Night Poems | Poemist

Popular Night Poems

Boots

by Rudyard Kipling

INFANTRY COLUMNS

We're foot--slog--slog--slog--sloggin' over Africa --
Foot--foot--foot--foot--sloggin' over Africa --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

Seven--six--eleven--five--nine-an'-tw enty mile to-day --
Four--eleven--seventeen--thirty-two the day before --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)

......

Lament

by Dylan Thomas

When I was a windy boy and a bit
And the black spit of the chapel fold,
(Sighed the old ram rod, dying of women),
I tiptoed shy in the gooseberry wood,
The rude owl cried like a tell-tale tit,
I skipped in a blush as the big girls rolled
Nine-pin down on donkey's common,
And on seesaw sunday nights I wooed
Whoever I would with my wicked eyes,
The whole of the moon I could love and leave

......

Saturday At The Canal

by Gary Soto

I was hoping to be happy by seventeen.
School was a sharp check mark in the roll book,
An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team
Was going to win at night. The teachers were
Too close to dying to understand. The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus,
A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday,
Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves
By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground
And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard

......

Wishful Thinking

by Evelyn Judy Buehler

It's the New Year's boom
with colored fireworks lauding,
the toast of the town.
The proud, old guard has vanished,
with its dreams, yet unvanquished.

Hues light the plum night;
'midst crash and bang in the skies.
Starry-eyed moon glows.
The past's still following me,

......

Duino Elegies: The First Elegy

by Rainer Maria Rilke

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'
hierarchies? and even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
And so I force myself, swallow and hold back
the surging call of my dark sobbing.

......

Recent Night Poems

Reflections of the Self

by Ayatullah Nurjati

As I stand, a poet in an ocean of words,
Unspoken feelings, unheard verses surge.
What is this craft, this calling to write?
Is it light for others or my own plight?

I pen the tales of others, the struggles they bear,
Yet each word I write is a weight I wear.
To live, to serve, to break free from norm,
A poet’s life—a perpetual storm.

......

Cool Duskiness

by Evelyn Judy Buehler

Intense thirst in the sweltering desert,
yet, the emerald succulents still thrive;
for surviving, often takes extra effort.
Intense thirst in the sweltering desert,
Then cool moon arrives, as if pressured.
A beautiful, flowering cacti night, alive!
Intense thirst in the sweltering desert,
yet, the emerald succulents still thrive.

A Sonnet of 31: The Beauty Had Been Revealed

by Ayatullah Nurjati

In the shadow’s veil, beauty lay concealed
Unseen by those who walk the hurried way
The moonlight whispers secrets softly sealed
While shadows dance, the night turns pale and gray

A fragile bloom awaits the dawn's embrace
Its petals cloaked in night’s cold, tender shroud
Yet beauty thrives in such a quiet place
A truth unveiled when hearts no longer cloud

......

The Story Etched in Heaven on Earth

by Ayatullah Nurjati

Under the vast and silent sky, a young man raised his gaze to the twinkling stars above. He always felt that the stars held a special story for him, a story carved with light in the night sky.
On the other side of the world, there was a girl who also loved to look at the stars. She felt that there was something special every time she looked at the stars, as if they were whispering to her about a love she had yet to find.
One night, under the same blanket of stars, the young man and young woman found themselves thinking about love and hope. Unbeknownst to them, the twinkling stars above were actually forming a pattern that carried a message for the two of them.
The message was "A sincere heart will always find its way." The stars became silent witnesses to their meeting that had yet to happen, but was already written in the night sky. A love story carved in the name of heaven, waiting to be realized.
Sometime later, fate brought them together at an art event. They felt as if they had known each other for a long time, just as the stars told them on that silent night. Their love story begins, with the stars as silent witnesses who always remind them of the story carved in the night sky.

Jakarta, 3 January 2025

Wishful Thinking

by Evelyn Judy Buehler