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Subject: TRANSIENCE
Matches Found: 315

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` A FUNERAL CHANT FOR THE OLD YEAT, by E. JUSTINE BAYARD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is the death night of the solemn old year
Alternate Author Name(s): Cutting, E. Justine
Subject(s): Time; Transience; Impermanence


A LYRIC OF THE DAWN, by EDWIN MARKHAM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Alone I list
Subject(s): Transience; Nature; Impermanence


A MAN IN HIS LIFE, by YEHUDA AMICHAI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A man in his life has no time to have
Last Line: To the place where there is time for everything
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Transience


A MOOD, by JOHN GALSWORTHY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Love's a flower, 'tis born and broken
Last Line: Bursts in air -- is gone -- too soon!
Alternate Author Name(s): Sinjohn, John
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


A PALINODE, by EDMUND BOLTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As withereth the primrose by the river
Last Line: As shine by fountains, bubbles, flowers, or snow?
Subject(s): Transience; Vanity; Impermanence


A QUESTION: TO FAUSTA, by MATTHEW ARNOLD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Joy comes and goes, hope ebbs and flows
Subject(s): Transience; Change; Impermanence


A SERIOUS REFLECTION ON HUMAN LIFE, SELECTION, by HENRY BAKER    Poem Text                    
First Line: How vain is man! How foolish are his ways!
Last Line: "and make out one continued scene of woe."
Subject(s): Life; Pessimism; Transience; Impermanence


A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 26, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Along the field as we came by
Last Line: And she beside another lad.
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


A STEP, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Things/come and go
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


A VOICE SPAKE OUT OF THE SKIES' 0, by ALFRED TENNYSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Were nothing the next minute?
Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron
Subject(s): Transience


A WALK AT SUNSET, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When insect wings are glistening in the beam
Last Line: Darkened by boundless groves, and roamed by savage men.
Subject(s): Nature; Evening; Transience; Sunset; Twilight; Impermanence


ADDRESS FROM THE SPIRIT OF COCKERMOUTH CASTLE, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou look'st upon me, and dost fondly think ...'
Last Line: "still round my shattered brow in beauty wave."
Subject(s): Time; Transience


AEOLIAN HARP (2), by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What saith the river to the rushes grey
Last Line: For ever, ever, ever fled away!
Alternate Author Name(s): Pollex, D.; Walker, Patricius
Subject(s): Transience; Rivers; Impermanence


AFFECTION AND DESIRE, by WALTER RALEIGH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Conceit begotten by the eyes
Last Line: To like, to love, to choose alike.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ralegh, Walter
Variant Title(s): A Poesy To Prove Affection Is Not Love
Subject(s): Desire; Transience; Impermanence


AFTER THE REVOLUTION FOR JESUS A SECULAR MAN PREPARES FINAL REMARKS, by MILLER WILLIAMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What the blind lost when radio
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


AFTER THE REVOLUTION FOR JESUS A SECULAR MAN PREPARES FINAL REMARKS, by MILLER WILLIAMS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What the blind lost when radio
Last Line: Where should I go, going home? Lord, I am here
Subject(s): Transience


AGING: ON THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GREATNESS, by ARTHUR GUITERMAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The tusks that clashed in mighty brawls
Subject(s): Time; Transience; Vanity; Impermanence


AGING: ON THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GREATNESS, by ARTHUR GUITERMAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The tusks that clashed in mighty brawls
Last Line: And I don't feel so well myself
Subject(s): Time; Transience; Vanity


AGREE WITH THINE ADVERSARY QUICKLY', by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Life is too short for hatred: not a day
Last Line: And all the comrade years
Subject(s): Transience; Hate


ALL FLESH IS GRASS, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: So brief a life, and then an endless life
Last Line: "dies away ""alas!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Transience; Grief


ALONE IN AN INN AT SOUTHAMPTON, APRIL 25, 1737, by AARON HILL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Twenty lost years have stolen their hours away
Last Line: Or shun the healing hand of friendly death?
Variant Title(s): A Retrospect
Subject(s): Aging; Despair; Transience; Impermanence


AN EPITAPH, by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here lies a most beautiful lady
Last Line: This lady of the west country?
Alternate Author Name(s): Ramal, Walter; De La Mare, Walter
Subject(s): Beauty; Epitaphs; Transience; Impermanence


AN EPITAPH, by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Last, stone, a little yet
Last Line: Sharing in solitude her dreams with thee.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ramal, Walter; De La Mare, Walter
Subject(s): Beauty; Epitaphs; Transience; Impermanence


AN OLD MASTER, by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE    Poem Text                    
First Line: I saw a picture yesternight
Last Line: The white-pure moon looked out.
Subject(s): Beauty; Moon; Storms; Transience; Impermanence


AND, by ANSELM HOLLO    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Black walnut foliage … a burst of gold
Last Line: In her studio's air
Subject(s): Paintings & Painters; Transience


AND HAVE I GAZED ON THIS BRIGHT FORM, by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Or its bright innocence with shame to streak
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, Isaac
Subject(s): Transience


ANS STILL IT COMES, by THOMAS LUX    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Like a downhill brakes-burned freight train
Subject(s): Transience; Death; Impermanence; Dead, The


APPLES, by DONALD HALL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The have gone
Subject(s): Apples; Transience; Impermanence


AS TIME ONE DAY BY ME DID PASS, by HENRY VAUGHAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Though life be dead, and my joys gone
Alternate Author Name(s): Silurist
Subject(s): Transience


ASOLANDO: REPHAN, by ROBERT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How I lived, ere my human life began
Last Line: "thou art past rephan, thy place be earth!"
Subject(s): Transience; Eternity; God; Impermanence


ASOLANDO: SPECULATIVE, by ROBERT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Others may need new life in heaven
Last Line: "so we but meet nor part again!"
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


AT CASTERBRIDGE FAIR: 2. FORMER BEAUTIES, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: These market-dames, mid-aged, with lips thin-drawn
Last Line: Them always fair.
Subject(s): Beauty; Festivals; Transience; Fairs; Pageants; Impermanence


AT DELOS, by DUNCAN CAMPBELL SCOTT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: An iris-flower with topaz leaves
Last Line: Brings to the grave his tears.
Alternate Author Name(s): Scott, D. C.
Subject(s): Delos (island), Greece; Transience; Impermanence


AT MIDNIGHT, by SARA TEASDALE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now at last I have come to see what life is
Last Line: Are not so good as rest.
Alternate Author Name(s): Filsinger, Ernest B., Mrs.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


AZTEC SONG, by STEPHEN BERG    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beat the great drum
Last Line: A little time %here
Subject(s): Aztecs; Transience


BE INDOMITABLE, O MY HEART, by NEZAHUALCOYOTL    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Have we come, have we sojourned on earth in vain?
Subject(s): Transience


BEAUTY, by TONY HOAGLAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When the medication she was taking
Last Line: That, too, was beautiful
Subject(s): Beauty; Brotherds And Sisters; Aging; Transience; Impermanence


BEES AND MORNING GLORY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Morning glories, pale as a mist drying
Subject(s): Bees; Morning Glories; Transience; Beekeeping; Impermanence


BEFORE A CORPSE, by MANUEL ACUNA    Poem Source                    
First Line: And so! Already here thou art upon the table
Subject(s): Physicians; Transience


BEFORE A CORPSE, by MANUEL ACUNA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Well! There you lie already...On the board
Last Line: Matter immortal as glory, is endowed %with other semblances,but never dies
Subject(s): Physicians; Transience


BEFORE DAWN ON BLUFF ROAD, by AUGUST KLEINZAHLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Aging; Transience; Impermanence


BIRTHRIGHT, by JOHN DRINKWATER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lord rameses of egypt sighed
Last Line: And little ariadne sleep.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


BITTER RAIN, by HUANG YUANJIE    Poem Source                    
First Line: When traveling, who can bear the wind and rain?
Last Line: In the corner of the house a cricket sings, surprising my eccentric muse
Subject(s): Transience


BLUE GIRLS, by JOHN CROWE RANSOM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twirling your blue skirts, traveling the sward
Subject(s): Carpe Diem; Transience; Youth; Impermanence


BLUE GIRLS, by JOHN CROWE RANSOM    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Twirling your blue skirts, traveling the sward
Last Line: Since she was lovelier than any of you
Subject(s): Carpe Diem; Transience; Youth


BREAK, BREAK, BREAK, by ALFRED TENNYSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Break, break, break, / on thy cold gray stones, o sea!
Last Line: Will never come back to me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron
Subject(s): Death; Grief; Nostalgia; Sea; Transience; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Ocean; Impermanence


BREATHING SPACE JULY, by TOMAS TRANSTROMER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The man who lies on his back under huge trees
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


BREATHING SPACE JULY, by TOMAS TRANSTROMER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The man who lies on his back under huge trees
Last Line: As the islands crawl like huge moths over the globe
Subject(s): Transience


BREVITY, by MARY NICHOL CAMPBELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Our lives like winds of march blow sweeping past
Last Line: I was to think life tedious and long!
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


BRONZED, by DEAN YOUNG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: That dusty bubble gum, once ubiquitous as starlings
Subject(s): Transience; Togetherness; Impermanence


BUNDLES, by CARL SANDBURG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have thought of beaches, fields,
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


CALMLY WE WALK THROUGH THIS APRIL'S DAY, by DELMORE SCHWARTZ    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Time; Transience; City & Town Life; Memory; Impermanence


CE QUI DURE, by RENE FRANCOIS ARMAND PRUDHOMME    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How cold and wan the present lowers
Last Line: Then thou hast, love! That deathless heart.
Alternate Author Name(s): Sully-prudhomme
Subject(s): Aging; Transience; Youth; Impermanence


CHAMBER MUSIC: 17, by JAMES JOYCE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Because your voice was at my side
Last Line: Who was my friend.
Subject(s): Friendship; Transience; Impermanence


CHANGE UPON CHANGE, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Five months ago the stream did flow
Last Line: Should I change less than thou?
Subject(s): Transience; Change; Impermanence


CHILD OF SUMMER, by ANNA WILLIAMS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Child of summer, lovely rose
Last Line: "tis lasting beauty to be wise."
Subject(s): Beauty; Flowers; Roses; Transience; Impermanence


CLOCK, by LINDA PASTAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Clocks; Transience; Impermanence


CORINNA'S GOING A-MAYING, by ROBERT HERRICK    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Get up! Get up for shame! The blooming morn
Last Line: Come, my corinna, come, let's go a-maying.
Variant Title(s): Going A-maying;may-day
Subject(s): Carpe Diem; Courtship; Death; Holidays; May (month); New Year; Spring; Transience; Dead, The; Impermanence


CUT GRASS, by PHILIP LARKIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Cut grass lies frail:
Subject(s): Mowing & Mowers; Grass; Transience; Lawn Mowers; Impermanence


DAWN, by ISAAC ROSENBERG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O tender first cold flush of rose
Last Line: To fade like passing ships.
Subject(s): Dawn; Dream;s Transience


DAYS OF 1994: ALEXANDRIANS, by MARILYN HACKER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lunch: as we close the twentieth century,
Subject(s): Aging; Transience; Cancer (disease); Food & Eating; Impermanence


DAYS OF OUR YEARS, by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY', by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tell me: doth it not grieve thee to lie here
Last Line: I shall lie safe at rest and freed from care
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Transience; Death; God; Heaven; Rest


DEPENDING ON THE WIND, by JAMES GALVIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A score of years ago I felled a hundred pines to build a house.
Subject(s): Loss; Transience; Divorce; Impermanence


DILEMMA, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Whatever we do, whether we light
Last Line: By being planted too close to our parents
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Transience; Impermanence


DIRGE, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let us keep him warm
Last Line: Slumbers young desire.
Subject(s): Desire; Transience; Impermanence


DREAMS IN WAR TIME, by AMY LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I wandered through a house of many rooms.
Subject(s): Dreams; Youth; Transience; Nightmares; Impermanence


EACH NEW LITTLE DAY SLIPS OUT OF MY HAND, by ANNETTE WYNNE    Poem Text                    
Last Line: With a new little day within my hand
Subject(s): Transience


EARTHLY MEDITATIONS: 1. THE AFTERLIFE, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Spring, and the first full crop of dandelions gone
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 3: 34. MUTABILITY, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: From low to high doth dissolution climb
Last Line: Or the unimaginable touch of time.
Subject(s): Holidays; New Year; Transience; Impermanence


ELEGY WITH A CHIMNEYSWEEP FALLING INSIDE IT, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Those twenty-six letters filling the blackboard
Subject(s): Transience; Grief; Conduct Of Life; Impermanence; Sorrow; Sadness


ELSIE'S MIRROR ONLY SHOWS, by WALLACE STEVENS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: May I still be her mirror true
Subject(s): Mirrors; Transience


EMPLUMADA, by LORNA DEE CERVANTES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When summer ended
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


EPIGRAM, by ROBERT NUGENT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My heart still hovering round about you
Last Line: 18th century epigram.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nugent, Earl
Subject(s): Hearts; Love; Transience; Women; Impermanence


EPIGRAM, by ROBERT NUGENT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Since first you knew my amorous smart
Last Line: Half that rigour had undone me, %all that rigour gives me peace
Alternate Author Name(s): Nugent, Earl
Subject(s): Love; Transience


EPIGRAM: PERJURY, by ROBERT NUGENT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I loved thee, beautiful and kind
Last Line: Twere perjury to love thee now.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nugent, Earl
Subject(s): Beauty; Transience; Impermanence


EPILOGUE, by LINDA PASTAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Years later the girl died
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


EPILOGUE, by LINDA PASTAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Years later the girl died
Last Line: On which everything remains %to be written
Subject(s): Transience


FADING BEAUTY; SONG, by THOMAS FLATMAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As poor aurelia sate alone
Last Line: An autumn has, but knows no second spring.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


FLOWERS OF RED AND BLUE, by NEZAHUALCOYOTL    Poem Source                    
Last Line: For a little while I can earth
Subject(s): Transience


FOR UNA, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I built her a tower when I was young
Last Line: And when they vanish we’ll have spent the night well
Subject(s): Transience; Mortality; Social Commentary; Decay; Love - Erotic; Impermanence; Rot; Decadence


FRAGILE HOUSE, by EDWARD BEATTY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I live in a fragile house
Last Line: Never think of permanence again
Subject(s): Transience


FROM THE SPANISH, by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Twenty years go by on noiseless feet
Last Line: "he mutters, ""my god! And that is she!"
Subject(s): Aging; Transience; Impermanence


GHAZAL, by AGHA SHAHID ALI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Read slowly: the plot will unfold in real time
Subject(s): Death; Transience; Dead, The; Impermanence


GONE, by GEORGE ARNOLD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The summer was long and sweet
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


GONE FOR EVER, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O happy rosebud blooming
Last Line: For the same bird and flower
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Transience


GOOD PHILOSOPHY, by JAMES LAUGHLIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I give you an apple, if you love me
Last Line: And reflect on how short - lived is beauty
Subject(s): Apples; Fruit; Pentastichs; Plato (428-348 B.c.); Transience


GRIEVE NOT, LADIES, by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, grieve not, ladies, if at night
Last Line: And in your loved one's arms, remember.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


GROUNDHOG, by RICHARD GHORMLEY EBERHART    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In june, amid the golden fields
Last Line: Of montaingne in his tower, %of saint theresa in her wild lament
Subject(s): Death; Decay; Groundhogs; Men; Transience


HAIKU, by ARAKIDA MORITAKE    Poem Text                    
First Line: My span of years
Last Line: A morning-glory's hour.
Subject(s): Mortality; Transience; Impermanence


HAIKU, by MATSUO MUNEFUSA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Skylark
Last Line: And day not long enough
Alternate Author Name(s): Basho; Matsuo Basho
Subject(s): Transience


HALFTE DES LEBENS, by JOHANN CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH HOLDERLIN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The yellow pear tree boughs
Last Line: The weather vane bangs in the wind
Alternate Author Name(s): Holderlin, J. C. F.; Holderlin, Friedrich
Subject(s): Transience


HARMONICA HUMDRUMS, by CARL SANDBURG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: And so the days pass
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


HE POINTS OUT THE BREVITY OF LIFE, by FRANCISCO GOMEZ DE QUEVEDO Y VILLEGAS    Poem Source     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: My yesterday was dream, tomorrow earth
Last Line: Digs out a monument from my brief day
Alternate Author Name(s): Quevedo, Francisco Gomez De; Quevedo, Francisco De
Subject(s): Mortality; Time; Transience


HEAVEN'S CHIMES ARE SLOW, BUT SURE TO STRIKE AT LAST, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: And then the time is past
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Heaven; Transience; Bells


HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 15, by WILLIAM BOSWORTH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The time will come, when thy beloved face
Last Line: His glorious date, thou wilt recall thy ire.
Alternate Author Name(s): William Boxworth
Subject(s): Regret; Transience; Impermanence


HORATIAN ECHO, by MATTHEW ARNOLD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Omit, omit, my simple friend
Last Line: When dawns that day, that day.
Subject(s): Transience; Ambition; Impermanence


I MISS MY MOTHER, by MARILYN ELAINE CARMEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nothing gold can stay
Subject(s): Mothers; Transience


I WOULD I WERE A CARELESS CHILD, by GEORGE GORDON BYRON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron
Subject(s): Transience


I'M THANKFUL THAT MY LIFE DOTH NOT DECEIVE, by HENRY DAVID THOREAU    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: They’ll lay another by tomorrow’s sun
Subject(s): Transience; Conduct Of Life


IN A HERMITAGE, by WILLIAM WHITEHEAD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The man, whose days of youth and ease
Last Line: And hates the world he made so bad.
Subject(s): Aging; Transience; Impermanence


IN APRIL EVES, WHEN FLOWERETS GROW, by M. BUSSY    Poem Text                    
Subject(s): Transience


IN CELEBRATION, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You sit in a chair, touched by nothing, feeling
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


IN THIS SHORT LIFE, by EMILY DICKINSON            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Within our power
Subject(s): Transience


INVINCIBLE, by WINNIE LYNCH ROCKETT    Poem Text                    
First Line: The years race by on padded feet
Last Line: My piquant heart from turning gray!
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


IT IS TOO LATE, by EMILY JANE BRONTE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is too late to call thee now
Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Ellis
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


JANUARY 20 OR AGE 30, by EUGENIO MONTALE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your age frightens me
Subject(s): Youth; Transience; Impermanence


LA CHUTE, by CHARLES OLSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My drum, hollowed out thru the thin silt
Last Line: Where they are, where my lute and drum have fallen
Subject(s): Transience


LAMENT FOR THE EVANESCENCE OF LIFE, by YAMANOUE NO OKURA    Poem Source                    
First Line: What we must accept as we journey through the world
Last Line: But life does not allow us to halt the passing of time
Alternate Author Name(s): Yamamoue Okura; Okura
Subject(s): Transience


LAUGHING LIFE CRIES AT THE FEAST, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Come with me, for I am best
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Life; Transience


LEAVES, by LLOYD SCHWARTZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Every october it becomes important, no, necessary
Subject(s): Autumn; Leaves; Transience; Renewal; Fall; Impermanence


LEAVES, by JOHN BANISTER TABB    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All your sylvan prophecies
Last Line: "doomed, alas, to die."
Alternate Author Name(s): Father Tabb
Subject(s): Leaves; Transience; Impermanence


LET IT BE FORGOTTEN, by SARA TEASDALE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let it be forgotten, as a flower is forgotten
Alternate Author Name(s): Filsinger, Ernest B., Mrs.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


LIFE, by MARY TUCKER LAMBERT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Life? What is life but fleeting bliss
Last Line: For aye, and aye.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tucker, Mary Eliza Perine
Subject(s): Life; Transience; Impermanence


LIGHT [AND LOVE], by FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The night has a thousand eyes / and the day but one
Last Line: When its love is done.
Variant Title(s): Night;the Night Has A Thousand Eyes
Subject(s): Death; Love; Transience; Dead, The; Impermanence


LOITER, by FORREST GANDER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Transience; Aging; Impermanence


LOVE GROWN OLD, by JOHN BYRNE LEICESTER WARREN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I cannot kiss thee as I used to kiss
Last Line: And time, dear heart, still goes.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lancaster, William P.; Preston, George F.; De Tabley, 3d Baron; De Tabley, Lord
Subject(s): Love; Transience; Impermanence


MARCH JOURNAL, by CHARLES PENZEL WRIGHT JR.    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: After the rapture comes, and everyone goes away
Last Line: Form is finite, an undestroyable hush over all things
Alternate Author Name(s): Wright, Charles
Subject(s): Transience


MARIAN, by THOMAS ASHE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Passing feet pause, as they pass
Last Line: In the autumn laid away!
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


MEETING AGAIN, by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Yes; I remember the white rose
Last Line: How foolish I am! Good night, dear. And bid alice good night too.
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Owen; Lytton, 1st Earl Of; Lytton, Robert
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


MODULATIONS, by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The petals of the faded rose
Last Line: Or breathes in love sublime.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tremaine, John
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


MONOLOGUE, by BILL ZAVATSKY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thank you, but since you
Subject(s): Transience; Friendship; Careers; Farewell; Disappointment; Impermanence; Parting


MOTET, by MICHAEL ANANIA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At odds again
Last Line: Flex of possibility
Subject(s): Life; Love; Transience


MOTETS: 20, by EUGENIO MONTALE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: . . . So be it. The sound of a cornet
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


MOTTO TO 'CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY', by RALPH WALDO EMERSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Hear what british merlin sung
Last Line: But for a friend is life too short.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


MUTABILITY (2), by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The flower that smiles today
Last Line: Then wake to weep.
Subject(s): Holidays; New Year; Transience; Impermanence


MUTATION, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They talk of short-lived pleasure - be it so
Last Line: A stable changeless state, 'twere cause indeed to weep.
Subject(s): Change; Transience; Impermanence


MY DREAM ABOUT TIME, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A woman unlike myself is running
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


NEVER TO DREAM OF SPIDERS, by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Time collapses between the lips of strangers
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Transience; Conduct Of Life; Impermanence


NEW SPRING: 41, by HEINRICH HEINE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Like an old man's face confounded
Last Line: Fade away from men's minds quickly.
Subject(s): Flowers; Love; Transience; Impermanence


NIGHT-PIECE, by CHARLES REZNIKOFF    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I saw within the shadows of the yard the shed
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Transience; Impermanence


NINETEEN OLD POEMS: 13, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I drove my wagon out upper east gate
Last Line: The better way is to drink fine ale %and dress yourself in satin and silk
Subject(s): China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Transience


NINETEEN OLD POEMS: 14, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Each day those gone are farther withdrawn
Last Line: I long to turn back to my native town, %I wish to return, but there is no way
Subject(s): China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Homesickness; Transience


NINETEEN OLD POEMS: 15, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Life's years do not reach a hundred
Last Line: Qiao the prince, a man undying - %it is hard to match his term of years
Subject(s): China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Transience


NO IDEAS BUT IN THINGS, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: A severed past, / a dismembered part
Subject(s): Transience; Language


NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY, by ROBERT FROST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Nature's first green is gold
Last Line: Nothing gold can stay.
Subject(s): Gold; Life Change Events; Transience; Impermanence


NOTWITHSTANDING, by JAMES BUCKHAM    Poem Text                    
First Line: Brief are the days and few
Last Line: Notwithstanding.
Alternate Author Name(s): Pastnor, Paul
Subject(s): Transience; Love; Impermanence


NOW AND THEN, by GERALD MASSEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O love will make the leal heart ache
Last Line: She -- passes babe-in-arms.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bandiera
Subject(s): Love - Loss Of; Transience; Impermanence


ODE; CHAMBER AND SOUL, by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My many-windowed room, cupboard of sun
Subject(s): Transience; Property; Impermanence; Possessions


ODES IV, 7. DIFFUGERE, REDEUNT IAM GRAMINA CAMPIS, by QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The snow relents
Last Line: Nor can theseus break %his dead friend's chains
Alternate Author Name(s): Horace
Subject(s): Time; Transience


OF THE CHANGES OF LIFE, by WILLIAM DUNBAR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I seek about this world unstable
Last Line: So is this world and ever has been.
Subject(s): Life; Transience; Impermanence


OF TIME, by RICHARD FANSHAWE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: Let us use it whilst we may
Last Line: Love may return, but never lover.
Variant Title(s): Of Beauty
Subject(s): Beauty; Time; Transience; Impermanence


OF TRANSIENT BEAUTY, by SOPHIE JEWETT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Rose-flower and flower of grass and flower of flame
Last Line: The years may fashion an immortal name.
Alternate Author Name(s): Burroughs, Ellen
Subject(s): Beauty; Transience; Universities & Colleges - Faculty; Wellesley College; Impermanence


OH KNELL OF A PASSING TIME, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Numbered to pass away
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Time; Transience


ON A VERY OLD GLASS, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Frail glass, thou mortal art, as well as I
Last Line: Mayst die like me by chance; but not by nature
Subject(s): Glass And Glassblowers; Transience


ON AN ANTIQUE MEDAL, by JOSE-MARIA DE HEREDIA (1842-1905)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The wine which gave the antique ecstasy
Last Line: The immortal beauty of sicilian maids.
Subject(s): Arethusa; Beauty; Transience; Impermanence


ON OBSERVING SOME NAMES OF LITTLE NOTE, by WILLIAM COWPER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, fond attempt to give a deathless lot
Last Line: And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk!
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


ON THE OREGON COAST; FOR WILLIAM STAFFORD, by ROBERT BLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The waves come -- the large fourth wave
Last Line: And figure out what to say to our children.
Subject(s): Courage; Legacies; Transience; Waves; Valor; Bravery; Impermanence


ONE DAY, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


OUTCRY, by ANNE EVANS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Away with loving! Let is all go by
Last Line: For what should follow, %but grieving, grieving?
Subject(s): Lament; Transience


OUTSIDE IT IS BLOWING AND RAINING, by ALEXEY (ALEKSEY) KONSTANTINOVICH TOLSTOY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: While it blows and rains in the night
Alternate Author Name(s): Prutkov, Koz'ma Petrovich
Subject(s): Storms; Houses, Deserted; Death; Transience


OZYMANDIAS, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: I met a traveler from an antique land
Last Line: The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Variant Title(s): Ozymandias Of Egypt
Subject(s): Death; Decay; Deserts; Egypt; Fame; Food & Eating; Pride; Rameses Ii, King Of Egypt; Ruins; Statues; Time; Transience; Vanity; Dead, The; Rot; Decadence; Reputation; Self-esteem; Self-respect; Impermanence


OZYMANDIAS, by HORACE SMITH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In egypt's sandy silence, all alone
Last Line: Once dwelt in that annihilated place.
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Horatio
Variant Title(s): On A Stupendous Leg Of Granite
Subject(s): Egypt; Rameses Ii, King Of Egypt; Ruins; Statues; Transience; Vanity; Impermanence


PASSING AWAY, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Passing away, saith the world, passing away
Last Line: Then I answered: yea.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Change; Time; Transience; Impermanence


PASSING AWAY, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A rose upon her mossy stem
Last Line: "passing away.'"
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


PASSING OF THE FOREST, by WILLIAM PEMBER REEVES    Poem Source                    
First Line: All glory cannot vanish from the hills
Subject(s): Transience


PERMANENCE, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am leaving earth with little knowldge of it
Subject(s): Transience


PHENOMENA, by ANDREW FRISARDI    Poem Text                    
First Line: I mistook that hummingbird
Subject(s): Hummingbirds; Transience; Impermanence


PIGNUS AMORIS, by GEORGE GORDON BYRON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As by the fix'd decrees of heaven
Last Line: For dear I was to him who gave it.
Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron
Subject(s): Transience


PLACE AND TIME, by LISEL MUELLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Last night a man on the radio
Alternate Author Name(s): Muller, Lisel
Subject(s): War; Transience; Family Life; Impermanence; Relatives


PLAINT, by JOHN HALL WHEELOCK    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Brief is man's travail here and transitory
Last Line: Earth has one burden more, one soul the less.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


PONT MIRABEAU, by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Under pont mirabeau flows the seine
Last Line: The days go running - I stay here
Alternate Author Name(s): Kostrowitzky, Wilhelm Apollina
Subject(s): Bridges; Paris, France; Transience


PORCH SWING IN SEPTEMBER, by TED KOOSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The porch swing hangs fixed in a morning sun
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


PORTENTS, by CHARLIE SMITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: October fades out in its special colors
Subject(s): October; Death; Transience; Dead, The; Impermanence


PRAYER, by JORIE GRAHAM    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Over a dock railing, I watch the minnows, thousands, swirl
Subject(s): Freedom; Transience; Liberty; Impermanence


PRIMROSE, by ADAM MICKIEWICZ    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Scarce had the happy lark begun
Last Line: I'll get a tear -- if nothing more!
Subject(s): Nature; Transience; Impermanence


PROVIDE, PROVIDE, by ROBERT FROST    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: The witch that came (the withered hag)
Subject(s): Bible; Fame; Old Age; Religion; Transience; Reputation; Theology; Impermanence


PROVIDE, PROVIDE, by ROBERT FROST    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The witch that came (the withered hag)
Last Line: With boughten friendship at your side %than none at all. Pr0vide, provide!
Subject(s): Bible; Fame; Old Age; Religion; Transience


PSALM 39, VERSE 4, by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Lord, let me know the period of my age
Last Line: This life that stays so long, yet flies so fast!
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


PUT-DOWN COME ON, by ARCHIE RANDOLPH AMMONS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You would think I'd be a specialist in contemporary
Last Line: Into the transient takes up all the time that's left
Alternate Author Name(s): Ammons, A. R.
Subject(s): Transience


QUAND VOUS SEREZ BIEN VIEILLE, by PIERRE DE RONSARD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When you are very old, at night, by candlelight
Last Line: These flowers in their blossom go quickly out of season
Subject(s): Old Age; Transience


QUATRAIN, by WALLACE STEVENS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Go not, young cloud, too boldly through the sky
Last Line: For eastward lies the night.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


RECOLLECTIONS OF A FADED BEAUTY, SELS., by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I recollect the man who did declare
Last Line: Alas! Alas! I always sighed for more
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Pearce; Stirling-maxwell, Lady; Norton, The Honourable Mrs. Caroline
Subject(s): Regret; Transience


REGRETS, by JOSEPH ASHBY-STERRY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O for the look of those pure grey eyes
Subject(s): Transience; Love; Impermanence


REQUIEM, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It came to me the other day
Subject(s): Death; Self; Transience; Dead, The; Impermanence


REVIEW, by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I fear my power impotent
Last Line: I mark love's fleeting hours pass.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tremaine, John
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


ROAD, by EDWIN MUIR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is a road that turning aways
Last Line: For small is great and great is small, %and a blind seed all
Subject(s): Roads; Transience


ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE, by CHARLES SIMIC    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To gireve, always to suffer
Subject(s): Grief; Transience; Sorrow; Sadness; Impermanence


ROSE AND YEW, by JOHN GALSWORTHY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Love flew by! Young wedding day
Last Line: Whose love has cried: adieu!
Alternate Author Name(s): Sinjohn, John
Subject(s): Love; Transience; Impermanence


RUIN, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Wondrous this masonry wasted by fate
Subject(s): Ruins; Transience


RUIN, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: These grey stones have rung with mirth and lordly carousel
Subject(s): Ruins; Transience


SEA IS AWASH WITH ROSES, by KENNETH PATCHEN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Upon the land
Subject(s): Flowers; Pleasure; Roses; Transience


SEASONS SHIFT, by T'AO CH'IEN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ever onward seasons shift
Last Line: No reaching yao or yellow emperor, %distressing solitude lies in me
Alternate Author Name(s): T'ao Yuan-ming; Tao Yuanming; Tao Qian
Subject(s): China - Early Period (to 200 B.c.); China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Seasons; Spring; Transience


SEPTEMBER TRANSIENT, by R. P. HARRISS    Poem Text                    
First Line: There is a mellow pleasantness about
Last Line: Where laughing autumn's feet have lightly tript.
Subject(s): September; Transience; Wandering & Wanderers; Impermanence; Wanderlust; Vagabonds; Tramps; Hoboes


SIC VITA, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Like to the falling of a star
Last Line: The flight is past, -- and man forgot!
Variant Title(s): Life;of Human Life;such Is Life
Subject(s): Death; Life; Mankind; Mortality; Transience; Dead, The; Human Race; Impermanence


SING A WHILE LONGER, by EDWIN MARKHAM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Has the bright sun set,
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SOMEDAY I'LL BE A WEATHER-BEATEN SKULL RESTING, by RYOSA    Poem Source                    
Last Line: No more enduring than last night's dream
Subject(s): Death; Transience; Zen Buddhism


SONG, by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As I walked out one evening
Last Line: The clocks had ceased their chiming %and the deep river ran on
Alternate Author Name(s): Auden, W. H.
Subject(s): Brotherhood; Death; Time; Transience; War


SONG, by THOMAS CAMPBELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Withdraw not yet those lips and fingers
Last Line: But not together, -- no, no, no!
Subject(s): Transience; Love; Fall


SONG, by RICHARD WATSON DIXON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The feathers of the willow
Last Line: The robin pipeth now.
Subject(s): Autumn; Seasons; Transience; Fall; Impermanence


SONG, by EDMUND WALLER    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Go, lovely rose
Last Line: That are so wondrous sweet and fair.
Variant Title(s): The Rose
Subject(s): Admiration; Beauty; Carpe Diem; Flowers; Love; Modesty; Roses; Transience; Impermanence


SONG OF THE AUTUMN WIND, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Autumn winds rise, white clouds fly
Last Line: How long does youth's prime last? - no hope against old age
Subject(s): Aging; Autumn; China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Fasts And Feasts; Seasons; Transience


SONG-FLOWER AND POPPY: 1. IN NEW YORK, by WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He plays the deuce with my writing time
Last Line: Nothing is good for long.
Subject(s): New York City; Transience; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple; Impermanence


SONGS OF THE SEA CHILDREN: 83, by BLISS CARMAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A woman sat by the hearth
Last Line: She stood by the open door.
Subject(s): Transience; Togetherness


SONNET, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I entreat, either thou wilt not hear
Last Line: Wilt be too soon with age or sorrow nighted.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I prithee turn that face away
Last Line: Wish thee less fair, or else more kind.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tell me, you stars that our affections move
Last Line: Bind up all love within my frozen veins.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Were thy heart soft as thou art fair
Last Line: Tomb'd in a living cruelty.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tell me no more how fair she is
Last Line: In that it falls her sacrifice.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Go, thou that vainly dost mine eyes invite
Last Line: When fierce winds rock them on the foaming wave.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET ON THE TRANSITORINESS OF LIFE, by ANDREAS GRYPHIUS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You see, where'er you look, but vanity on earth
Last Line: And yet eternal things man will not contemplate.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET: 'EVEN THIS WILL PASS AWAY', by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Touched with the delicate green of early may
Last Line: In violet glooms beneath the moaning sea!
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET: 128, by LUIS DE CAMOENS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There blooms a plant, whose gaze, from hour.
Last Line: Born but to live within thine eye-beam's power.
Alternate Author Name(s): Camoes, Luis De; Camoens, Luiz Vaz De
Subject(s): Plants; Transience


SONNET: 159, by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Those hours when happy hours were my estate
Last Line: I smell the flower, though vacuum-still the air; %I feel itstexture, though the gate is fast
Alternate Author Name(s): Boyd, Nancy; Boissevain, Eugen, Mrs.
Subject(s): Transience


SONNET: 16. RETROSPECTION, by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I turn these leaves with thronging thoughts, and say
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


SONNET: 18, by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Last Line: So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Variant Title(s): "shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?"";to His Love;
Subject(s): Admiration; Art & Artists; Beauty; Change; Flowers; Immortality; Love; Roses; Summer; Transience; Impermanence


SONNET: COLD COMFORT, by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is no comfort underneath the sun
Subject(s): Transience; Life; Grief; Impermanence; Sorrow; Sadness


SONNET: ON THE SHORTNESS OF TIME, by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If I could live without the thought of death
Subject(s): Mortality; Transience; Impermanence


SONNET:17. ON ACCIDENTALLY MEETING A LADY, NOW NO MORE, by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When last we parted, thou wert young and fair
Subject(s): Beauty; Transience; Aging; Impermanence


SOUTH OF THE ALPS, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Signorina angeli, veteran of vogue
Last Line: Tell me - why doesn't anything last?
Subject(s): Beauty; Italy; Transience


SOUTHERN GOTHIC, by DONALD JUSTICE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Something of how the homing bee at dusk
Last Line: Red roses within roses within roses
Subject(s): Transience; Houses, Deserted; Impermanence


SPRING SNOW, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here comes the powdered milk I drank
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Transience; Death; Impermanence; Dead, The


STANZAS, by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The dead leaves strew the forest-walk
Last Line: Feel --that it all is cold and gone.
Subject(s): Winter; Transience; Truth; Impermanence


STONE, STEEL, DOMINIONS PASS, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Here shall your sweet-heart lie, %untrue for ever
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Transience


SUBH-I-KAZIB, by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: See where the man wakes late from his dreaming
Last Line: Warm with the whole.
Alternate Author Name(s): Leigh, Arbor; Guggenberger, Mrs. Ignatz; Bevington, L. S.
Subject(s): Light; Transience; Impermanence


SUMMER'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT: A LITANY IN TIME OF PLAGUE, by THOMAS NASHE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Adieu, farewell earth's bliss! / this world uncertain is
Last Line: Lord, have mercy on us.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nash, Thomas+(1)
Variant Title(s): A Lament;in Time Of Pestilence;in Plague Time;a Lament In Times Of Pestilence;lord, Have Mercy On Us;a Litany In Time Of Plague;death's Summons;song Of Ver And His Train
Subject(s): Death; Mourning; Plague; Sickness; Transience; Dead, The; Bereavement; Illness; Impermanence


SUNLIGHT ON THE GARDEN, by FREDERICK LOUIS MACNEICE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: And grateful too %for sunlight on the garden
Alternate Author Name(s): Macneice, Louis
Subject(s): Contentment; Erotic Love; Love; Mortality; Transience


SUPERNATURAL SONGS: 3. RIBB IN ECSTASY, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What matter that you understood no word!
Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B.
Subject(s): Happiness; Transience; Sex; Joy; Delight; Impermanence


SWEET WILL, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The man who stood beside me
Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Industry; Labor & Laborers; Transience; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse; Work; Workers; Impermanence


SWEET WILL, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The man who stood beside me
Last Line: And people rose one %by one from cold beds to tend a world %that runs on and on at its own sweet wil
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Industry; Labor And Laborers; Transience


TEACH ME TO NUMBER MY DAYS', by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: And courage and worship and love
Subject(s): Time; Transience; Conduct Of Life


TEMPORA MUTANTUR, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The world turns mild; democracy, they say
Last Line: To point a moral for our youth to come.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TEMPORA MUTANTUR, by NEWTON MACTAVISH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Then by the glass how swift the sand set speed
Subject(s): Transience


TEMPORA MUTANTUR, by JOHN GODFREY SAXE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The times are changed!' long, long ago
Last Line: O tempora mutantur!
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TEMPORA MUTANTUR, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When ethel first to princeton came
Subject(s): Transience


TEMPORARY FACTS, by WILLIAM EDGAR STAFFORD    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: That look you had, agnes, was a temporary fact
Last Line: In spiral nebulae a shadow goes on
Subject(s): Transience


TEMPUS FUGIT, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lovely spring
Last Line: And lapsing to winter cold.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THE ARTIST'S MODEL, CA. 1912, by LISEL MUELLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In 1886 I came apart
Alternate Author Name(s): Muller, Lisel
Subject(s): Models; Aging; Transience; Impermanence


THE AUTHOR'S EPITAPH, MADE BY HIMSELF, by WALTER RALEIGH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation             Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Even such is time, that takes in trust
Last Line: My god shall raise me up, I trust.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ralegh, Walter
Variant Title(s): Verses Found In His Bible .. At Westminster;the Conclusion;lines Written The Night Before His Execution;to-day A Man, To-morrow None;last Line;his Epitaph;lines Found In His Bible In The Gate-house;even Such Is Time;verses Made The Night Before His Beheading;verses Made The Night Before He Died;lines Said To Have Been Written On The Eve Of His Execution;epitaph;verses Written In His Bible
Subject(s): Ambition; Death; Easter; Faith; Great Britain - History; Heaven; Holidays; New Year; Religion; Time; Transience; Dead, The; The Resurrection; Belief; Creed; English History; Paradise; Theology; Impermanence


THE BEACH IN AUGUST, by WELDON KEES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: The day the fat woman
Last Line: Condition. The tide goes in and goes out
Subject(s): Seashore; Transience; Aging; Body, Human; Beach; Coast; Shore; Impermanence


THE BIRKS OF INVERMAY [OR, ENDERMAY], by DAVID MALLET    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The smiling morn, and breathing spring
Last Line: Farewell, ye birks of endermay.
Alternate Author Name(s): Malloch, David
Subject(s): Birch Trees; Love; Transience; Impermanence


THE CAVEMAN ON THE TRAIN, by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When first the apprizing eye and tongue that muttered
Subject(s): Railroads; Transience; Railways; Trains; Impermanence


THE CLEARING OF THE LAND: AN EPITAPH, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The trees went up the hill
Subject(s): Transience; Progress; Impermanence


THE COMPLAINT OF THE FAIR ARMOURESS, by FRANCOIS VILLON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Meseemeth I heard cry and groan
Last Line: Thus fareth many and many an one.'
Alternate Author Name(s): Montcorbier, Francois De
Subject(s): Love; Transience; Impermanence


THE CONTENTED PHILOSOPHER, SELECTION, by PETER CUNNINGHAM    Poem Text                    
First Line: Deep silence reigned, and dewy light
Last Line: "in converse with the sage."
Subject(s): Life; Transience; Impermanence


THE DEFIANCE; SONG, by THOMAS FLATMAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Be not too proud, imperious dame
Last Line: Th' usurper death will make thee lay it down.
Subject(s): Mortality; Transience; Impermanence


THE DIRGE [FOR FIDELE], FR. CYMBELINE, by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Fear no more the heat o' the sun
Last Line: And renowned be thy grave!
Variant Title(s): Dirge Of Imogen
Subject(s): Death; Mortality; Mourning; Time; Transience; Dead, The; Bereavement; Impermanence


THE FLIGHT OF YOUTH, by RICHARD HENRY STODDARD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There are gains for all our losses
Last Line: But it never comes again.
Variant Title(s): Never Again;lost
Subject(s): Transience; Youth; Impermanence


THE FLOWER OF OLD JAPAN: EPILOGUE, by ALFRED NOYES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Carol, every violet has
Last Line: Back to heaven, back to home.
Subject(s): Heaven; Transience; Paradise; Impermanence


THE GIANT SLIDE, by TED KOOSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beside the highway, the giant slide
Subject(s): Amusement Parks; Transience; Impermanence


THE GROUNDHOG, by RICHARD GHORMLEY EBERHART    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In june, amid the golden fields
Subject(s): Death; Decay; Groundhogs; Men; Transience; Dead, The; Rot; Decadence; Woodchucks; Impermanence


THE HAMMER, by CARL SANDBURG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have seen
Subject(s): Fame; Transience; Reputation; Impermanence


THE HILL WOMAN, by ROSELLE MERCIER MONTGOMERY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One day a roving gypsy passed my door
Last Line: "soon you will go, too!"
Subject(s): Gypsies; Transience; Women; Gipsies; Impermanence


THE LAPSE OF TIME, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lament who will, in fruitless tears
Last Line: A lighter burden on the heart.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THE LAST MAN: INSIGNIFICANCE OF THE WORLD, by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Why what's the world and time? A fleeting thought
Last Line: A brief parenthesis in chaos.
Subject(s): Earth; Time; Transience; World; Impermanence


THE LIFE SO SHORT, by EAMON GRENNAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The wind colder even than march in maine, though the same sea
Subject(s): Life; Transience; Mortality; Birds


THE LOST FAITH, by ROBERT FROST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We shrine our fathers as their wars recede
Last Line: So true in passing, if it must be past.
Subject(s): Fathers; War; Transience; Past; Death


THE MAN SPLITTING WOOD IN THE DAYBREAK, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Who looked strong? That was years ago. That was me
Subject(s): Strength; Divorce; Solitude; Transience; Impermanence


THE MATRIX, by AMY LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Goaded and harassed in the factory
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Transience; Impermanence


THE MINIATURE CITY, by CHARLIE SMITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The aging family life fades out, subsides
Subject(s): Family Life; Transience; Relatives; Impermanence


THE NYMPH'S REPLY TO THE SHEPHERD, by WALTER RALEIGH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: If all the world and love were young
Last Line: To live with thee and be thy love.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ralegh, Walter
Variant Title(s): "reply To Marlow's ""the Passionate Shepherd"";answer To Marlowe;the Shepherdess Replies;the Milk-maid's Mother's Answer;
Subject(s): Carpe Diem; Courtship; Love; Shepherds & Shepherdesses; Time; Transience; Impermanence


THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR, by LOUIS SIMPSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He isn't a religious man
Subject(s): Neighbors; Family Life; Fatners; Transience; Mortality; Happiness; Relatives; Impermanence; Joy; Delight


THE PLANNERS, by ROBERT FROST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If anything should put an end to this,
Last Line: That human history should not be shortened
Subject(s): Transience


THE RETURN OF THE MUSES, by BARBARA GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: So much goes away
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THE ROAD, by EDWIN MUIR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is a road that turning aways
Subject(s): Roads; Transience; Paths; Trails; Impermanence


THE ROSE-BUD; TO A YOUNG LADY, by WILLIAM BROOME    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Queen of fragrance, lovely rose
Last Line: And thou must be what they are now.
Subject(s): Beauty; Flowers; Roses; Transience; Impermanence


THE ROSY WREATH, by RUFINUS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Rhodocleia, flowers of spring
Last Line: Thou thyself must fade some day.
Subject(s): Flowers; Transience; Impermanence


THE SEEKONK WOODS, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: When first I walked here I hobbled
Last Line: If not now then never, shines what is
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THE SUMMER-TIME THAT WAS, by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The swallow is not come yet
Last Line: And the summer-time that was.
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Owen; Lytton, 1st Earl Of; Lytton, Robert
Subject(s): Summer; Transience; Grief; Impermanence; Sorrow; Sadness


THE SUN GOES DOWN IN THE DARK BLUE MAIN, by ALFRED TENNYSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Of youth to the old and hoary?
Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron
Subject(s): Transience


THE TO-BE-FORGOTTEN, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I heard a small sad sound
Last Line: And seeing it we mourn.'
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THE TWO CHILDREN, by EMILY JANE BRONTE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Heavy hangs the raindrop
Last Line: For the unblessed of heaven!
Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Ellis
Variant Title(s): A.e. And R.c.;a.e. [and R.c]
Subject(s): Transience; Conduct Of Life; Impermanence


THE VISIBLE WORLD, by JORIE GRAHAM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: I dig my hands into the absolute. The surface
Subject(s): Human Body; Transience; Reading And Books; Impermanence


THE WANDERER, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: "oft to the wanderer, weary of exile"
Last Line: "from his heavenly father, our fortress and strength"
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THE WANING MOON, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I've watched too late; the morn is near
Last Line: On glistening dew and glimmering stream.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THE WISE RULE, by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Time flies too fast, too fast our life decays
Last Line: Which is not any, but contains the three!
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THE WITHERED ROSE, by PHILIP AYRES    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Go, fading rose, a present to my fair
Last Line: With water of my tears, or with my blood.
Subject(s): Flowers; Grief; Roses; Transience; Sorrow; Sadness; Impermanence


THE WORLD NOT OUR REST, &C, by MARIA FRANCES CECILIA (MADAN) COWPER    Poem Text                    
First Line: Vain are those joys that erring man provides
Last Line: With aught but faith console his aching heart.
Subject(s): Faith; Transience; Belief; Creed; Impermanence


THE WORLD RUMBLES BY ME - CAN I HEED?, by ISAAC ROSENBERG            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: If I stretch my hand, I may clasp a star
Subject(s): Transience; Conduct Of Life


THE WORLD'S TREASURES, by EDWARD MOORE (1712-1757)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Structures, raised by morning dreams
Last Line: Sows the sea, and ploughs the sand.
Subject(s): Sea; Transience; Ocean; Impermanence


THE WORLDS IN THIS WORLD, by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Doors were left open in heaven again
Last Line: That's the curse, that's the miracle --
Subject(s): Change; Experience; Faith; Fate; Heaven; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Life; Mortality; Permanence; Rilke, Rainer Maria (1875-1926); Time; Transience; Belief; Creed; Destiny; Paradise; Shoah; Judaism; Impermanence


THEN, by PAUL MARIANI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Glow of mahogany, glow of those pulsing
Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Transience; Male-female Relations; Impermanence


THEN AND NOW, by JAMES RENNELL RODD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There never were such radiant noons
Last Line: The blight has killed the roses.
Alternate Author Name(s): Rennell, 1st Baron
Subject(s): Love - Loss Of; Transience; Impermanence


THERE'S A BUTTON ON THE REMOTE CONTROL CALLED FAV, by CLAUDIA RANKINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Television; Aging; Transience; Tv; Impermanence


THESE SWEET, SWIFT HOURS, by ROSELLE MERCIER MONTGOMERY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: These sweet, swift hours, though they be so few
Last Line: These sweet, swift hours that I have with you!
Subject(s): Love; Transience; Impermanence


THEY COME NOT BACK AGAIN, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Remember three things come not back
Last Line: Those three things will nevermore return
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


THIS DAY, by LAWRENCE RABB    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Transience


THIS TRANSIENT WORLD, by LILLIAN QUINBY    Poem Text                    
First Line: If all of life must be spent in grief
Last Line: And life is brief.
Subject(s): Transience; Wellesley College; Impermanence


THIS, TOO, WILL PASS, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: Dwelt, in eternal peace, apart
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Transience


THROWN AS IF FIERCE & WILD, by DEAN YOUNG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Transience; Impermanence


THY VOICE ACROSS MY SPIRIT FALLS, by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Owen; Lytton, 1st Earl Of; Lytton, Robert
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TIME FLIES, by LARRY EIGNER            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TO AND, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TO DAFFODILS, by ROBERT HERRICK    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair daffodils, we weep to see / you haste away so soon
Last Line: Ne'er to be found againe.
Variant Title(s): To Daffadills
Subject(s): Daffodils; Flowers; Life Change Events; Transience; Impermanence


TO HIS FRIEND, PROMISING THAT THOUGH HER BEAUTY FADE, by GEORGE TURBERVILLE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I wot full well that beauty cannot last
Last Line: Nor beauty's want my first good will remove.
Alternate Author Name(s): Turbervile, George
Subject(s): Beauty; Transience; Impermanence


TO MR. FORBES-ROBERTSON: 26. TRANSIENT BEAUTY, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER    Poem Text                    
First Line: All men and women are fair. Some you know
Last Line: By all who marked its beauty in its day.
Subject(s): Beauty; Transience; Impermanence


TO THE READER, by RENE FRANCOIS ARMAND PRUDHOMME    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: These flowers I gathered by the highway side
Last Line: And plant some seed before we pass away.
Alternate Author Name(s): Sully-prudhomme
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Transience; Impermanence


TO THE STONE CUTTERS, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Stone-cutters fighting time with marble, you foredefeated
Last Line: The honey of peace in old poems
Variant Title(s): To The Stone-cutters
Subject(s): Stones; Transience; Granite; Rocks; Impermanence


TO THE STONE CUTTERS, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Stone-cutters fighting time with marble, you foredefeated
Last Line: The honey of peace in old poems
Variant Title(s): To The Stone-cutter
Subject(s): Stones; Transience


TRANSFIGURED, by JOHN BANISTER TABB    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Throughout the livelong summer day
Last Line: As leaf was turned to shade.
Alternate Author Name(s): Father Tabb
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TRANSIENCE, by SAROJINI NAIDU    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Nay, do not grieve tho' life be full of sadness
Last Line: And make your eyes unfaithful to their tears.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TRANSIENT AS SUNSET, by HALCYONE G. MORGAREIDGE    Poem Text                    
First Line: The waxen crown the tall saguaro wears
Last Line: Transient as sunset, permanent as stone.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TRANSITION, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: O lay again thy hand in mine
Last Line: Dear voice, speak on.
Subject(s): Angels; Death; Love - Nature Of; Transience; Dead, The; Impermanence


TREASURES ON EARTH, by TIMOTHY LIU    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What no one wants. Coin by coin
Last Line: Intervals — till you shut it off completely
Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Absence; Transience; Relationships; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men


TRYING TO NAME WHAT DOESN'T CHANGE, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Roselva says the only thing that doesn't change
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


TRYING TO NAME WHAT DOESN'T CHANGE, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Roselva says the only thing that doesn't change
Subject(s): Transience


UNDRESSING, by LAURIE SHECK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He dreams she is a room
Subject(s): Transience; Clothing & Dress; Impermanence


URANIA, by ROBERT ANDREWS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Whence this impatience fluttering in my breast!
Last Line: This cordial take.' I drank. Urania flew.
Subject(s): Arabia; Heaven; Mortality; Transience; Wings; Paradise; Impermanence


URBAINE ON THE PLANETARIUM, by ALEC BROCK STEVENSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Urbaine said that nothing would last
Last Line: There were two answers -- taste of old wine and touch of young flesh.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


VACATING AN APARTMENT, by AGHA SHAHID ALI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Efficient as fate
Last Line: I'm moving out holding tombstones in my hands
Subject(s): Transience; Death; Landlords & Tenants; Impermanence; Dead, The


VANITAS VANITATUM, OMNIA VANITAS, by ANNE BRONTE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In all we do, and hear, and see
Last Line: But hoping through the darkest day.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Acton
Subject(s): Faith; God; Vanity; Transience; Belief; Creed; Impermanence


VIRTUE [OR, VERTUE], by GEORGE HERBERT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright
Last Line: Then chiefly lives.
Variant Title(s): Memento Mori;sweet Day;virtue [immortal];sweet Life
Subject(s): Death; Immortality; Judgment Day; Mortality; Soul; Transience; Virtue; Dead, The; End Of The World; Doomsday; Fall Of Man; Impermanence


VISION, by SIEGFRIED SASSOON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I love all things that pass: their briefness is
Last Line: O beauty, born of lovely things that die!'
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


WAITING - BOTH, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A star looks down at me
Last Line: "so mean I."
Subject(s): Stars; Time; Transience; Impermanence


WAITING BY THE GATE, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Beside a massive gateway built up in years gone by
Last Line: I stand and calmly wait till the hinges turn for me.
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


WE ARE BORN EVERY DAY, by PALLADAS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: From day to day we are born, as each night wanes
Last Line: Of years gone by you keep no heritage.
Alternate Author Name(s): Pallades
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


WHAT BECAME, by WESLEY MCNAIR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What became of the dear
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


WHAT I SAW, by ROBERT DUNCAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The white peacock roosting
Subject(s): Transience; Birds; Impermanence


WHAT'S NEXT, by FREDERICK SEIDEL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: So the sun is shining blindingly but I can sort of see.
Subject(s): Autumn; Transience; Fall; Impermanence


WHEN ROSES CEASE TO BLOOM, DEAR, SIR, by EMILY DICKINSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Then take my flowers — pray!
Subject(s): Transience


WHEN THE ROSE IS DEAD, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: The rose's bloom is short; and when it goes
Last Line: "you'll seek, and find a thorn and not a rose"
Subject(s): Flowers;roses;transience; Impermanence


WHEN THE SONG IS DONE, by ANNETTE WYNNE    Poem Text                    
First Line:
Last Line: When the song was begun?
Subject(s): Birds; Transience


WINTER STORES, by CHARLOTTE BRONTE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We take from life one little share
Last Line: Life's evening hours will bless.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bell, Currer
Subject(s): Transience; Life; Death; Impermanence; Dead, The


WITHER AWAY, by THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Wither away, green leaves
Last Line: When all its fond hopes wither.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bayly, Nathaniel Thomas Haynes
Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence


WORM-PROOF, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: Have I not bored your teeth, said time
Last Line: "defy you with his worm-proof dreams."
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Hope; Transience; Optimism; Impermanence