Famous Soon Poems by Famous Poets

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

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How Soon Hath Time

by John Milton
 How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, 
Stoln on his wing my three and twentieth year! 
My hasting days fly on wtih full career, 
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. 
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, 
That I to manhood am arrived so near, 
And inward ripeness doth much less appear, 
That some...Read more of this...

Desespoir

by Oscar Wilde
 The seasons send their ruin as they go,
For in the spring the narciss shows its head
Nor withers till the rose has flamed to red,
And in the autumn purple violets blow,
And the slim crocus stirs the winter snow;
Wherefore yon leafless trees will bloom again
And this grey land grow green with summer rain
And send up cowslips for some boy to mow.

But...Read more of this...

Santa Claus in the Bush

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 It chanced out back at the Christmas time, 
When the wheat was ripe and tall, 
A stranger rode to the farmer's gate -- 
A sturdy man and a small. 
"Rin doon, rin doon, my little son Jack, 
And bid the stranger stay; 
And we'll hae a crack for Auld Lang Syne, 
For the morn is Christmas Day." 

"Nay noo,...Read more of this...

In the cicada's cry

by Matsuo Basho
In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die. ...Read more of this...

Soon Our Friends Perish

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 SOON our friends perish,
Soon all we cherish
Fades as days darken - goes as flowers go.
Soon in December
Over an ember,
Lonely we hearken, as loud winds blow....Read more of this...

Homecoming

by Robert Lowell
What was is...since 1930;
The boys in my old gang
are senior partners. They start up
bald like baby birds
to embrace retirement.

At the altar of surrender 
I met you
in the hour of credulity.
How your misfortune came our clearly
to us at twenty.

At the gingerbread casino 
how innocent the nights we made it.
on our Vesuvio martinis
with no vermouth but vodka
to sweeten the dry gin-

the lash...Read more of this...

Soon shall I go, by time and fate deplored,

by Omar Khayyam
Soon shall I go, by time and fate deplored,
Of all my precious pearls not one is bored;
Alas! there die with me a thousand truths
To which these fools fit audience ne'er accord....Read more of this...

Since life so soon slips away, what matters it whether

by Omar Khayyam
Since life so soon slips away, what matters it whether
it be sweet or bitter? Since the soul must pass through
the lips, what matters whether it be at Nishapur or at
Balkh? Drink then of wine, for after thee and me, the
moon will long pass on from its last quarter to its first,
and from the first to last....Read more of this...

The Channel Swimmer

by Marriott Edgar
 Would you hear a Wild tale of adventure 
Of a hero who tackled the sea,
A super-man swimming the ocean,
Then hark to the tale of Joe Lee.

Our Channel, our own Straits of Dover
Had heen swum by an alien lot:
Our British-born swimmers had tried it, 
But that was as far as they'd got.

So great was the outcry in England, 
Darts Players...Read more of this...

Sonnet X: Reason

by Sir Philip Sidney
 Reason, in faith thou art well serv'd, that still 
Wouldst brabbling be with sense and love in me: 
I rather wish'd thee climb the Muses' hill, 
Or reach the fruit of Nature's choicest tree, 

Or seek heav'n's course, or heav'n's inside to see: 
Why shouldst thou toil our thorny soil to till? 
Leave sense, and those which sense's objects...Read more of this...

As Soon as Fred Gets Out of Bed

by Jack Prelutsky
 As soon as Fred gets out of bed,
his underwear goes on his head.
His mother laughs, "Don't put it there,
a head's no place for underwear!"
But near his ears, above his brains,
is where Fred's underwear remains.

At night when Fred goes back to bed,
he deftly plucks it off his head.
His mother switches off the light
and softly croons, "Good night! Good night!"
And then,...Read more of this...

To Brenda Williams ‘writing Against The Grain'

by Barry Tebb
 It was Karl Shapiro who wrote in his ‘Defence of Ignorance’ how many poets

Go mad or seem to be so and the majority think we should all be in jail

Or mental hospital and you have ended up in both places - fragile as bone china,

Your pale skin taut, your fingers clasped tight round a cup, sitting in a pool

Of...Read more of this...

The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon

by J R R Tolkien
 There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.

The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;
And up and down he saws his bow
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
now sawing in the middle.

The landlord keeps...Read more of this...

The Toy Band

by Sir Henry Newbolt
 A Song of the Great Retreat

Dreary lay the long road, dreary lay the town, 
Lights out and never a glint o' moon: 
Weary lay the stragglers, half a thousand down, 
Sad sighed the weary big Dragoon. 
"Oh! if I'd a drum here to make them take the road again, 
Oh! if I'd a fife to wheedle, Come, boys, come!...Read more of this...

Sonnet XCII

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XCII. In mezzo di duo amanti onesta altera. LAURA TURNING TO SALUTE HIM, THE SUN, THROUGH JEALOUSY, WITHDREW BEHIND A CLOUD.  'Tween two fond lovers I a lady spied,Virtuous but haughty, and with her that lord,By gods above and men below adored—The sun on this, myself upon that side—Soon as...Read more of this...

Be on thy guard, my friend, for soon thou wilt be

by Omar Khayyam
Be on thy guard, my friend, for soon thou wilt be
separate from thy soul; thou then shalt go behind the
curtain of God's secrecy. Drink, for thou knowest not
whence thou here hast come; make haste, for thou art
ignorant where thou shalt go....Read more of this...

To The Pious Memory Of The Accomplished Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew

by John Dryden
 Thou youngest virgin-daughter of the skies,
 Made in the last promotion of the Blest;
Whose palms, new pluck'd from Paradise,
In spreading branches more sublimely rise,
Rich with immortal green above the rest:
Whether, adopted to some neighbouring star,
Thou roll'st above us, in thy wand'ring race,
 Or, in procession fix'd and regular,
 Mov'd with the Heavens' majestic pace:
 Or, call'd to more superior...Read more of this...

So soon as our lips touch

by Emile Verhaeren
So soon as our lips touch, we feel so much more luminous together that it would seem as though two Gods loved and united in us.
We feel our hearts to be so divinely fresh and so renewed by their virgin light that, in their brightness, the universe is made manifest to us.
In our eyes, joy is the only ferment of...Read more of this...

The Bonfire

by Robert Frost
 “OH, let’s go up the hill and scare ourselves,
As reckless as the best of them to-night,
By setting fire to all the brush we piled
With pitchy hands to wait for rain or snow.
Oh, let’s not wait for rain to make it safe.
The pile is ours: we dragged it bough on bough
Down dark converging paths between the pines.
Let’s not care what...Read more of this...

Soon O Ianthe! life is oer

by Walter Savage Landor
 Soon, O Ianthe! life is o'er,
And sooner beauty's heavenly smile:
Grant only (and I ask no more),
Let love remain that little while....Read more of this...

Make haste! soon must you quit this life below,

by Omar Khayyam
Make haste! soon must you quit this life below,
And pass the veil, and Allah's secrets know,
Make haste to take your pleasure while you may,
You wot not whence you come, nor whither go....Read more of this...

Departure

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 It was not like your great and gracious ways! 
Do you, that have naught other to lament, 
Never, my Love, repent 
Of how, that July afternoon, 
You went,
With sudden, unintelligible phrase, 
And frighten'd eye, 
Upon your journey of so many days 
Without a single kiss, or a good-bye? 
I knew, indeed, that you were parting soon; 
And so we...Read more of this...

The Robbers

by Robert William Service
 Alas! I see that thrushes three
 Are ravishing my old fig tree,
In whose green shade I smoked my pipe
 And waited for the fruit to ripe;
From green to purple softly swell
 Then drop into my lap to tell
That it is succulently sweet
 And excellent to eat.

And now I see the crimson streak,
 The greedy gash of yellow beak.
And look!...Read more of this...

Canzone XX

by Francesco Petrarch
CANZONE XX. Ben mi credea passar mio tempo omai. HE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT SEEING HER, BUT WOULD NOT DIE THAT HE MAY STILL LOVE HER.  As pass'd the years which I have left behind,To pass my future years I fondly thought,Amid old studies, with desires the same;But, from my lady since I...Read more of this...

To Daisies Not To Shut So Soon

by Robert Herrick
 Shut not so soon; the dull-eyed night
Has not as yet begun
To make a seizure on the light,
Or to seal up the sun.

No marigolds yet closed are;
No shadows great appear;
Nor doth the early shepherds' star
Shine like a spangle here.

Stay but till my Julia close
Her life-begetting eye,
And let the whole world then dispose
Itself to live or die....Read more of this...

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