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Famous Short Old Poems

Famous Short Old Poems. Short Old Poetry by Famous Poets. A collection of the all-time best Old short poems


by Maya Angelou
I keep on dying again.
Veins collapse, opening like the Small fists of sleeping Children.
Memory of old tombs, Rotting flesh and worms do Not convince me against The challenge.
The years And cold defeat live deep in Lines along my face.
They dull my eyes, yet I keep on dying, Because I love to live.



by Nikki Giovanni
Some people forget that love is
tucking you in and kissing you
"Good night"
no matter how young or old you are


Some people don't remember that
love is
listening and laughing and asking
questions
no matter what your age


Few recognize that love is
commitment, responsibility
no fun at all
unless


Love is
You and me 

by Tupac Shakur
How can there be peace?
How can I be in the depths of solitude
When there are two inside of me?
This duo in me causes the perfect opportunity
To learn and live twice as fast
As those who accept simplicity.
.
.

by Catherine Anderson
 I was in love with anatomy
the symmetry of my body
poised for flight,
the heights it would take
over parents, lovers, a keen
riding over truth and detail.
I thought growing up would be this rising from everything old and earthly, not these faltering steps out the door every day, then back again.

by Matsuo Basho
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again. 



by Walt Whitman
 WOMEN sit, or move to and fro—some old, some young; 
The young are beautiful—but the old are more beautiful than the young.

by Alice Walker
The old men used to sing
And lifted a brother
Carefully
Out the door
I used to think they
Were born
Knowing how to
Gently swing
A casket
They shuffled softly
Eyes dry
More awkward
With the flowers
Than with the widow
After they'd put the
Body in
And stood around waiting
In their
Brown suits.

by Linda Pastan
 Into the gravity of my life,
the serious ceremonies
of polish and paper
and pen, has come

this manic animal
whose innocent disruptions
make nonsense
of my old simplicities--

as if I needed him
to prove again that after
all the careful planning,
anything can happen.

by Roger McGough
 Mrs Moon
sitting up in the sky
little old lady
rock-a-bye
with a ball of fading light
and silvery needles
knitting the night

by Charles Bukowski
 it sits outside my window now
like and old woman going to market;
it sits and watches me,
it sweats nevously
through wire and fog and dog-bark
until suddenly
I slam the screen with a newspaper
like slapping at a fly
and you could hear the scream
over this plain city,
and then it left.
the way to end a poem like this is to become suddenly quiet.

by Tupac Shakur
i exist in the depths of solitude
pondering my true goal
trying 2 find peace of mind
and still preserve my soul
constantly yearning 2 be accepted
and from all receive respect
never comprising but sometimes risky
and that is my only regret
a young heart with an old soul
how can there be peace
how can i be in the depths of solitude
when there r 2 inside of me
this duo within me causes
the perfect oppurtunity
2 learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity

by Edward Lear
There was an old person of Fife,
Who was greatly disgusted with life;
They sang him a ballad, and fed him on salad,
Which cured that old person of Fife.

by G K Chesterton
 WE laid him to rest with tenderness;
Homeward we turned in the twilight’s gold;
We thought in ourselves with dumb distress—
All the story of earth is told.
A beautiful word at the last was said: A great deep heart like the hearts of old Went forth; and the speaker had lost the thread, Or all the story of earth was told.
The dust hung over the pale dry ways Dizzily fired with the twilight’s gold, And a bitter remembrance blew in each face How all the story of earth was told.

by Shel Silverstein
 Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon.
" Said the old man, "I do that too.
" The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants.
" "I do that too," laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, "I often cry.
" The old man nodded, "So do I.
" "But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems Grown-ups don't pay attention to me.
" And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the little old man.

by Yosa Buson
 Old well,
a fish leaps--
 dark sound.

Granny  Create an image from this poem
by Spike Milligan
 Through every nook and every cranny
The wind blew in on poor old Granny
Around her knees, into each ear
(And up nose as well, I fear)

All through the night the wind grew worse
It nearly made the vicar curse
The top had fallen off the steeple
Just missing him (and other people)

It blew on man, it blew on beast
It blew on nun, it blew on priest
It blew the wig off Auntie Fanny-
But most of all, it blew on Granny!

by Muhammad Ali
To make America the greatest is my goal,
So I beat the Russians, and I beat the Pole,
and for the USA won the medal of gold.
Italians said: "You're Greater than the Cassius of old´´.
We like your name, we like your game,
So make Rome your home if you will.
I said I appreciate your kind hospitality,
But the USA is my country still,
'Cause they're waiting to welcome me in Louisville.

by William Butler Yeats
 A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown.

by Edward Lear
 There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a bee.
When they said "Does it buzz?" He replied "Yes, it does! It's a regular brute of a bee!"

by Gabriela Mistral
 Let us go now into the forest.
Trees will pass by your face, and I will stop and offer you to them, but they cannot bend down.
The night watches over its creatures, except for the pine trees that never change: the old wounded springs that spring blessed gum, eternal afternoons.
If they could, the trees would lift you and carry you from valley to valley, and you would pass from arm to arm, a child running from father to father.

by Emily Dickinson
 Mine Enemy is growing old --
I have at last Revenge --
The Palate of the Hate departs --
If any would avenge

Let him be quick -- the Viand flits --
It is a faded Meat --
Anger as soon as fed is dead --
'Tis starving makes it fat --

by Yehuda Amichai
 On a roof in the Old City
Laundry hanging in the late afternoon sunlight:
The white sheet of a woman who is my enemy,
The towel of a man who is my enemy,
To wipe off the sweat of his brow.
In the sky of the Old City A kite.
At the other end of the string, A child I can't see Because of the wall.
We have put up many flags, They have put up many flags.
To make us think that they're happy.
To make them think that we're happy.

by Adrian Green
 New moon on the lake.
Your voice and the nightingale serenade springtime.
Full moon on the lake.
Your voice and the waterbirds celebrate summer.
Old moon on the lake.
Owls hunting autumnal food - your voice still singing.

by Edward Lear

C

was a cat
Who ran after a rat;
But his courage did fail
When she seized on his tail.

c

Crafty old cat!


by William Butler Yeats
 We sat under an old thorn-tree
And talked away the night,
Told all that had been said or done
Since first we saw the light,
And when we talked of growing up
Knew that we'd halved a soul
And fell the one in t'other's arms
That we might make it whole;
Then peter had a murdering look,
For it seemed that he and she
Had spoken of their childish days
Under that very tree.
O what a bursting out there was, And what a blossoming, When we had all the summer-time And she had all the spring!


Book: Shattered Sighs