Famous Tock Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Speaking To You (From Rock Bottom)

by Michael Ondaatje
 Speaking to you
this hour
these days when
I have lost the feather of poetry
and the rains
of separation 
surround us tock
tock like Go tablets

Everyone has learned 
to move carefully

'Dancing' 'laughing' 'bad taste'
is a memory
a tableau behind trees of law

In the midst of love for you
my wife's suffering
anger in every direction
and the children wise
as tough shrubs
but they are not tough
--so I fear
how anything...Read more of this...

Tick-Tock

by Robert William Service
 Tick-tocking in my ear
My dollar clock I hear.
'Arise,' it seems to say:
'Behold another day
To grasp the golden key
Of Opportunity;
To turn the magic lock--
 Tick-tock!

'Another day to gain
Some goal you sought in vain;
to sing a sweeter song,
Perchance to right a wrong;
To win a height unscaled
Where yesterday you failed;
To brave a battle shock--
 Tick-tock!'

You measure out my breath,
Each beat one nearer...Read more of this...

Nightmare: A Tale for an Autumn Evening

by Amy Lowell
 After a Print by George Cruikshank

It was a gusty night,
With the wind booming, and swooping,
Looping round corners,
Sliding over the cobble-stones,
Whipping and veering,
And careering over the roofs
Like a thousand clattering horses.
Mr. Spruggins had been dining in the city,
Mr. Spruggins was none too steady in his gait,
And the wind played ball with Mr. Spruggins
And laughed as it whistled past him.
It rolled...Read more of this...

My Cuckoo Clock

by Robert William Service
 I bought a cuckoo clock
 And glad was I
To hear its tick and tock,
 Its dulcet cry.
But Jones, whose wife is young
 And pretty too,
Winced when that bird gave tongue:
 Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

I have a lady friend
 Whom I would wed,
For dalliance should end
 In bridal bed.
Until the thought occurred:
 Can she be true?
And then I heard that bird:
 Cuckoo!...Read more of this...

Idlers Song

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 I sit in the twilight dim
At the close of an idle day, 
And I list to the soft sweet hymn, 
That rises far away, 
And dies on the evening air.
Oh, all day long, 
They sing their song, 
Who toil in the valley there.

But never a song sing I, 
Sitting with folded hands, 
The hours pass me by -
Dropping their...Read more of this...

Dunce Songs : 9

by Mark Van Doren
 Love me little, love me long,
Then we neither can be wrong:
You in giving, I in taking;
There is nor a heart breaking
But remembers one touch,
Or maybe seven, of too much.

Love me more than halfway, though.
Let me think, then let me know.
And I promise you the same:
A little wild, a little tame;
Lest it ever seem long:
Tick, tock, ding, dong....Read more of this...

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