Famous Treasure Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Be Lost In The Call

by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
Lord, said David, since you do not need us,
why did you create these two worlds? Reality replied: O prisoner of time,
I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,
and I wished this treasure to be known,
so I created a mirror: its shining face, the heart;
its darkened back, the world;
The back would please you if you’ve never seen the face. Has...Read more of this...

62. Epistle to William Simson

by Robert Burns
 I GAT your letter, winsome Willie;
Wi’ gratefu’ heart I thank you brawlie;
Tho’ I maun say’t, I wad be silly,
 And unco vain,
Should I believe, my coaxin billie
 Your flatterin strain.


But I’se believe ye kindly meant it:
I sud be laith to think ye hinted
Ironic satire, sidelins sklented
 On my poor Musie;
Tho’ in sic phraisin terms ye’ve penn’d it,
 I scarce...Read more of this...

Fragments

by Alan Seeger
 In that fair capital where Pleasure, crowned 
Amidst her myriad courtiers, riots and rules, 
I too have been a suitor. Radiant eyes 
Were my life's warmth and sunshine, outspread arms 
My gilded deep horizons. I rejoiced 
In yielding to all amorous influence 
And multiple impulsion of the flesh, 
To feel within my being surge and sway 
The force that...Read more of this...

Sea Poppies

by Hilda Doolittle
 Amber husk 
fluted with gold, 
fruit on the sand 
marked with a rich grain, 

treasure 
spilled near the shrub-pines 
to bleach on the boulders: 

your stalk has caught root 
among wet pebbles 
and drift flung by the sea 
and grated shells 
and split conch-shells. 

Beautiful, wide-spread, 
fire upon leaf, 
what meadow yields 
so fragrant a leaf 
as your bright...Read more of this...

Child of Europe

by Czeslaw Milosz
 1
We, whose lungs fill with the sweetness of day.
Who in May admire trees flowering
Are better than those who perished.

We, who taste of exotic dishes,
And enjoy fully the delights of love,
Are better than those who were buried.

We, from the fiery furnaces, from behind barbed wires
On which the winds of endless autumns howled,
We, who remember battles where the wounded air roared...Read more of this...

The Treasure

by Rupert Brooke
 When colour goes home into the eyes,
And lights that shine are shut again,
With dancing girls and sweet birds' cries
Behind the gateways of the brain;
And that no-place which gave them birth, shall close
The rainbow and the rose:— 

Still may Time hold some golden space
Where I'll unpack that scented store
Of song and flower and sky and face,
And count, and touch, and...Read more of this...

De Profundis

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 I

The face, which, duly as the sun, 
Rose up for me with life begun, 
To mark all bright hours of the day 
With hourly love, is dimmed away—
And yet my days go on, go on.

II 

The tongue which, like a stream, could run
Smooth music from the roughest stone, 
And every morning with ' Good day'
Make each day good, is...Read more of this...

Yes, we, seated in the midst of this treasure in ruins,

by Omar Khayyam
Yes, we, seated in the midst of this treasure in ruins,
surrounded by wine and dancers, have put in pawn [in
order to procure them] all that we possess: soul, heart,
goods—everything but the cup. We are thus freed from
hope of pardon and fear of punishment. We are beyond
the air, the earth, and fire and water....Read more of this...

Sonnet XXX

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET ***. Quand' io mi volgo indietro a mirar gli anni. THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE PAST ENHANCES HIS MISERY.  When I look back upon the many yearsWhich in their flight my best thoughts have entomb'd,And spent the fire, that, spite her ice, consumed,And finish'd the repose so full of tears,Broken the...Read more of this...

Rhymes for Gloriana

by Vachel Lindsay
 I. THE DOLL UPON THE TOPMOST BOUGH


This doll upon the topmost bough,
This playmate-gift, in Christmas dress,
Was taken down and brought to me
One sleety night most comfortless. 

Her hair was gold, her dolly-sash 
Was gray brocade, most good to see. 
The dear toy laughed, and I forgot 
The ill the new year promised me.


II. ON SUDDENLY RECEIVING A CURL LONG...Read more of this...

405. Epigram—Commissary Goldie's Brains

by Robert Burns
 LORD, to account who dares thee call,
 Or e’er dispute thy pleasure?
Else why, within so thick a wall,
 Enclose so poor a treasure?...Read more of this...

The Treasure-digger

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 ALL my weary days I pass'd

Sick at heart and poor in purse.

Poverty's the greatest curse,

Riches are the highest good!
And to end my woes at last,

Treasure-seeking forth I sped.

"Thou shalt have my soul instead!"

Thus I wrote, and with my blood.

Ring round ring I forthwith drew,

Wondrous flames collected there,

Herbs and bones in order fair,

Till the charm had work'd aright.
Then, to learned...Read more of this...

The Boston Athenaeum

by Amy Lowell
 Thou dear and well-loved haunt of happy hours,
How often in some distant gallery,
Gained by a little painful spiral stair,
Far from the halls and corridors where throng
The crowd of casual readers, have I passed
Long, peaceful hours seated on the floor
Of some retired nook, all lined with books,
Where reverie and quiet reign supreme!
Above, below, on every side, high shelved
From careless grasp...Read more of this...

The Merchant To Secure His Treasure

by Matthew Prior
 The merchant, to secure his treasure,
Conveys it in a borrowed name:
Euphelia serves to grace my measure,
But Cloe is my real flame.

My softest verse, my darling lyre
Upon Euphelia's toilet lay— 
When Cloe noted her desire
That I should sing, that I should play.

My lyre I tune, my voice I raise,
But with my numbers mix my sighs;
And whilst I sing Euphelia's praise,
I...Read more of this...

Grass

by Russell Edson
 The living room is overgrown with grass. It has 
come up around the furniture. It stretches through 
the dining room, past the swinging door into the 
kitchen. It extends for miles and miles into the 
walls . . .

 There's treasure in grass, things dropped or put 
there; a stick of rust that was once a penknife, a 
grave...Read more of this...

The Miner

by Henrik Ibsen
 BEETLING rock, with roar and smoke 
Break before my hammer-stroke! 
Deeper I must thrust and lower 
Till I hear the ring of ore. 

From the mountain's unplumbed night, 
Deep amid the gold-veins bright, 
Diamonds lure me, rubies beckon, 
Treasure-hoard that none may reckon. 

There is peace within the deep-- 
Peace and immemorial sleep; 
Heavy hammer, burst as bidden, 
To...Read more of this...

Song III: It Grew Up Without Heeding

by William Morris
 Love is enough: it grew up without heeding
In the days when ye knew not its name nor its measure,
And its leaflets untrodden by the light feet of pleasure
Had no boast of the blossom, no sign of the seeding,
As the morning and evening passed over its treasure. 

And what do ye say then?--That Spring long departed
Has brought forth no child...Read more of this...

The Last Judgment

by Amy Levy
 With beating heart and lagging feet,
Lord, I approach the Judgment-seat.
All bring hither the fruits of toil,
Measures of wheat and measures of oil;

Gold and jewels and precious wine;
No hands bare like these hands of mine.
The treasure I have nor weighs nor gleams:
Lord, I can bring you only dreams.

In days of spring, when my blood ran high,
I lay in the grass...Read more of this...

Song of the Fifth River

by Rudyard Kipling
 "The Treasure and the Low"--Puck of Pook's Hills.
Where first by Eden Tree
The Four Great Rivers ran,
To each was appointed a Man
Her Prince and Ruler to be.

But after this was ordained
(The ancient legends' tell),
There came dark Israel,
For whom no River remained.

Then He Whom the Rivers obey
Said to him: "Fling on the ground
A handful of yellow clay,
And a Fifth Great River...Read more of this...

Hymn 41

by Isaac Watts
 The same; or, The martyrs glorified.

Rev. 7:13ff. 

"These glorious minds, how bright they shine!
Whence all their white array?
How came they to the happy seats
Of everlasting day?"

From torturing pains to endless joys
On fiery wheels they rode,
And strangely washed their raiment white
In Jesus' dying blood.

Now they approach a spotless God,
And bow before his throne
Their warbling harps and sacred songs
Adore the Holy...Read more of this...

Epistle To My Brother George

by John Keats
 Full many a dreary hour have I past,
My brain bewildered, and my mind o'ercast
With heaviness; in seasons when I've thought
No spherey strains by me could e'er be caught
From the blue dome, though I to dimness gaze
On the far depth where sheeted lightning plays;
Or, on the wavy grass outstretched supinely,
Pry 'mong the stars, to strive to think divinely:
That I should...Read more of this...

The Sugar-Plum Tree

by Eugene Field
 Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
'T is a marvel of great renown!
It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;
The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet
(As those who have tasted it say)
That good little children have only to eat
Of that fruit to be happy next day. 
When you 've got...Read more of this...

Child's Talent

by Anonymous
God intrusts to allTalents, few or many;None so young or small,That they have not any.[Pg 035]Though the great and wiseMay have more in number,Yet my own I prize,And they must not slumber.Little drops of rain.Bring the springing flowers;And I may attainMuch by little powers.Every little mite,Every little measure,Helps to spread the light,Helps to swell the treasure....Read more of this...

Nancy

by Elinor Wylie
 You are a rose, but set with sharpest spine; 
You are a pretty bird that pecks at me; 
You are a little squirrel on a tree, 
Pelting me with the prickly fruit of the pine; 
A diamond, torn from a crystal mine, 
Not like that milky treasure of the sea, 
A smooth, translucent pearl, but skilfully 
Carven to cut,...Read more of this...

13. Song—Bonie Peggy Alison

by Robert Burns
 Chor.—And I’ll kiss thee yet, yet,
 And I’ll kiss thee o’er again:
And I’ll kiss thee yet, yet,
 My bonie Peggy Alison.


ILK care and fear, when thou art near
 I evermair defy them, O!
Young kings upon their hansel throne
 Are no sae blest as I am, O!
 And I’ll kiss thee yet, yet, &c.


When in my arms, wi’ a’ thy...Read more of this...

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