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Famous Wallet Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...
It’s tauld he was a sodger bred,
And ane wad rather fa’n than fled;
But now he’s quat the spurtle-blade,
 And dog-skin wallet,
And taen the—Antiquarian trade,
 I think they call it.


He has a fouth o’ auld nick-nackets:
Rusty airn caps and jinglin jackets,
Wad haud the Lothians three in tackets,
 A towmont gude;
And parritch-pats and auld saut-backets,
 Before the flood.


Of Eve’s first fire he has a cinder;
Auld Tubalcain’s fire-shool and fender;
That which distin...Read more of this...



by Bukowski, Charles
...at the track today,
Father's Day,
each paid admission was
entitled to a wallet
and each contained a
little surprise. 
most of the men seemed
between 30 and 55,
going to fat,
many of them in walking
shorts,
they had gone stale in
life,
flattened out.... 
in fact, damn it, they
aren't even worth writing
about!
why am I doing
this? 
these don't even
deserve a death bed,
these little walking
whales,
only there ar...Read more of this...

by Sexton, Anne
...flower called Horrid. 

I walk in a yellow dress 
and a white pocketbook stuffed with cigarettes, 
enough pills, my wallet, my keys, 
and being twenty-eight, or is it forty-five? 
I walk. I walk. 
I hold matches at street signs 
for it is dark, 
as dark as the leathery dead 
and I have lost my green Ford, 
my house in the suburbs, 
two little kids 
sucked up like pollen by the bee in me 
and a husband 
who has wiped off his eyes 
in order not to see my inside out ...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...WEE Willie Gray, and his leather wallet,
Peel a willow wand to be him boots and jacket;
The rose upon the breir will be him trews an’ doublet,
The rose upon the breir will be him trews an’ doublet,


Wee Willie Gray, and his leather wallet,
Twice a lily-flower will be him sark and cravat;
Feathers of a flee wad feather up his bonnet,
Feathers of a flee wad feather up his bonnet....Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...
And now tho’ I must beg, with a wooden arm and leg,
 And many a tatter’d rag hanging over my bum,
I’m as happy with my wallet, my bottle, and my callet,
 As when I used in scarlet to follow a drum.


What tho’ with hoary locks, I must stand the winter shocks,
 Beneath the woods and rocks oftentimes for a home,
When the t’other bag I sell, and the t’other bottle tell,
 I could meet a troop of hell, at the sound of a drum.


RecitativoHe ended; and the kebars sheuk,
 A...Read more of this...



by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...:
"See thy sister's sad disgrace, oh brother!
How I'm banish'd--mother of five children!"
Silently her brother from his wallet,
Wrapp'd in deep red-silk, and ready written,
Draweth forth the letter of divorcement,
To return home to her mother's dwelling,
Free to be another's wife thenceforward.

When the woman saw that mournful letter,
Fervently she kiss'd her two sons' foreheads,
And her two girls' cheeks with fervour kiss'd she,
But she from the suckling in the cradle
C...Read more of this...

by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...he comforting ERGO BIBAMUS!

I am call'd by my fate far away from each friend;

Ye loved ones, then: ERGO BIBAMUS!
With wallet light-laden from hence I must wend.

So double our ERGO BIBAMUS!
Whate'er to his treasures the niggard may add,
Yet regard for the joyous will ever be had,
For gladness lends over its charms to the glad,

So, brethren, sing; ERGO BIBAMUS!

And what shall we say of to-day as it flies?

I thought but of: ERGO BIBAMUS
'Tis one of those truly that sel...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...from the Emp'ror's cruel mouth—with dyes 
 Of wrath empurpled—came these words of late: 
 "The empire wearies of the wallet weight 
 Hung at its back—this High and Low Lusace, 
 Whose hateful load grows heavier apace, 
 That now a woman holds its ruler's place." 
 Threatening, and blood suggesting, every word; 
 The watchful Pole was silent—but he heard. 
 
 Two monstrous dangers; but the heedless one 
 Babbles and smiles, and bids all care begone— 
 Likes lively ...Read more of this...

by Sexton, Anne
...is life, you ask. 
I give them both my buttocks, 
my two wheels rolling off toward Nirvana. 
They are neat as a wallet, 
opening and closing on their coins, 
the quarters, the nickels, 
straight into the crapper. 
Why shouldn't I pull down my pants 
and moon the executioner 
as well as paste raisins on my breasts? 
Why shouldn't I pull down my pants 
and show my little cunny to Tom 
and Albert? They wee-wee funny. 
I wee-wee like a squaw. 
I have ink but n...Read more of this...

by Field, Eugene
...fellow-journalist is broke and needs a twenty,
Who's allus ready to whack up a portion of his plenty?
Who's allus got a wallet that's as full of sordid gain
As his heart is full of kindness and his head is full of brain?
Whose bowels of compassion will in-va-ri-a-bly move
Their owner to those courtesies which plainly, surely prove
That he's the kind of person that never does go back
On a fellow that's in trouble?
Why, little Mack!

I've heard 'em tell of Dana, and of Bonner, ...Read more of this...

by Lehman, David
...0 francs will get you $109.91
on this muggy May afternoon
which is good to know since
I just found 700 francs in my wallet
while Dinah Washington was singing
"My Old Flame" I was thinking of where
I was with Glen when Allen Ginsberg died
and if I could relax for one hour
if I knew what that felt like
it would seem like a very long time to me
so I'll have to settle for the next best thing
warm rain on a cool May evening
on Charles Street, turn left on West 4th,
cross Sixth...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...thin it lay, by culpons* one and one, *locks, shreds
But hood for jollity, he weared none,
For it was trussed up in his wallet.
Him thought he rode all of the *newe get*, *latest fashion*
Dishevel, save his cap, he rode all bare.
Such glaring eyen had he, as an hare.
A vernicle* had he sew'd upon his cap. *image of Christ 
His wallet lay before him in his lap,
Bretful* of pardon come from Rome all hot. *brimful
A voice he had as small as hath a goa...Read more of this...

by Graham, Jorie
...ut the integrity of the whole,
the heart trying to make time and place seem small,
sliding its slim tears into the deep wallet of each new event
on the list
then checking it off -- oh the satisfaction -- each check a small kiss,
an echo of the previous one, off off it goes the dry high-ceilinged
obligation,
checked-off by the fingertips, by the small gust called done that swipes
the unfinishable's gold hem aside, revealing
what might have been, peeling away what should . ...Read more of this...

by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...I ween;
And if his cloak too, had been reft,

How fearful his disgrace had been!
By yonder villain sorely press'd,

His wallet from him has been torn;
Our hapless friend has been undress'd,

Left well nigh naked as when born.

The reason why he came this road,

Is that he sought a pair of eyes,
Which, at the mill, as brightly glow'd

As those that are in Paradise.
He will not soon again be there;

From out the house he quickly hied,
And when he gain'd the open air,

T...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...in
To talk he puffed away content,
Reflecting: how delightful are
 Fair dame and fine cigar.

Then from his bulging wallet he
A photograph with pride displayed,
His charming wife and children three,
When suddenly he was dismayed
To hear her say: 'These notes you've got,--
 I want the lot.'

He scarcely could believe his ears.
He laughed: 'The money isn't mine.
To pay it back would take me years,
And so politely I decline.
Madame, I think you speak in fun:
...Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...other's mind, you see)
But there's no reproach among swine, d'you see, 
For being a bit of a swine.
So I'm off with wallet and staff to eat 
The bread that is three parts chaff to wheat, 
But glory be! - there's a laugh to it, 
Which isn't the case when we dine.

My father glooms and advises me, 
My brother sulks and despises me, 
And Mother catechises me 
Till I want to go out and swear. 
And, in spite of the butler's gravity, 
I know that the servants have it I ...Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...other's mind, you see)
But there's no reproach among swine, d'you see, 
For being a bit of a swine.
So I'm off with wallet and staff to eat 
The bread that is three parts chaff to wheat, 
But glory be! - there's a laugh to it, 
Which isn't the case when we dine.

My father glooms and advises me, 
My brother sulks and despises me, 
And Mother catechises me 
Till I want to go out and swear. 
And, in spite of the butler's gravity, 
I know that the servants have it I ...Read more of this...

by Piercy, Marge
...thes. 
My tickets are floating in the bath 

tub full of water. I dry them. 
One cat is in my purse 
but my wallet has dissolved. 
The tickets are still dripping. 

I look at the clock as it leaps 
forward and see I have missed 
my plane. My bed is gone now. 
There is one cat the size of a sofa....Read more of this...

by Larkin, Philip
...was an agreement
That I was too selfish, withdrawn
And easily bored to love.
Well, useful to get that learnt,
In my wallet are still two snaps,
Of bosomy rose with fur gloves on.
Unlucky charms, perhaps....Read more of this...

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