Famous Take Leave Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Arise, leave the cares of this world which are fleeting;

by Omar Khayyam
Arise, leave the cares of this world which are fleeting;
be joyous, pass gaily this life of a moment, for if the
favors of heaven had been constant to others, this turn
of joy would not have come to you....Read more of this...

Leave Me O Love Which Reachest But To Dust

by Sir Philip Sidney
 Leave me, O love which reachest but to dust,
And thou, my mind, aspire to higher things;
Grow rich in that which never taketh rust:
Whatever fades but fading pleasure brings.
Draw in thy beams, and humble all thy might
To that sweet yoke where lasting freedoms be,
Which breaks the clouds and opens forth the light
That doth both shine and give us sight to...Read more of this...

Fame is the tine that Scholars leave

by Emily Dickinson
 Fame is the tine that Scholars leave
Upon their Setting Names --
The Iris not of Occident
That disappears as comes --...Read more of this...

Ne'er for one moment leave your cup unused!

by Omar Khayyam
Ne'er for one moment leave your cup unused!
Wine keeps heart, faith, and reason too, amused;
Had Iblis swallowed but a single drop,
To worship Adam he had ne'er refused!...Read more of this...

French Leave

by Claude McKay
 No servile little fear shall daunt my will 
This morning. I have courage steeled to say 
I will be lazy, conqueringly still, 
I will not lose the hours in toil this day. 

The roaring world without, careless of souls, 
Shall leave me to my placid dream of rest, 
My four walls shield me from its shouting ghouls, 
And all...Read more of this...

A Leave-Taking

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 Let us go hence, my songs; she will not hear. 
Let us go hence together without fear; 
Keep silence now, for singing-time is over, 
And over all old things and all things dear. 
She loves not you nor me as all we love her. 
Yea, though we sang as angels in her ear, 
 She would not hear. 

Let...Read more of this...

They leave us with the Infinite

by Emily Dickinson
 They leave us with the Infinite.
But He -- is not a man --
His fingers are the size of fists --
His fists, the size of men --

And whom he foundeth, with his Arm
As Himmaleh, shall stand --
Gibraltar's Everlasting Shoe
Poised lightly on his Hand,

So trust him, Comrade --
You for you, and I, for you and me
Eternity is ample,
And quick enough, if...Read more of this...

Leave Me O Love Which Reachest But to Dust

by Sir Philip Sidney
 Leave me, O Love, which reachest but to dust, 
And thou my mind aspire to higher things: 
Grow rich in that which never taketh rust: 
Whatever fades, but fading pleasure brings. 

Draw in thy beams, and humble all thy might, 
To that sweet yoke, where lasting freedoms be: 
Which breaks the clouds and opens forth the light, 
That doth...Read more of this...

I should not dare to leave my friend

by Emily Dickinson
 I should not dare to leave my friend,
Because -- because if he should die
While I was gone -- and I -- too late --
Should reach the Heart that wanted me --

If I should disappoint the eyes
That hunted -- hunted so -- to see --
And could not bear to shut until
They "noticed" me -- they noticed me --

If I should...Read more of this...

Sonnet 35 - If I leave all for thee wilt thou exchange

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
And be all to me? Shall I never miss
Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss
That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,
When I look up, to drop on a new range
Of walls and floors, another home than this?
Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is
Filled by dead...Read more of this...

Leave-Taking

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 Let us go hence, my songs; she will not hear.
Let us go hence together without fear;
Keep silence now, for singing-time is over,
And over all old things and all things dear.
She loves not you nor me as all we love her.
Yea, though we sang as angels in her ear,
She would not hear.

Let us rise up and part; she will not...Read more of this...

Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead

by Emily Dickinson
 Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead
Came the Darker Way --
Carriages -- Be Sure -- and Guests -- too --
But for Holiday

'Tis more pitiful Endeavor
Than did Loaded Sea
O'er the Curls attempt to caper
It had cast away --

Never Bride had such Assembling --
Never kinsmen kneeled
To salute so fair a Forehead --
Garland be indeed --

Fitter Feet -- of Her before us...Read more of this...

Taking Leave of a Friend

by Ezra Pound
 Blue mountains to the north of the walls,
White river winding about them;
Here we must make separation
And go out through a thousand miles of dead grass.

Mind like a floating wide cloud,
Sunset like the parting of old acquaintances
Who bow over their clasped hands at a distance.
Our horses neigh to each others
as we are departing....Read more of this...

To-day, which we call Adine (Wednesday), leave

by Omar Khayyam
To-day, which we call Adine [Wednesday], leave
the tiny cup and drink wine from a bowl. If other days
you drank but one fair bowl, to-day drink two, for Adine
ranks its fellow days, save one....Read more of this...

Leave This

by Rabindranath Tagore
 Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! 
Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? 
Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee! 

He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground 
and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. 
He is with them in...Read more of this...

A New Years Resolution to Leave Dundee

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Welcome! thrice welcome! to the year 1893,
For it is the year I intend to leave Dundee,
Owing to the treatment I receive,
Which does my heart sadly grieve.
Every morning when I go out
The ignorant rabble they do shout
'There goes Mad McGonagall'
In derisive shouts as loud as they can bawl,
And lifts stones and snowballs, throws them at me;
And such actions are shameful...Read more of this...

'Tis well to drink, and leave anxiety

by Omar Khayyam
'Tis well to drink, and leave anxiety
For what is past, and what is yet to be;
Our prisoned spirits, lent us for a day,
A while from season's bondage shall go free!...Read more of this...

Take all away from me but leave me Ecstasy

by Emily Dickinson
 Take all away from me, but leave me Ecstasy,
And I am richer then than all my Fellow Men --
Ill it becometh me to dwell so wealthily
When at my very Door are those possessing more,
In abject poverty --...Read more of this...

Untimely Leave

by Rabindranath Tagore
 No more noisy, loud words from me---such is my master's will. 
Henceforth I deal in whispers. 
The speech of my heart will be carried on in murmurings of a song. 

Men hasten to the King's market. All the buyers and sellers are there. 
But I have my untimely leave in the middle of the day, in the thick of...Read more of this...

Taking Leave of a Friend

by Ezra Pound
 Blue mountains lie beyond the north wall;
Round the city's eastern side flows the white water.
Here we part, friend, once forever.
You go ten thousand miles, drifting away
Like an unrooted water-grass.
Oh, the floating clouds and the thoughts of a wanderer!
Oh, the sunset and the longing of an old friend!
We ride away from each other, waving our hands,
While our horses neigh softly,...Read more of this...

And Wilt Thou Leave me Thus?

by Sir Thomas Wyatt
 And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay, for shame,
To save thee from the blame
Of all my grief and grame;
And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay!

And wilt thou leave me thus,
That hath loved thee so long
In wealth and woe among?
And is thy heart so strong
As for to leave me thus?
Say nay, say nay!

And wilt thou leave...Read more of this...

I Grant You Ample Leave

by George Eliot
 "I grant you ample leave 
To use the hoary formula 'I am' 
Naming the emptiness where thought is not; 
But fill the void with definition, 'I' 
Will be no more a datum than the words 
You link false inference with, the 'Since' & 'so' 
That, true or not, make up the atom-whirl. 
Resolve your 'Ego', it is all one...Read more of this...

495. Song—Canst thou leave me thus my Katie

by Robert Burns
 Chorus—Canst thou leave me thus, my Katie?
 Canst thou leave me thus, my Katie?
Well thou know’st my aching heart,
 And canst thou leave me thus, for pity?


IS this thy plighted, fond regard,
 Thus cruelly to part, my Katie?
Is this thy faithful swain’s reward—
 An aching, broken heart, my Katie!
 Canst thou leave me, &c.


Farewell! and ne’er such sorrows tear
...Read more of this...

Give Me Leave to Rail at You

by John Wilmot
 Give me leave to rail at you, -
I ask nothing but my due:
To call you false, and then to say
You shall not keep my heart a day.
But alas! against my will
I must be your captive still.
Ah! be kinder, then, for I
Cannot change, and would not die.

Kindness has resistless charms;
All besides but weakly move;
Fiercest anger it disarms,
And clips the wings...Read more of this...

Sick Leave

by Siegfried Sassoon
 When I’m asleep, dreaming and lulled and warm,— 
They come, the homeless ones, the noiseless dead. 
While the dim charging breakers of the storm 
Bellow and drone and rumble overhead, 
Out of the gloom they gather about my bed.
They whisper to my heart; their thoughts are mine. 
‘Why are you here with all your watches ended? 
From Ypres to...Read more of this...

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