Joy Poems | Poemist

Popular Joy Poems

The Ballad Of Father Gilligan

by William Butler Yeats

The old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and day
For half his flock were in their beds
Or under green sods lay.

Once, while he nodded in a chair
At the moth-hour of the eve
Another poor man sent for him,
And he began to grieve.

......

Carry On

by Robert William Service

It's easy to fight when everything's right,
And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;
It's easy to cheer when victory's near,
And wallow in fields that are gory.
It's a different song when everything's wrong,
When you're feeling infernally mortal;
When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,
Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:

Carry on! Carry on!

......

The Toys

by Coventry Patmore

My little Son, who look'd from thoughtful eyes
And moved and spoke in quiet grown-up wise,
Having my law the seventh time disobey'd,
I struck him, and dismiss'd
With hard words and unkiss'd,
—His Mother, who was patient, being dead.
Then, fearing lest his grief should hinder sleep,
I visited his bed,
But found him slumbering deep,
With darken'd eyelids, and their lashes yet

......

The Schoolboy

by William Blake

I love to rise in a summer morn
When the birds sing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me.
O! what sweet company!

But to go to school on a summer morn,
O! it drives all joy away;
Under a cruel eye outworn,
The little ones spend the day

......

Television

by Roald Dahl

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.

......

Recent Joy Poems

Mellow Paradise

by Margaret Chekh

Beneath the rays of the unmerciful sun
July sang its old drowsy tune,
Even the birds made no move to shun,
As they stood mesmerized by the croon.

In that hush of a golden disc,
I surrendered to stillness of grove;
Only thoughts were not silent and brisk,
Aching bitterly, longing to prove

......

Chanting Spring

by Evelyn Judy Buehler

Sweet snowdrop bells ring!
The violets are coming
Days are chanting spring.
Crimson camelias call
from dreams near the garden wall.

Gold sun fields await
rich tulips of tomorrow!
Lily's never late.
Then pansies' pink faces greet

......

The Gift

by Kevin Schroeder

The Gift

I woke—what a gift, this breath, this day,
The light, the dark, all come to stay.
Each moment, a thread in a tapestry spun,
Of sorrow and joy, of many and one.

Grief taught me how another might ache,
And in that knowing, a bond can wake.
For pain is a door, and love is the key—

......

Ramblin' Rouge

by Evelyn Judy Buehler

The charming Miss Lola dwelt in the small town, at the edge of Red River,
With only her goose, 'Rouge.' She was named after her spot of wet vigor.

Rouge was the darling of Miss Lola, like precious spring, coming to visit;
And was forever roaming from river to house, like golden stars, in orbit.

Rouge frequented every room, as if aware that it was her dwelling, too;
Like the blue hours of glittering sun, when purple butterflies follow you.

Famished friends came to dinner, and ofttimes elderly neighbor, Franklin;

......

96. I will not fear

by Kea Campbell

I will not fear. I will not be afraid.
Send your servants, and have custody of my eyes.
Send those that know, and I shall know them.
May I look up and find halos.
May I witness to the six pair of protection— the divine relayer of message.

If it takes over a month, I will kill my flesh.
I will embrace holy strength and forego these urges.
Father, may I master discernment.
Lord, I know not the full truth.

......