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Famous Shem Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Kipling, Rudyard
...Will you kindly tell what your name might be? "

 The old man kindly answered them:
 "It might be Japheth, it might be Shem,
 Or it might be Ham (though his skin was dark),
 Whereas it is Noah, commanding the Ark.

 "Your wheel is new and your pumps are strange,
 But otherwise I perceive no change;
 And in less than a week, if she did not ground,
 I'd sail this hooker the wide world round! "

BOTH: 
 We tell these tales, which are strictest true,
 Just by way of convinci...Read more of this...



by Berryman, John
...dying: leave me: I dove
under the oaken arms of Brother Martin,
St Simeon the Lesser Theologian,
Bodhidharma, and Baal Shem Tov....Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...ep-sea rain;
 You have heard the song -- how long! how long?
 Pull out on the trail again!

 Ha' done with the Tents of Shem, dear lass,
 We've seen the seasons through,
 And it's time to turn on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
 Pull out, pull out, on the Long Trail -- the trail that is always new.

It's North you may run to the rime-ringed sun,
 Or South to the blind Horn's hate;
Or East all the way into Mississippi Bay,
 Or West to the Golden Gate;
 Where t...Read more of this...

by Lindsay, Vachel
...ne?
I saw the ark of Noah —
It was made of pitch and pine.
I saw old Father Noah
Asleep beneath his vine.
I saw Shem, Ham and Japhet
Standing in a line.
I saw the tower of Babel
In the gorgeous sunrise shine —
By a weeping willow tree
Beside the Dead Sea.

I've been to Palestine.
What did you see in Palestine?
I saw abominations
And Gadarene swine.
I saw the sinful Canaanites
Upon the shewbread dine,
And spoil the temple vessels
And drink the temple wi...Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...deep-sea rain;
 You have heard the song -- how long? how long?
 Pull out on the trail again!
Ha' done with the Tents of Shem, dear lass,
We've seen the seasons through,
And it's time to turn the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
Pull out, pull out, on the Long Trail-the trail that is always new!

It's North you may run to the rime-ringed sun
 Or South to the blind Hom's hate;
Or East all the way into Mississippi Bay,
 Or West to the Golden Gate --
 Where the blindest b...Read more of this...



by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...rk, and bade her husband row forth and get him
a new wife, because he was leaving her gossips in the town to
drown. Shem and his brothers got her shipped by main force;
and Noah, coming forward to welcome her, was greeted with a
box on the ear.

31. "Him had been lever, I dare well undertake,
 At thilke time, than all his wethers black,
 That she had had a ship herself alone."
i.e.
"At that time he would have given all his black wethers, if she
had had...Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...wide,
Where a swordfish had poked in its beak.

And by gum! how the wet squirted in through that hole,
Well, young Shem who at sums was expert,
Worked it out on his slate that it came at the rate,
Of per gallon, per second, per squirt.

The bloodhound tried hard to keep water in check,
By lapping it up with his tongue,
But it came in so fast through that hole, that at last,
He shoved in his nose for a bung.

The poor faithful hound, he were very near drowned,
The...Read more of this...

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