in tears,
 "And proceed without further remark
To the day when you took me aboard of your ship
 To help you in hunting the Snark.

"A dear uncle of mine (after whom I was named)
 Remarked, when I bade him farewell--"
"Oh, skip your dear uncle!" the Bellman e...Read more of this...

by Lindsay, Vachel
...THE North Star whispers: "You are one 
Of those whose course no chance can change. 
You blunder, but are not undone, 
Your spirit-task is fixed and strange. 

"When here you walk, a bloodless shade, 
A singer all men else forget. 
Your chants of hammer, forge and spade 
Will move the prarie-village yet. 

"That young, stiff-necked, reviling town 
Beholds your fancies on her walls, 
And paints them out ...Read more of this...

by Sassoon, Siegfried
...myself for prayers and psalms. 

But now I’m old and bald and serious-minded,
With days to sit and ponder. I’d no chance 
When young and gay to get the hang of all 
This Hell and Heaven: and when the clergy hoick 
And holloa from their pulpits, I’m asleep, 
However hard I listen; and when they pray
It seems we’re all like children sucking sweets 
In school, and wondering whether master sees. 

I used to dream of Hell when I was first 
Promoted to a huntsman’s job...Read more of this...

by Davidson, John
...ugious notion of the world,
That leaves your lightning 'rithmetic behind:
I give it at a glance when I say 'There ain't no chance,
Nor nothing of the lucky-lottery kind.'

And it's this way that I make it out to be:
No fathers, mothers, countres, climates -- none;
Not Adam was responsible for me,
Nor society, nor systems, nary one:
A little sleeping seed, I woke -- I did, indeed --
A million years before the blooming sun.

I woke because I thought the time had come;
B...Read more of this...

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