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Subject: FATHERS
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UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` 1945, by JEAN VALENTINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A year in the pacific
Subject(s): Fathers; War


1945, by JEAN VALENTINE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A year in the pacific
Last Line: - ah jeanie, you're still in words
Subject(s): Fathers; War


50 POEMS: 34, by EDWARD ESTLIN CUMMINGS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father moved through dooms of love
Alternate Author Name(s): Cummings, E. E.
Subject(s): Consolation; Fathers


50 POEMS: 34, by EDWARD ESTLIN CUMMINGS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father moved through dooms of love
Last Line: Love is the whole and more than all
Alternate Author Name(s): Cummings, E. E.
Subject(s): Consolation; Fathers


A BABY IN THE HOUSE, by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I knew that a baby was hid in the house
Last Line: I am sure, very sure, there's a babe in that house.
Alternate Author Name(s): Wilson, Robert, Mrs.
Subject(s): Babies; Fathers; Mothers; Infants


A BALLAD IN BLANK VERSE, by JOHN DAVIDSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: His father's house looked out across a firth
Last Line: Women to love are waiting everywhere.'
Subject(s): Aphrodite; Atheism; Christianity; Death; Family Life; Fathers & Sons; Mythology - Classical; Paganism & Pagans; Parents; Pride; Dead, The; Relatives; Parenthood; Self-esteem; Self-respect


A BALLAD OF LANCELOT, by JOHN DAVIDSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: By coasts where scalding deserts reek
Last Line: The look, the soul of guinevere.
Subject(s): Arthurian Legend; Death; Despair; Fathers & Sons; Grail; Lancelot Du Lac; Love; Loyalty; Arthur, King; Dead, The; Holy Grail; Graal


A BILL TO MY FATHER, by EDWARD FIELD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am typing up bills for a firm to be sent to their clients
Last Line: And my father sends it
Alternate Author Name(s): Elliot, Bruce
Subject(s): Fathers


A BOOK OF DREAMS, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I lay and dreamed. The master came
Last Line: And all but me asleep!
Subject(s): Birds; Children; Churches; Crucifixion; Death; Desolation; Despair; Dreams; Fathers; Flowers; God; Hope; Lilies; Memory; Prodigal Son; Sleep; Swans; Youth; Childhood; Cathedrals; Jesus Christ - Crucifixion; Dead, The; Nightmares; Optimism


A CABIN IN THE CLEARING, by ROBERT FROST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I don't believe the sleepers in this house
Last Line: The kindred spirit of an inner haze
Subject(s): Houses; Pilgrim Fathers


A CHRISTMAS CHILDHOOD, by PATRICK KAVANAGH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One side of the potato-pits was white with frost
Alternate Author Name(s): Monaghan, Patrick
Subject(s): Children; Christmas; Fathers; Childhood; Nativity, The


A CUBAN DREAM IN THREE PARTS, by VIRGIL SAUREZ    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I am dreaming again
Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Cuba; Fathers


A DAUGHTER'S FEVER, by DAVID BOTTOMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dark ivy draws a wave across the yard
Last Line: Small fingers curl.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers & Daughters; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood


A DAUGHTER'S MEMORY, by MARY L. LAWSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: My father, by the simple stone
Last Line: That soar from earth beyond the sky.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


A DESERTER, by CHARLES REZNIKOFF    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Their new landlord was a handsome man. On his rounds to collect rent she became friendly
Subject(s): Desertion & Nonsupport; Jealousy; Fathers & Daughters; Suicide


A FAMILY RECORD, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Not to myself this breath of vesper song
Last Line: Take my last offering ere I cross to thee!
Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Fathers & Sons; Heritage; Heredity


A FATHER OF WOMEN: AD SOROREM E. B., by ALICE MEYNELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Our father works in us
Last Line: Now that your sons are dust.
Alternate Author Name(s): Meynell, Wilfrid, Mrs.; Thompson, Alice Christina
Subject(s): Butler, Elizabeth Thompson (1844-1933); Fathers & Daughters; Women's Rights; Feminism


A FATHER ON THE MARSH, by ANDREW HUDGINS                        Poet's Biography
First Line: My older boy said, 'let's make soup'
Subject(s): Fathers


A FATHER READING THE BIBLE, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas early day, and sunlight streamed
Last Line: That home where god is felt!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Bible; Fathers


A FATHER TO HIS MOTHERLESS CHILDREN, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Come, gather closer to my side
Last Line: Dear, smitten flock, good night;
Subject(s): Fathers


A FATHER'S DILEMMA, by E. PEARL DANCEY    Poem Text                    
First Line: He did not know that I was in the woodshed
Last Line: You shouldn't disillusion little folks . . . About their dad!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


A FATHER'S PRAYER, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: God, you have given me a son
Last Line: A fit example for a son.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


A FLOWER GIVEN TO MY DAUGHTER, by JAMES JOYCE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Frail the white rose and frail are
Subject(s): Daughters; Fathers; Men; Prayer


A LAMENT ON HIS FATHER'S DEATH, by LIU HENG    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I look up, the curtains are there as of yore
Last Line: Oh, where were the gods when that great hero died!
Subject(s): Fathers; Orphans; Foundlings


A LETTER FROM BROOKLYN, by DEREK WALCOTT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: An old lady writes me in a spidery style
Subject(s): Fathers


A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION, by YEHUDA AMICHAI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On summer nights I sleep naked
Last Line: On the day of the resurrection
Subject(s): Fathers; Jews; Judaism


A LITTLE TOOTH, by THOMAS LUX    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Your baby grows a tooth, then two
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


A MAN, by LOUIS UNTERMEYER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I listened to them talking, talking,
Alternate Author Name(s): Lewis, Michael
Subject(s): Fathers


A MAN TAKES HIS DAUGHTER, AGE 5, TO A PUBLIC EXECUTION BY GUILLOTINE, PARIS, 1857, by THOMAS LUX    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He is a bad man. He says this in french
Last Line: Daddy, I still can't see the puppets
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Guillotines; Paris, France


A MAN WITH SONS, by MARILYN HACKER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You come back with a heaped-shopping basket
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


A MAN'S DAUGHTER, by JOHN DRINKWATER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is an old woman who looks each night
Last Line: But years of dread.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


A MEETING WITH MY FATHER, by YEHUDA AMICHAI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father came to me in one of the intermissions
Subject(s): Fathers


A MEMORY, by KATHARINE TYNAN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: This is just the weather, a wet may and blowing
Last Line: "god send fine weather to carry home the sheaves!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Death; Farm Life; Fathers; God; Memory; Piety; Trust; Weather; Dead, The; Agriculture; Farmers


A MOUNTAIN MOTHER, by WILLIAM ASPENWALL BRADLEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They tell me my son must die
Subject(s): Mothers & Sons; Death - Fathers; Revenge


A PARAPHRASE ON THE LORD'S PRAYER, by JOHN BYROM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Our father which art in heaven - / 'father' - to think of his paternal care
Last Line: "till life becomes a practical ""amen."
Subject(s): Fathers; God; Prayer; Rosary


A POEM FOR BENN'S GRADUATION FROM HIGH SCHOOL, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Whenever I have an appointment to see the assistant
Last Line: To be terrified by that thought and its possibilites
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


A POEM FOR EMILY, by MILLER WILLIAMS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Small fact and fingers and farthest one from me
Subject(s): Babies; Fathers & Daughters; Infants


A POEM FOR MY FATHER, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How sad it must be / to love so many women
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


A POEM FOR MY FATHER (96 YEARS OLD ON FEB. 29, 2000), by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: With exact wings
Subject(s): Fathers; Childhood Memories


A POET'S DAUGHTER, by FITZ-GREENE HALLECK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A lady asks the minstrel's rhyme.' a lady asks? There was a time
Last Line: All bard can give.
Alternate Author Name(s): Croaker
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Poetry & Poets


A PRAYER, by JOHN BYROM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh heav'nly father! Gracious god above!
Last Line: Which is not thee, or in thy spirit wrought.
Subject(s): Fathers; God; Prayer; Soul


A PRAYER FOR BILL, by M. REES    Poem Text                    
First Line: When me and bill wuz ridin
Last Line: Wouldn't do to foller me.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Growth; Pine Trees; Trees


A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Last Line: And custom for the spreading laurel tree.
Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B.
Subject(s): Beauty; Children; Daughters; Fathers & Daughters; Ireland; Life Change Events; Mothers; Parents; Poetry & Poets; Prayer; Women; Childhood; Irish; Parenthood


A PRAYER FOR MY SON, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Bid a strong ghost stand at the head
Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B.
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Poetry & Poets; Prayer


A PRESENTATION OF TWO BIRDS TO MY SON, by JAMES WRIGHT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Chicken. How shall I tell you what it is
Alternate Author Name(s): Wright, James A.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Birds


A REQUIEM, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father, listening to music, that's me
Subject(s): Fathers; Opera


A SENSE OF DIRECTION, by KAREN SWENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was moonless the night I drove my son
Last Line: Am shivering in its draft.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Maps; Mothers & Sons


A SKATING LESSON, by DAVID WAGONER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Her mother brought her halfway
Last Line: Upright, devoted pupil
Subject(s): Skating & Skaters; Fathers & Daughters


A SON'S LETTER TO HIS DEAD FATHER, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: I am writing this to you
Last Line: "up there somewhere in the silence, hear me, dad, and believe me / sincerely"
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


A STORY, by LI-YOUNG LEE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sad is the man who is asked for a story
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


A STORY THAT COULD BE TRUE, by WILLIAM EDGAR STAFFORD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If you were exchanged in the cradle and
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


A SYMPATHY, A WELCOME, by JOHN BERRYMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Feel for your bad fall how could I fail
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, John, Jr.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


A TOURIST AT ELLIS ISLAND, by LINDA PASTAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I found him, jankel olenik,
Subject(s): Immigrants; Fathers; Ellis Island, New York Harbor; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration


A VARIATION, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My son who is stranger
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


A VISITOR, by MARY OLIVER    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father, for example, / who was young once
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


A WAR-LULLABY; AUGUST, 1916, by EMILE CAMMAERTS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The fire dwindles and the wind moans
Last Line: Baby soon will be asleep. ...
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Fear; Marriage; War; Dead, The; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


A WEEK IN A BOY'S LIFE, by JACQUES BOE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Chill was our sky: the swallows all had fled
Last Line: Beside his darling's grave.
Alternate Author Name(s): Jasmin, Jacques
Subject(s): Abel; Boys; Death; Fathers & Sons; God; Prayer; Dead, The


A WOMAN OF PARIS, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Retreating towards the marne, his regiment
Last Line: While women such as she are at its portal!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; France; Marriage; Soldiers; War; Dead, The; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


A WOMAN WAKING, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She wakens early remembering
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Family Life; Relatives


A YOUTH TO HIS FATHER, by WALTER R. ADAMS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Too long a fledgling in the nest
Last Line: So loose the bonds: I must go free.
Subject(s): Fathers


ABOUT INFINITY; AFTER H.H., THE 17TH KARMAPA, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There are stonebreakers in straw hats
Last Line: Running in a running stream.
Subject(s): Death; Dreams; Fathers; Flowers; Dead, The; Nightmares


ABOUT MY FATHER, by IRENA KLEPFISZ    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He became a teetotaler out of his socialist convictions, during
Last Line: And wounded, but got back to warsaw alive %he believed in resistance
Alternate Author Name(s): Klepfitz, Irena
Subject(s): Fathers; Warsaw Ghetto


ABOUT TO FLY AWAY, by YMITRI JAYASUNDERA    Poem Source                    
First Line: My back is jammed on the door
Last Line: You couldn't navigate, the boat turning and turning, %the oars crushing the flowers
Subject(s): Boats; Fathers; Travel


ACCIDENT, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He stood in a green stand of corn
Last Line: Of the dying animals strewn out behind them.
Subject(s): Accidents; Cattle; Corn; Fathers & Daughters; Railroads; Railways; Trains


ACCOUNTING OF STOCK, by BURGES JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Come here, little girl, come here!
Last Line: They're so well adjusted for hugging your dad!
Subject(s): Bodies; Children; Fathers & Daughters; Childhood


AD ASTRA: 37, by CHARLES WHITWORTH WYNNE    Poem Text                    
First Line: O little hands and feet! O heart of mine!
Last Line: Thy heart is mine, and beauty dwelleth there!
Alternate Author Name(s): Cayzer, Charles
Subject(s): Babies; Fathers; Hearts; Love; Infants


ADAM AND HIS FATHER, by KAREN SWENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Adam's father, always a good provider
Last Line: "perhaps what I have always wanted is to want."
Subject(s): Desire; Fathers & Sons; Thailand; Travel; Journeys; Trips


ADDRESS TO MY INFANT DAUGHTER, DORA, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Hast thou then survived
Last Line: And reason's godlike power be proud to own.
Variant Title(s): Asked And Answered
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


ADIRONDACK SOUNDS, by MICHAEL COFFEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I put the words in his mouth
Last Line: I say to him paradise %and hear the pure word
Subject(s): Adirondack Mountains, New York; Fathers And Sons; Heaven; Youth


ADVENTURES APLENTY LAY BEFORE YOU, by JANE MILLER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I cannot know what an innocent I am
Last Line: Too cold to resist
Subject(s): Absence; Death; Fathers & Daughters; Mourning; Separation; Isolation; Dead, The; Bereavement


AFTER DARK, by ADRIENNE CECILE RICH            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You are falling asleep and I sit looking at you
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


AFTER DARK, by ADRIENNE CECILE RICH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You are falling asleep and I sit looking at you
Last Line: At the last, your hand feels steady
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


AFTER DISAPPOINTMENT, by MARK JARMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To lie in your child’s bed when she is gone
Last Line: Who finds you here and lies down by your side
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


AFTER MAKING LOVE WE HEAR FOOTSTEPS, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: For I can snore like a bullhorn
Subject(s): Love - Erotic; Fathers; Men; Prayer


AFTER MAKING LOVE WE HEAR FOOTSTEPS, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: For I can snore like a bullhorn
Last Line: This blessing love gives again into our arms
Subject(s): Erotic Love; Fathers; Men; Prayer


AFTER THE LONG ILLNESS, by TODD HELDT    Poem Source                    
First Line: More interesting than pneumonia
Last Line: Coiled into that ball of fever, or buried in his chest
Subject(s): Change; Fathers; Pneumonia; Sickness


AFTER THE SEPERATION, DAD TAKES ME TO THE DANCE FOR THE DEAD, by MIRA CHIEKO SHIMABUKURO    Poem Source                    
First Line: At eight, we strung rope across oregon
Last Line: Each light longing, on its line
Subject(s): Absence; Fathers And Daughters


AFTER THE WHITEFELLAS CAME, by WILLIAM STONEKING    Poem Source                    
First Line: The son chases lizards
Last Line: Moves inside %the humpy
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


AFTERLIFE, by JOAN LARKIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm older than my father when he turned
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Abortion


AFTERNOON OF A MCGRATH, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This morning there was one mcgrath in aitken county
Last Line: Dark holes in space I must recognize as home
Subject(s): Fathers; Names; Sons; Towns


AGAIN, by ALBERT GOLDBARTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There was such darkness in him then. And I repeated
Subject(s): Fathers; Illness; Mortality


AGAINST PLURALISM, by DONALD REVELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who will you point to? In the needle's eye,
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Disappointment; Relationships; Divorce; Half-siblings; Relatives


AGING FATHER LOSES HIS CHILDREN, by ROBERT PETERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: A hitherto placid river stirred
Last Line: Off sohre, near the beach, %where he breathed
Subject(s): Children; Death - Children; Fathers; Survival


AJAX: CHORUS, by SOPHOCLES    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair salamis, the billow's roar
Last Line: The deepest, bitterest curse thine ancient house hath borne!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Mythology - Classical


ALICE, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sisters! There's music here
Last Line: To welcome thee I wait -- blest mother! Come to me.
Subject(s): Deafness; Fathers & Daughters; Speech Disorders; Stuttering; Muteness


ALL DAY, by LAWRENCE JOSEPH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At four in the morning
Last Line: Into the sea
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Family Life; Thomas, Helen (1920-2013)


ALL MY PRETTY ONES, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, this year's jinx rides us apart
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


ALL MY PRETTY ONES, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, this year's jinx rides us apart
Last Line: Whether you are pretty or not, I outlive you, %bend down my strange face to yours and forgive you
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; God; Religion


ALL THE WOMEN POETS I LIKE DIDN'T HAVE THEIR FATHERS, by LYN DIANE LIFSHIN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm thanking you, ben for letting me be one
Last Line: And haunts
Alternate Author Name(s): Lifshin, Lyn
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Poetry & Poets


ALONG THE NILE, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: What delight %to swim along the oozy, snoozy nile
Last Line: Not - %so - %snoozy nile
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


AMATEUR FIGHTER, by NATASHA TRETHEWEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Boxing & Boxers; Fathers; Housekeeping


AMATEUR FIGHTER, by NATASHA TRETHEWEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What's left is the tiny gold glove
Last Line: Holding his body up to pain
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Boxing And Boxers; Fathers; Housekeeping


AMBITION, by THYLIAS MOSS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The boy says his father wants to be a smurf
Last Line: Now that the father wants his identity based on %something the son understands
Subject(s): Ambition; Fathers; Marriage; Mothers; Secrets


AN AFTERWORD TO MY FATHER, by MARVIN BELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Still the wood I knocked on
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


AN ARK FOR LAWRENCE DURRELL, by ROBERT DUNCAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If we are to cross the barriers of snow
Last Line: The snake has hiw own way among us
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


AN ELEGIAC THOUGHT OF MRS. ANNE WARNER: MRS. WARNER ARRIVES ABOVE, by ISAAC WATTS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold her ancestors (a pious race)
Last Line: "die, and partake my bliss; we are for ever one."
Subject(s): Fathers; Heaven; Mortality; Waiting; Paradise


ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lucy doolin, first day on the job, stroked his goatee
Subject(s): Refuse & Refuse Disposal; Rats; Murder; Fathers & Sons; Conduct Of Life; Memory; Youth; Relationships


AND ONE FOR MY DAME, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: A born salesman, / my father made all his dough
Subject(s): Americans; Fathers; United States; America


AND ONE FOR MY DAME, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A born salesman, %my father made all his dough
Last Line: Its highways built up like new loves, raw and speedy
Subject(s): Americans; Fathers; God; Religion; United States


ANECDOTE FOR FATHERS, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have a boy of five years old
Last Line: Of what from thee I learn.
Subject(s): Fathers


ANNUNCIATION, by MELISSA MORPHEW    Poem Source                    
First Line: In this photo %she is blonde, blanched almond
Last Line: Exotic, holy, %an infinite abacus of bees
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Memory; Photography And Photographers; Wishes


ANTHROPOLOGY, by JAMES GALVIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Remember the night you got drunk / and shot the roses?
Last Line: For the archer’s bow to become a violin
Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Fathers; Guns; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse


ANTIQUE FATHER, by CAROLYN KIZER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is something
Last Line: If you ever knew
Subject(s): Fathers; Fathers & Daughters; Secrets; Silence; Women; Women's Rights; Feminism


ARALUEN (2), by HENRY CLARENCE KENDALL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Take this rose, and very gently place it on the tender, deep
Last Line: Other hands will come and tend them -- other friends in other hours.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Death - Babies


ARK FOR LAWRENCE DURRELL, by ROBERT DUNCAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If we are to cross the barriers of snow
Last Line: The snake has his own way among us
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


ARRHYTHMIA, by RANDY BLASING    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I didn't exercise my heart but watched
Last Line: A beat every blessed second of my life
Subject(s): Death; Fathers And Sons; Hearts; Life; Track Athletics


AS IF ENDING, by JAMES RICHARDSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Because kate stood, face pushed to the screen
Last Line: Took its long place on the water, %ending nothing, since nothing ends
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


AT MY FATHER'S GRAVE, by CHRISTOPHER MURRAY GRIEVE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: The sunlicht still on me, you row'd in clood
Alternate Author Name(s): Macdiarmid, Hugh
Subject(s): Fathers


AT MY FATHER'S GRAVE, by CHRISTOPHER MURRAY GRIEVE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The sunlicht still on me, you row'd in clood
Last Line: And ony sma'er thocht's impossible
Alternate Author Name(s): Macdiarmid, Hugh
Subject(s): Fathers


AT ONE AGAIN: 7. FATHERS, by JEAN INGELOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Move through the bowering hops, o lovers, --
Last Line: Let the matters rest between us -- rest
Subject(s): Fathers


AT SAN GABRIEL MISSION, by JAMIE O'HALLORAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father's knee fails him into a wrong genuflection
Last Line: Skewer the walls to keep it all standing
Subject(s): Aging; Fathers; Missionaries And Missions


AT THE AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, by LINDA PASTAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I was / nearly six my
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Childhood Memories


AT THE WASHING OF MY SON, by DAVID RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I ran up and grabbed your arm, the way a man
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


AUTOMOBILE MECHANICS, by DOROTHY WALTER BARUCH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometimes %I help my dad
Last Line: My dad %and I
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


AVE ATQUE VALE, by JAMES LAUGHLIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I sat on the edge of the bed
Last Line: How can you abandon me you %the one who loved me most
Subject(s): Fathers


B-24, by SUE ELLEN THOMPSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father in his yankee airforce cap
Last Line: And a man near the end of his life %who yields to its dark embrace
Subject(s): Aviation And Aviators; Fathers


BABY MAY, by WILLIAM COX BENNETT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Cheeks as soft as july peaches
Last Line: That's may bennett; that's my baby
Subject(s): Babies; Children; Fathers & Daughters; Infants; Childhood


BACH, by PAUL ZIMMER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Six days a week my father sold shoes
Last Line: Just in time he said, 'that's beautiful.'
Subject(s): Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750); Composers; Fathers; Music And Musicians


BALDWIN, by E. ETHELBERT MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You lie in bed listening
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


BALLAD OF MU-LAN, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tsk, tsk, and tsk, tsk
Last Line: But when two hares run side by side, %who can tell if I'm a boy or girl?
Subject(s): China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Fathers And Daughters; Soldiers


BALLAD OF THE MONKLAND COTTAR, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It's no a tale o' luve I sing
Last Line: Was never ance forgot.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Fathers; Livingstone, David (1813-1873); Marriage; Prisons & Prisoners; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Convicts


BANISHED FROM MASSACHSETTS; 1660 (PAINTING BY E. A. ABBEY), by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Over the threshold of his pleasant home
Last Line: The gain was theirs, the loss alone was thine.
Subject(s): Abbey, Edwin Austin (1852-1911); Exiles; Paintings And Painters; Pilgrim Fathers


BARE FEET, by KAREN SWENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The vulnerable, bare feet of old men
Last Line: Is bearable but filling it brings tears.
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Daughters; Hospitals; Poetry & Poets; Dead, The


BARRIERS, by DAVID BOTTOMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When thunder woke me to the early dark, I lay awake listening
Last Line: Even the barrier of a blessing.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Fear; Lightning; Love - Marital; Lightning Rods; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


BATH TIME, by JR. JOHN MICKLOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Bath time is my favorite time
Last Line: By the time my bath is over, though, %everything is wet!
Subject(s): Fathers


BECOMING A DAD, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Old women say that men don't know
Last Line: "it's no cinch to become a dad."
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers


BED, by KENDRA BORGMANN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I used to sleep in a bed my father made
Last Line: Down, pages split, the frame holding his place
Subject(s): Beds; Fathers; Sleep


BED, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father's new wife was looking out a window
Last Line: And woman as god had made them, almost %my parents, in love
Subject(s): Beds; Fathers; Relationships


BEDTIME, by DAVID L. HARRISON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Read me a story, %please read me to sleep'
Last Line: As long as I know you are near'
Subject(s): Fathers


BEDTIME, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Usually I stay up late, my time
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Sleep


BEDTIME RITUAL, by JR. JOHN MICKLOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I need another cookie, dad
Last Line: Now I'll lay down my head
Subject(s): Fathers


BEEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A garden of mouthings. Purple, scarlet-speckled, black
Last Line: Under the coronal of sugar roses %the queen bee marries the winter of your year
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Bees; Fathers And Daughters; Insects


BEFORE THE FUNERAL, STILL AT THE HOME, by BETH SIMON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Because my father wears a yarmulke
Last Line: My father punching the porch guard rail
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Funerals


BEGINNING WITH 1914, by LISEL MUELLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Since it always begins
Alternate Author Name(s): Muller, Lisel
Subject(s): World War I; Ancestors & Ancestry; Fathers; Time; First World War; Heritage; Heredity


BEING DAD ON CHRISTMAS EVE, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They've hung their stockings up with care
Last Line: To be their dad on christmas eve.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Christmas; Fathers; Nativity, The


BELL, by PAUL CLAUDEL    Poem Source                    
First Line: While the air is rejoicing in perfect stillness
Last Line: Depths of the immense and muddy kiang
Subject(s): Bells; Fathers And Daughters; Labor And Laborers; Legends


BELLS FOR JOHN WHITESIDE'S DAUGHTER, by JOHN CROWE RANSOM    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: There was such speed in her little body
Last Line: Lying so primly propped.
Subject(s): Daughters; Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Funerals; Social Protest; Death - Babies; Burials


BEST WAY TO READ A BOOK, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Best way to read a book I know
Last Line: For him who reads them to his boy.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Books; Fathers & Sons; Reading


BEYOND HARM, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A week after my father died
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Death; Dead, The


BEYOND HIS REACH, by BRENDAN KENNELLY    Poem Source                    
First Line: He looked at his children, all nine
Last Line: And loved his children like he loved question-marks.
Subject(s): Family Life - Ireland; Fathers; Love


BIG THINGS, by MICHAEL DENNIS RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: There's no need to court
Last Line: Whether it is with us or without us
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


BIRTHDREAM (5), by LAURIE KUTCHINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Just before dawn my father came to say goodbye
Last Line: A golden song from stone
Subject(s): Birth; Dreams; Farewell; Fathers


BLIND MAN'S HOUSE, by PAUL KELLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: This was her father's couch in the house of her father
Last Line: His daughter's footsteps pass down the hall, %loving her
Subject(s): Blindness; Fathers And Daughters; Sex


BLISTERS, by VIRGIL SUAREZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father had them on his hands
Last Line: His blessed offerings to hard work
Subject(s): Fathers; Labor & Laborers


BLOOD SOUP, by MARY RUEFLE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The last time I saw father alive he was using
Subject(s): Fathers; Death; Soup; Dead, The


BLUE COLLAR, by TONY GLOEGGLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: He never showed me how to get down, stay
Last Line: A hand through my hair, went upstairs to bed
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Labor And Laborers


BOSTON HYMN; READ IN MUSIC HALL, JANUARY 1, 1863, by RALPH WALDO EMERSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The word of the lord by night
Last Line: His way home to the mark.
Subject(s): American Civil War; Americans; Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Freedom; Patriotism; Pilgrim Fathers; United States - History; United States; Antislavery Movement - United States; Liberty; America


BOY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He is in his room sulked shut. The small
Last Line: May sons forgive the fathers they obey
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


BOY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He is in his room sulked shut. The small
Last Line: May sons forgive the fathers they obey
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


BOY AND FATHER, by CARL SANDBURG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The boy alexander understands his father to be a famous lawyer.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; God; Mothers


BOY AT THE UPSTAIRS WINDOW WITH HIS HEAD IN HIS HANDS, by ANNE SZUMIGALSKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is heavy as a stone he tells himself like any rock in the field
Last Line: Of the mind
Subject(s): Death - Children; Farm Life; Fathers And Sons; Prairies


BOY AT THE WINDOW, by RICHARD WILBUR    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Seeing the snowman standing all alone
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Snowmen


BOY AT THE WINDOW, by RICHARD WILBUR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Seeing the snowman standing all alone
Last Line: Such warmth, such light, such love, and so much fear
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


BOYS BUILDING MODEL BOATS, by RICHARD MORRIS DEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: The shavings fall away like leaves
Last Line: All fathers and sons in the family tree
Subject(s): Boats; Boys; Fathers


BREAKFAST, by DAVID WAGONER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: By the window, my girls are eating eggs and cereal
Last Line: Except a hard one and want me to decide
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Food & Eating; Dogs; Contests


BRIEF HISTORY OF FATHERS, by DAVID CITINO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Do we miss a thing we love
Last Line: His empty eyes, a cold wind %coming on like dementia
Subject(s): Fathers; History; Love


BRIGHTNESS AS A POIGNANT LIGHT, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I tread the dark and my steps are silent
Last Line: Perhaps to view itself in me
Subject(s): Fathers


BROTHERS: 4. IN MY OWN DEFENSE, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What could I choose
Last Line: Could they have failed to hear.
Subject(s): Brothers; Creation; Fathers; Gardens & Gardening; Sin; Half-brothers


BRUISES, by DEBRA KANG DEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father's life is the sound of one hand
Last Line: Hand, held out, makes the sound of one hand clapping. Listen
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean, Debi Kang
Subject(s): Death; Fathers And Daughters


BUDGIE BABIES, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Budgie babies slumber soundly
Last Line: Dream of daddy in their sleep
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


BUFFALO, by MOLLY PEACOCK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Many times I wait there for my father
Subject(s): Buffalo (city), New York; Cities; Fathers & Daughters; Urban Life


BUFFALO, by MOLLY PEACOCK    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Many times I wait there for my father
Last Line: Behind bar blinds we were caged, %some motes of sunlight cathedrally beaming
Subject(s): Buffalo (city), New York; Cities; Fathers And Daughters


BURNED, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have to go back into the forge room
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Factories; Jews; World War Ii; Farewell; Fathers; Grief; Conduct Of Life; Work; Workers; Judaism; Second World War; Parting; Sorrow; Sadness


CAGE, by SUSAN YUZNA    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father was named for st. Francis of assisi,
Last Line: His name, the skull of an animal, pulled down over his face.
Subject(s): Fathers; Names


CAIN, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: So this is what it means
Last Line: My brother is.
Subject(s): Cain; Fathers & Sons


CAIN, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The land of nod
Last Line: Don't rise up
Subject(s): Cain; Fathers & Sons


CALLING THE CHILD, by KARL SHAPIRO    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: From the third floor I beckon to the child
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


CALLING THE CHILD, by KARL SHAPIRO    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: From the third floor I beckon to the child
Last Line: And wags her head at last and makes a start %and starts her humorous marching up the stairs
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


CALLING THE DOVES, SELS, by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At noon time, %on a lunch break from driving the tractor
Last Line: And perch itself on a nearby tree
Subject(s): Children Of Migrant Workers; Fathers; Mexican American Families


CALLING THE WHISKEY ROSES, by MARTHA JANSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's always afternoon father, you
Last Line: The easy slide of the dial. %any music at all
Subject(s): Afternoon; Fathers


CAMPING, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I see my father campng, twenty-seven years
Subject(s): Campingl Fathers


CARDIOVERSION, by JUDITH H. MONTGOMERY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Because your heart flutters
Last Line: And pausing at the inge of dusk %to watch the last petal shut
Subject(s): Fathers; Hearts


CARTOONS, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My wife rises every few hours to nurse our infant, so these
Last Line: Robots with powerful beams of light
Subject(s): Television; Fathers & Daughters; Religion; Censorship; Cartoons & Cartoonists


CATCH, by STANLEY JASSPON KUNITZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It darted across the pond
Last Line: Your life for the privilege %all your life
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


CERTAIN PEOPLE, by RICHARD JONES    Poem Text                 Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father lives by the ocean
Last Line: I'd known him all my life.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Old Age; Strangers


CHANGING DIAPERS, by GARY SNYDER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How intelligent he looks
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


CHANGING DIAPERS, by GARY SNYDER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How intelligent he looks
Last Line: You and me -- and geronimo %are men
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


CHANGING THE NAME TO OCHESTER, by ED OCHESTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: When other grandpas came to ellis island %the immigration people asked 'name?'
Last Line: It was good and lasted %a long, long time
Subject(s): Fathers; Grandparents; Loss; Moving And Movers; New York City; Refugees; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration


CHARLOTTE CORDAY; A MEMOIR OF A HAND, by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A child's small hand, lost in her father's - twined
Last Line: When norman charlotte dared her noble crime.
Subject(s): Corday, Charlotte (1768-1793); Fathers & Daughters; Hands


CHARMS, by KRISTINE A. SOMERVILLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The christmas I was seven my father left - for good this time
Last Line: Lights illuminate him bent to the task of putting together a bike %painted a strange shade of green
Subject(s): Absence; Christmas; Fathers; Gifts And Giving


CHESS MADE SIMPLE, by KEVIN RUSSELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father pressed the chess
Last Line: Now it's my turn
Subject(s): Chess; Fathers


CHILDREN OF HAM, by PHILIP S. BRYANT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Suddenly I can hear
Last Line: And closed the door behind me
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Fathers


CHIN MUSIC, by DOROTHY BARRESI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Watch. My father is about to get knocked on his ass
Last Line: The country begins its long %reeling into death and my father's life begins
Subject(s): Fathers


CHRISTMAS CAROL, by ROBERT NAZARENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Don't even begin to try to understand this poem
Last Line: Lord jesus, I am losing my mind
Subject(s): Death; Fathers And Daughters; Fire


CHRISTMAS CHILDHOOD, by PATRICK KAVANAGH    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One side of the potato-pits was white with frost
Last Line: And I had a prayer like a white rose pinned %on the virgin mary's blouse
Alternate Author Name(s): Monaghan, Patrick
Subject(s): Children; Christmas; Fathers


CHRISTMAS EVE ON THE ROAD, by ANN S. GOLDSMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Herkimer, canajoharie, gloversville, cooperstown
Last Line: Thinking nothing of the cold
Subject(s): Christmas; Cooperstown, New York; Fathers; Gloversville, New York; Travel


CIGARETTES, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father burned us all. Ash
Last Line: Smoldering halls.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Fire; Parents; Smoking; Childhood; Parenthood; Tobacco; Pipes; Cigars; Cigarettes


CIRCLING THE DAUGHTER, by ETHERIDGE KNIGHT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You came / to be / in the month of malcolm
Last Line: You break my eyes with your beauty: / ooo-uu-oo-baby-I love you
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


CIRCLING THE DAUGHTER, by ETHERIDGE KNIGHT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You came %to be %in the month of malcolm
Last Line: You break my eyes with your beauty: %ooouu-oo-baby-I-love-you
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


CLEANING FISH, by ROLAND SODOWSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Almost ninety now, my father marvels
Last Line: Their eyes glazed and backs bowed. %'I doubt it. Not for long.'
Subject(s): Cleanliness; Fathers; Fishing And Fishermen


CLEAR JANUARY, ZERO DEGREES, MY LAST, by LEN ROBERTS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Day in that state's
Last Line: Sunday morning light %about their white, white necks
Subject(s): Fathers; Religion; Winter


CLEVELAND, by SCOTT MINAR    Poem Source                    
First Line: How could you know about
Last Line: Because I was small and I needed %to be saved
Subject(s): Children; Cleveland, Ohio; Driving And Drivers; Fathers; Memory


CLOUDS: SON LEARNS HOW TO BEAT HIS FATHER, by ARISTOPHANES    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Old man it much concerns you to confute
Last Line: Why should I suffer stripes, and you have none?
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


COACH, by SATIAFA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Magical roles you played
Last Line: I will dance my tributes %'on the sunny side of the street'
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


COAL, by MARILYN NELSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He made a living selling land and coal
Last Line: He made a living
Alternate Author Name(s): Waniek, Marilyn Nelson
Subject(s): Family Life; Business; Fathers; Relatives


COCK, by ALBERT GOLDBARTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A month before his dinner with the visiting spanish lawyer,
Subject(s): Darwin, Charles (1809-1882); Religion; Fathers & Sons; Lesbians; Theology


COLOSSUS, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I shall never get you put together entirely
Last Line: No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel %on the blank stones of the landing
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Fathers


COLTRANE AND MY FATHER, by RALPH SNEEDEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Late one night I hear his breath
Last Line: From nowhere, %then out of sight to the left
Subject(s): Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Fathers; Jazz; Music And Musicians


COME HOME, FATHER, by HENRY CLAY WORK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, dear father, come home with me now!
Last Line: Please, father, dear father, come home
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Fathers


COME ONA MY HOUSE, by MEGAN SEXTON    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father looks at the house I live in, frowns
Last Line: And I think we all got these wars and fire traps in our heads
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


COMES WINTER, THE SEA HUNTING, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This was your very first wall, your crib against
Last Line: Through...
Subject(s): Birth; Fathers & Daughters; Ice; Poverty; Sea; Walls; Child Birth; Midwifery; Ocean


COMING UP DRY (2), by DAVID HENDERSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: The clearing
Last Line: The space within %where his dream had been
Subject(s): Fathers; Forests


COMPENSATION, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O the compensating springs! O the balance-wheels of life
Last Line: Child of his love and his choice, oh, canst thou not wait for this?
Subject(s): Fathers; Happiness; Joy; Delight


COMPLEX, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father's madness is to own himself
Last Line: Giving of himself with forced breath
Subject(s): Fathers


CONDIMENTS, by DONELLE R. RUWE    Poem Source                    
First Line: When my sister was miss idaho
Last Line: And smiled and waved and waved
Subject(s): Change; Children; Fathers; Life


CONDOMS, by RONALD W. WALLACE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: She says the book she is reading is gross
Alternate Author Name(s): Wallace, Ron
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


CONDOMS, by RONALD W. WALLACE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She says the book she is reading is gross
Last Line: She pulls her head under the blankets. %okay, she grimaces. That's gross
Alternate Author Name(s): Wallace, Ron
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


CONVERSATION, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My little girl keeps talking to me
Last Line: Don't leave. Don't leave me yet
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


CONVERSATION, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My little girl keeps talking to me
Last Line: Don't leave. Don't leave me yet
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


COPLAS ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER, THE GRAND-MASTER OF SANTIAGO, by JORGE MANRIQUE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Let from its dream the soul awaken
Last Line: His deathless story
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Mourning


CORSAGE, by DEBRA KANG DEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I stood in front of the fridge
Last Line: And returning to the house my parents lived in
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean, Debi Kang
Variant Title(s): Remembering Your Fathe
Subject(s): Fathers; Flowers; Memory


COUNTRY FELLOWS AND THE ASS; ABSURDITY OF ATTEMPTING TO PLEASE ALL MEN, by JOHN BYROM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A country fellow and his son, they tell
Last Line: To think of pleasing all is but a jest.
Variant Title(s): The Countrymen And The Ass
Subject(s): Fables; Fathers & Sons; Men; Allegories


COUNTRY WAYS, by MARCIA LEE MASTERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Either to keep the thinking in
Last Line: Slowly, the pines drew night up the banks, %the silence of books settled over the hills
Variant Title(s): Impressions Of My Fathe
Subject(s): Country Life; Fathers


COUSIN ALEX, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My cousin alex, tall and sinewy
Last Line: At alex's absence
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Cousins


DAD, by ALLAN A. DE FINA    Poem Source                    
First Line: I sometimes wish %he'd squeeze me
Last Line: I love my dad %and I know he loves me
Subject(s): Fathers


DAD (1), by THOMAS FITZSIMMONS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Big hands hoisting me -- plunk
Last Line: Blessing, and forget it
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Masculinity (psychology)


DAD (2), by THOMAS FITZSIMMONS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Big hands hoisting him -- plunk
Last Line: Scarlet white and pure as bone
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


DAD 1970, by MARTA BOSWELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: He leans towards the camera
Last Line: He hasn't killed anyone yet
Subject(s): Fathers


DAD AT HIS BEST, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Discipling me when I needed it
Last Line: This has been you, dad-at your best
Subject(s): Fathers


DAD TURNS NINETY, by ELIZABETH ZELVIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometime between the birthday and %the birthday brunch
Last Line: We were away, he changed his mind %and didn't die
Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Fathers; Psychoanalysis; Relationships


DAD'S BOW, by PHIL WEIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My dad was an avid archer
Last Line: He had a glimpse %of the other side
Subject(s): Archers And Archery; Fathers


DAD'S DINKY, by JOHN REINHARD    Poem Source                    
First Line: At the wake, dad drank
Last Line: And drank long from a tall, clear glass
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Family Life; Fathers


DAD'S FAVORITE, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I've always been dad's favorite
Last Line: That they're his favorites, too
Subject(s): Fathers


DAD'S LETTERS, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My dad, ain't just the letter writin' kind
Subject(s): Fathers; Soldiers


DAD'S LITTLE FIDDLE, by FRED WARNER SIBLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sarsarty was the fiddler's name
Subject(s): Fathers


DAD'S SHOES, by MICHAEL COFFEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: He's gone now, and so
Last Line: No harm, it's just a lace
Subject(s): Absence; Fathers; Poetry And Poets


DADDIES, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I would rather be the daddy
Last Line: Are the happiest men alive.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers


DADDY, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The days have kept on coming
Last Line: The days in the confident man
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Mothers & Sons


DADDY, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The days have kept on coming
Last Line: I comfort my son with the hope %the life in the confident man
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


DADDY, by ROSE FYLEMAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When daddy shaves and let me stand and look
Last Line: Like funny people in a pantomime
Subject(s): Fathers


DADDY, by MIRANDA PEARSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: He was short
Last Line: Into her ear %unrepeatable
Subject(s): Fathers


DADDY, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: You do not do, you do not do
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Fathers; Fathers & Daughters; Hate; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Nazis; Shoah; Judaism; National Socialism


DADDY, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You do not do, you do not do
Last Line: They always knew it was you. %daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Fathers; Fathers And Daughters; Hate; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Nazis


DADDY, by KIM R. STAFFORD    Poem Source                    
First Line: Rub my thumb in the empty hollow of the milkweed pod
Last Line: Has gone, I found whistling the empty pod you left me
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Ghosts; Memory; Supernatural


DADDY HUGS, by JR. JOHN MICKLOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometimes dad gives gentle hugs
Last Line: Great big all-together hugs %with love enough for three!
Subject(s): Fathers


DADDY KNOWS, by JAMES WILLIAM FOLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let us dry our tears now, laddie
Alternate Author Name(s): Foley, J. W.
Subject(s): Fathers


DADDY NEVER FAILS, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Reading silly stories
Last Line: Daddy never fails
Subject(s): Fathers


DADDY WARBUCKS, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What's missing is the eyeballs
Subject(s): Fictional Characters; Fathers & Daughters; Incest; Death


DADDY'S ACTING ODD IN SPRINGTIME (MARCH 16), by JOHN BALABAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Groaning on each other in windy woods
Last Line: He's twined a willow spring around his head %and is laughing at arguing trees
Subject(s): Fathers; March (month); Trees


DADDY'S HANDS, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Daddy's hands were warm and tender
Last Line: Daddy's never gone away
Subject(s): Fathers


DADDY'S HOME, SEE YOU TOMORROW, by OGDEN NASH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I always found my daughters' beaux
Last Line: No boys from me but me from them
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


DADDY: 1933, by GEOFFREY BROCK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If one takes
Alternate Author Name(s): Brock, Geoff
Subject(s): Fathers


DANCING TO ELLINGTON, by JAN SELVING    Poem Source                    
First Line: I found him downstairs
Last Line: To the place I could watch %my father dance
Subject(s): Civil Rights Movement; Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Dancing And Dancers; Ellington, Edward Kennedy ("duke"); Fathers; Jazz; Music And Musicians


DANTIS TENEBRAE (IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER), by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: And didst thou know indeed, when at the font
Last Line: On thy bowed head, my father, fell the night.
Alternate Author Name(s): Rossetti, Gabriel Charles Dante
Subject(s): Dante Alighieri (1265-1321); Fathers; Rossetti, Gabriele Pasquale (1783-1854); Translating & Interpreting


DARING, by CAROL KONEK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Daddyboy %trickster hero
Last Line: Bring you down %to me
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


DARK ANGELS, by GARY FINCKE    Poem Source                    
First Line: To the sidewalk in front of my father's
Last Line: My father said, 'you eat that,' and I did
Subject(s): Fathers; Homecoming


DAUGHTER, by ROBERT PINSKY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She thinks about skeletons
Subject(s): Children; Daughters; Fathers & Daughters; Childhood


DAVID, by JAMES HARRISON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He is young. The father is dead
Last Line: The father is dead.
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Funerals; Mourning; Dead, The; Burials; Bereavement


DAY COMES FOR MY FATHER, by ANN S. GOLDSMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Not long after the infinite weariness
Last Line: And the sky opened wider than ever before
Subject(s): Death; Fathers


DE PROFUNDIS, by ALFRED TENNYSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Out of the deep, my child, out of the deep
Last Line: Hallowed be thy name -- halleluiah!
Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron
Subject(s): Birth; Fathers; Child Birth; Midwifery


DEAD THINGS, by DANE ZAJC    Poem Source                    
First Line: Rain lapped at the stones
Last Line: The decaying faces of dead years
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers; Graves; Heaven


DEATH OF CHARLES OLSON, by CHARLES OLSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She hove down
Last Line: Who are of this make
Subject(s): Fathers


DEDICATION, by RICK BURSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father was dedicated to his work
Last Line: Yes,' he said, 'the world is a small place.'
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers


DEEPER, by MICHAEL DENNIS RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: It seems this wanting more
Last Line: Take your breath away
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


DELICACY, by JANICE MOORE FULLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was our only father-daughter ritual
Last Line: What the earth would not take back
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


DEPARTURE, by LOUISE ELIZABETH GLUCK    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father is standing on a railroad platform
Last Line: The train is waiting with its breath of ashes
Subject(s): Farewell; Fathers; Railroads


DESK, by GREG KUZMA    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father is chopping up the desk he built me when I was a kid to get
Last Line: Is getting him pissed off
Subject(s): Caregivers; Children; Fathers; Parents


DESPONDING FATHER! MARK THIS ALTERED BOUGH, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: To hope—in parents, sinful above all
Subject(s): Hope; Fathers; Children


DIAMONDS, by CHRISTIAN BOK            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Diamonds; Fathers


DISAPPEARING ACT, by LAUREL BLOSSOM    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Watch: how he does it. Without a word
Last Line: But a feeling so distant %no wonder you hang on for dear life
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


DISCHARGING CARGO, by EARL COLEMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The dusky hallway %merged my sometime father
Last Line: The art, as always, lay in letting go
Subject(s): Fathers


DISCUSS YOUR CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE WITH LANGUAGE: 2. FATHER, by RICHARD JONES    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I lay in fields of clover
Last Line: Love with nothing but air.
Subject(s): Fathers; Language; Words; Vocabulary


DISPARATES, SELS., by GORAN SONNEVI    Poem Source                    
First Line: I remember now my father's
Last Line: Saw me go out with mama %through the sickroom door?
Subject(s): Fathers; Hospitals; Sickness


DISPROVED, by BURGES JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: People tell me I must do
Last Line: Keeps on growing through his hair.
Subject(s): Baldness; Boys; Fathers; Growth


DIVIDED TOUCH, DIVIDED COLOR, by KATHLEEN PEIRCE    Poem Source                    
First Line: As soon as I walked out I felt the mistake in the weather
Last Line: A jar of powder. My father is a black line eating snow
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT, by DYLAN THOMAS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Hate; Mourning; Old Age; Social Protest; Time


DOING THE ROCK-HOP SKITTER, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Up on the kopje, way up high
Last Line: Doing the rock-hop skitter!
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


DOING THE TWIST, by DEBRA MARQUART    Poem Source                    
First Line: Felix has four daughters
Last Line: Is a regular dervish
Subject(s): Dancing And Dancers; Daughters; Fathers And Daughters


DOVECOTT MILL: 13. THE FATHER, by PHOEBE CARY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Hushed is the even-song of the bird
Last Line: Never a kiss till his lips were cold!
Subject(s): Fathers


DR. EGG: 3 SESSION 25: CHICKEN KILLING, by B. J. BUHROW    Poem Source                    
First Line: I follow my father
Last Line: Are twitching %like small, involuntary muscles
Subject(s): Chickens; Death - Animals; Fathers


DR. EGG: 6 I IMAGINE THE DEATH OF DR. EGG'S DAUGHTER, by B. J. BUHROW    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dr. Egg is walking her
Last Line: They slip %right through his fingers
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers And Daughters; Psychology


DREAM SONGS: 145, by JOHN BERRYMAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Also I love him: me he's done no wrong
Last Line: An instant longer, in the summer dawn %left henry to live on
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, John, Jr.
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Suicide


DREAM SONGS: 385, by JOHN BERRYMAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My daughter's heavier. Light leaves are flying
Last Line: I wouldn't have to scold %my heavy daughter
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, John, Jr.
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


DRESSING MY DAUGHTERS, by MARK JARMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: One girl a full head taller
Last Line: They cry, “it’s not my fault.”
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Clothing & Dress


DUH, by BOB HICOK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father is silent and distant
Last Line: From rolling over my head one day
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Memory; Relatives


DUH, by BOB HICOK    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father is silent and distant
Last Line: From rolling over my head one day
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Memory


DUSK, by JEAN FOLLAIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is the hour when the son comes in
Last Line: Who sees only a void in the depths of the heavens
Subject(s): Dusk; Fathers And Sons; Heaven


EARLY DEFINITION, by MARLAINA B. TANNY    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are going to sail today, my father
Last Line: I can relax for a little while
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Sailors And Sailing


ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 3: 13. AMERICA, PILGRIM FATHERS, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Well worthy to be magnified are they
Last Line: But in his glory who for sinners died.
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers; U.s. - Colonial Period


ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 3: 14. AMERICA, PILGRIM FATHERS, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: From rite and ordinance abused they fled
Last Line: Concord and charity in circles move.
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers; U.s. - Colonial Period


ECLIPSE, by JESSIE HAEFNER    Poem Text                    
First Line: My sin / forms an eclipse / coming between my
Last Line: Darkness.
Subject(s): Eclipses; Fathers; Sin


ECLOGUE: FATHER COME HWOME, by WILLIAM BARNES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O mother, mother! Be the teaties done?
Last Line: Zoo I shall goo up out o' the waÿ o' the waggon.
Subject(s): Family Life; Farm Life; Fathers; Food & Eating; Homecoming; Winter; Relatives; Agriculture; Farmers


ECONOMICS LESSON, by ROCCO SCOTELLARO    Poem Source                    
First Line: I asked you one day who posted
Last Line: Can only watch them go away
Subject(s): Children; Fathers


ECONOMISIN', by BURGES JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dad was tickled when I went
Last Line: At my 'conomisin' so.
Subject(s): Children; Economics; Fathers & Sons; Gifts & Giving; Childhood


EGG BUSINESS, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Busy, busy: %I've got eggs
Last Line: Empty eggs. %what to do? %need more eggs
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


ELECTRA ON AZALEA PATH, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The day you died I went into the dirt
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers & Daughters; Graveyards; Dead, The


ELECTRA ON AZALEA PATH, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The day you died I went into the dirt
Last Line: It was my love that did us both to death
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers And Daughters


ELEGY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father was born with a spade in his hand and traded it
Last Line: Hymned out my blood to glory, for one good reason
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father was born with a spade in his hand and traded it
Last Line: Hymned out my blood to glory, for one good reason
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY, by ALAN DUGAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I know but will not tell
Last Line: Father, hello and goodbye
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Dead, The


ELEGY, by ALAN DUGAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I know but will not tell
Last Line: Father, hello and goodbye
Subject(s): Death; Fathers


ELEGY, by ANNE STEVENSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers; Aging


ELEGY 3. CAVALCANTE, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It was cavalcante,' my mother said, 'killed you father'
Last Line: I stood in the wreck of the death that had been my blood
Subject(s): Automobile Accidents; Fathers


ELEGY FOR JANE, by THEODORE ROETHKE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils
Subject(s): Accidents; Death; Fathers & Daughters; Labor & Laborers; Youth; Dead, The; Work; Workers


ELEGY FOR JANE, by THEODORE ROETHKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils
Last Line: I, with no rights in this matter, %neither father nor lover
Subject(s): Accidents; Death; Fathers And Daughters; Labor And Laborers; Youth


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER, by ANNIE FINCH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Under the ocean that stretches out wordlessly
Subject(s): Fathers - Death


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER, by JORDAN MILLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: You lived remembering how your father
Last Line: With picks, loosening the ground.
Subject(s): Death; Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER, by NATASHA TRETHEWEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: I think by now the river must be thick
Subject(s): Fathers; Fish & Fishing; Anglers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER, WHO IS NOT DEAD, by ANDREW HUDGINS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One day I’ll lift the telephone
Last Line: And waving, shouting, welcome back
Subject(s): Fathers; Death; Dead, The


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 1. THE EMPTY BODY, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The hands were yours, the arms were yours
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 1. THE EMPTY BODY, by MARK STRAND    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The hands were yours, the arms were yours
Last Line: But you were not there
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 2. ANSWERS, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Why did you travel?
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 2. ANSWERS, by MARK STRAND    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Why did you travel?
Last Line: Yes, I am tired and I want to lie down
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 3. YOUR DYING, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Nothing could stop you
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 3. YOUR DYING, by MARK STRAND    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Nothing could stop you
Last Line: Not the life you had. %nothing could stop you
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 4. YOUR SHADOW, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You have your shadow
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 4. YOUR SHADOW, by MARK STRAND    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You have your shadow
Last Line: I have carried it with me too long. I give it back
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 5. MOURNING, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They mourn for you / when you rise at midnight
Subject(s): Fathers; Mourning; Bereavement


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 5. MOURNING, by MARK STRAND    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They mourn for you %when you rise at midnight
Last Line: They mourn for you the way they can
Subject(s): Fathers; Mourning


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 6. THE NEW YEAR, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is winter and the new year
Subject(s): Fathers; Holidays; New Year


ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 6. THE NEW YEAR, by MARK STRAND    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is winter and the new year
Last Line: Because it is winter and the new year
Subject(s): Fathers; Holidays; New Year


ELEGY: FOR YOU, FATHER, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, under the stone, accept your ruin
Last Line: The end of heaven and the need of earth
Subject(s): Death – Fathers


ELEGY: FOR YOU, FATHER, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, under the stone, accept your ruin
Last Line: The end of heaven and the need of earth
Subject(s): Fathers


ELEUTHERIA, by CAROLYN KIZER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She was named eleutheria
Subject(s): Child Molesting; Fathers & Sons; Freedom; Marriage; Relationships; Women's Rights; Writing & Writers; Child Abuse; Liberty; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Feminism


EMISSARY SHADOW, by SANDRA STONE    Poem Source                    
First Line: It may be that if a father abandons you you will see
Last Line: Numinously shows when dawn burnishes the wall
Subject(s): Fathers


ENCOUNTERING THE DEAD, by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: With my father it happened driving
Subject(s): Driving & Drivers; Fathers; Death; Dead, The


ENDING WITH A LINE FROM LEAR, by MARVIN BELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I will try to remember. It was light
Last Line: Never. Never. Never. Never. Never.
Subject(s): Children; Dramatists; Fathers & Sons; Funerals; Graves; Grief; Lear, King; Parents; Plays & Playwrights ; Poetry & Poets; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Childhood; Burials; Tombs; Tombstones; Sorrow; Sadness; Parenthood; Dramatists


ENTER THE DRAGON, by FRANCES SALOME ESPANA    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'll file my little horns sharp
Last Line: I forgot to light the candle for %tonight
Subject(s): Absence; Candles; Fathers; Prayer


ENVOI, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Strange judgment upon me
Last Line: In the same passionate vindication %of myself
Subject(s): Fathers


EPIGRAM: 21. THE POET'S FATHER, by CALLIMACHUS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Whoever you are who wander near
Last Line: They will not cast their friends away.
Alternate Author Name(s): Kallimachos
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


EPIGRAM: 45. ON MY FIRST SON, by BEN JONSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy
Last Line: As what he loves may never like too much.
Variant Title(s): On His First Sonne;on My First Sonne;epitaph: On My Son
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers; Grief; Men; Mourning; Parents; Prayer; Sons; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness; Bereavement; Parenthood


EPITAPH ON MY FATHER, by ROBERT BURNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O ye, whose cheek the tear of pity stains
Last Line: For ev'n his failings lean'd to virtue's side.
Subject(s): Epitaphs; Fathers; Life Change Events; Religion; Theology


EPITAPH: THAW, by ANNE CARSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Little clicks all night in the back lane there blackness
Last Line: Anvil of deep decree
Subject(s): Epitaphs; Fathers


EPITHALAMIUM AT ST. MICHAEL'S CEMETERY, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father lay fifty years in st. Michael's bed
Last Line: He sets his bounds by. Or that simply is
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Fathers


EQUALITY, FATHER, by EDITH BRUCK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Equality, father! Your dream has come true
Last Line: Let us commit a mortal sin %worthy of death
Subject(s): Fathers; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews


EQUINOX, by TONY WHEDON    Poem Source                    
First Line: I stood outside the goodwill shop
Last Line: Was scratching at the door
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory


ESTATE SALE, by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On igavel I bought
Subject(s): Language; Fathers; Words; Vocabulary


EUROPE AND AMERICA, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father brought the emigrant bundle
Last Line: As guns pounded on the shore
Subject(s): Fathers; Immigrants; Fathers; Immigrants; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration


EUROPE AND AMERICA, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father brought the emigrant bundle
Last Line: As the knife fell; while I have slept %as guns pounded on the shore
Subject(s): Fathers; Immigrants


EVE (RACHEL), by MICHAEL S. HARPER            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have been waiting to speak to you
Last Line: In these bodies of soiled, broken, mending hands
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


EVE (RACHEL), by MICHAEL S. HARPER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have been waiting to speak to you
Last Line: Where you will plant your own crafted shoes %in these bodies of soiled, broken, mending hands
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


EVEN AS A CHILD, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Even as a child to whom sad
Last Line: Even as a child.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Children; Death; Fathers; Grief; Childhood; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness


EVENING, by BEATRICE HAWLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: The inside of the shell
Last Line: When our father comes home %the day will be over again
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


EXODUS, by GEORGE OPPEN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Miracle of the children the brilliant
Subject(s): Bible; Fathers & Daughters; Religion; Theology


EXODUS, by GEORGE OPPEN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Miracle of the children the brilliant
Last Line: Of their brilliance miracle %of
Subject(s): Bible; Fathers And Daughters; Religion


EXPLANATION OF THE EXHIBIT, by RODNEY JONES    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: That day the challenger cracked and spread an immolating spider
Last Line: I'm wondering if I should shake her gently now and wake %herup
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


EXTENDED FAMILY, by JANICE LOWE    Poem Source                    
First Line: No one notices the man wiggling like jelly at the front door
Last Line: No lie %damn skippy
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers


EXTRA INNINGS, by WILLIAM A. PHELON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Oh father, dear father, come home with me
Last Line: Ere she bounces an iron off your brow!
Subject(s): Baseball; Fathers; Sports


EYES OF SOON CHILDREN, by HONOREE FANONNE JEFFERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: How does my father
Last Line: And name him as one of us
Subject(s): Children; Family Life; Fathers


FACTS OF LIFE, by OGDEN NASH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Daughter, dim those reverent eyes
Last Line: What's that, my own? - I was afraid so
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FAIR JANET, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: "ye maun gang to your father, janet"
Last Line: For father he has nane
Subject(s): Fathers


FALL RIVER, by DAVID RIVARD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Basketball; Family Life; Anger; Relatives


FAMILIAR EPISTLE TO A LITTLE BOY, by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: I must own, my dear sonny, 'tis likely but few
Last Line: —look me up in the year nineteen-hundred-and-one.
Alternate Author Name(s): Pollex, D.; Walker, Patricius
Subject(s): Angels; Death; Fathers & Sons; Heaven; Memory; Dead, The; Paradise


FAMILY MATTER, by BRENDAN KENNELLY    Poem Source                    
First Line: That christmas day, he wanted to kill his father
Last Line: And confessed everything to the first whore he could find.'
Subject(s): Christmas; Confessions; Fathers And Sons; Murder; Prostitution


FANNY: 111, by FITZ-GREENE HALLECK    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She long had known that in her father's coffers
Last Line: One whose high destiny was to breathe
Alternate Author Name(s): Croaker
Subject(s): Fathers; Money; Wealth


FANNY: 58, by FITZ-GREENE HALLECK    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We fondly hope that he will be respected
Last Line: Our country, and find food for the reviews
Alternate Author Name(s): Croaker
Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; Fathers


FATHER, by PAUL CARROLL    Poem Source                    
First Line: How sick I get %of your ghost
Last Line: This underpass is endless
Subject(s): Family Life - Ireland; Fathers; Ireland; St. Patrick's Day


FATHER, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father fell backwards off the stool
Last Line: I've had my day
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER, by TED KOOSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You spent fifty-five years
Subject(s): Fathers; Retail Trade; Stores; Shops; Shopkeepers


FATHER, by TED KOOSER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You spent fifty-five years
Last Line: We laughed till we cried
Subject(s): Fathers; Retail Trade


FATHER, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The long lines of diesels
Subject(s): Fathers; Disappointment


FATHER, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER    Poem Text                    
First Line: Happy the man who bears that holy name
Last Line: He but reflects;—his life a genesis.
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER, by JOHN BROOKS WHEELWRIGHT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: An east wind asperges boston with lynn's sulphorous brine
Last Line: Come home, dead man, who made your mind my home
Subject(s): Boston; Fathers


FATHER AND DAUGHTER, by JEAN FOLLAIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: She was born in the midst of the black frock-coats
Last Line: Which she tore with her teeth
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FATHER AND DAUGHTER, by CATHY SONG    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You are holding my sister in your arms
Last Line: A daughter to sing to you, %a small voice %emerging from the unlit room at dusk
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FATHER AND MOTHER: A MYSTERY, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The father: 'now it is over.'
Last Line: "the father: ""help me to believe!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Grief; Mothers & Daughters; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


FATHER AND SON, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: While we enjoy this meat, my son
Last Line: A tongue that told no lie?'
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Trust


FATHER AND SON, by IRVING FELDMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Set against each other, ready to butt
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


FATHER AND SON, by FREDERICK ROBERT HIGGINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Only last week, walking the hushed fields
Last Line: With whom now he is one, under yew braches, %yes, one in a graven silence no bird breaks
Alternate Author Name(s): Higgins, F. R.
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


FATHER AND SON, by STANLEY JASSPON KUNITZ    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now in the suburbs and the falling light
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Reunions; World War Ii; Second World War


FATHER AND SON, by STANLEY JASSPON KUNITZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now in the suburbs and the falling light
Last Line: Among the turtles and the lilies he turned to me %the white ignorant hollow of his face
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Reunions; World War Ii


FATHER AND SON, by DELMORE SCHWARTZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On these occasions, the feelings surprise,
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Death; Coming Of Age; Conduct Of Life; Dead, The


FATHER FATHER SON AND SON, by JON SWAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sweet father, I have shrunk a bit
Last Line: I must not falter on my wall
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


FATHER INSTALLS SHOWER, CA. 1962, by GREG HEWETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: And then there was rain
Last Line: The music is strung
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER ON THE MARSH, by ANDREW HUDGINS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My older boy said, 'let's make soup'
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER OUTSIDE, by NICK FLYNN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: A black river flows down the center
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER POEM, by SIOBHAN REAGAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Father, strategiest, enemy
Last Line: Into an instrument of pain, %more clumsy, less perfect
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER SON AND HOLY GHOST, by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have not ever seen my father's grave
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Graves; Tombs; Tombstones


FATHER SON AND HOLY GHOST, by AUDRE LORDE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have not ever seen my father's grave
Last Line: Lest I go into dust %I have not ever seen my father's grave
Alternate Author Name(s): Adisa-warrior, Gamba
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Graves


FATHER SPEAKS, by BURGES JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Merry christmas, one and all!
Last Line: Whoop, hurrah! It's christmas day.
Subject(s): Children; Christmas; Discontent; Fathers; Childhood; Nativity, The; Dissatisfaction


FATHER TO SON, by BRENDAN KENNELLY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Crooked? He was so crooked, son
Last Line: He'd shit a corkscrew
Subject(s): Corruption In Politics; Fathers And Sons; Ireland


FATHER UNDER WATER, by THEA SULLIVAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: All day I watched you
Last Line: Like tools you'd forgotten how to use
Subject(s): Fathers; Water


FATHER'S BOUQUET, by PHILIP S. BRYANT    Poem Source                    
First Line: My dad not only
Last Line: Throw away
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers; Flowers; Graves


FATHER'S CHORE, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My pa can hit his thumbnail with a hammer and keep still
Last Line: When the water in it splashes down his front.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER'S DAY, by JAMES TATE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: My daughter has lived overseas for a number
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


FATHER'S DAY (1), by W. C. LANE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Oh father of mine that came from above
Last Line: And pop, I hope we will still be together on heaven's %shore
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER'S DAY (2), by W. C. LANE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Father, oh father, oh father of mine
Last Line: I would not have wanted any other papa to have %given me my start
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER'S DAY (3), by W. C. LANE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Daddy, I thank you for all the good times we have
Last Line: Thank god, you married mother and gave me my %start. %love, %w.C., sharon, %dustin and pepper
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER'S DAY IN PALMYRA, NY, by RICHARD FOERSTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Over the next hill, a golden angel, I'm told
Last Line: Laughter drifting up over the field and hill
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER'S GOOD SON, by ELIZABETH SEWELL HILL    Poem Text                    
First Line: The wheat hangs heavy to the further hill
Last Line: Runs around the spit where turns the fatted calf.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Relationships


FATHER'S MAGIC, by EMANUEL DI PASQUALE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Hundreds of starlings %landed on my trees
Last Line: And all the starlings %flew away
Alternate Author Name(s): Pasquale, Emanuel Di
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHER'S OLD BLUE CARDIGAN, by ANNE CARSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now it hangs on the back of the kitchen chair
Last Line: Because he is riding backwards
Subject(s): Clothing & Dress; Fathers; Love - Unrequited


FATHER'S OLD BLUE CARDIGAN, by ANNE CARSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now it hangs on the back of the kitchen chair
Last Line: Because he is riding backwards
Subject(s): Clothing And Dress; Fathers; Love - Unrequited


FATHER'S TALE, by CAROLINE ANNE BOWLES SOUTHEY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Come near, my children! Till the hour of prayer
Last Line: The wonder and opprobrium of a world
Alternate Author Name(s): Bowles, Caroline Anne
Subject(s): Fathers; Worship


FATHER-IN-LAW, by JILL MACLEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The winter he's twenty-seven %he and his second cousin harvey walk
Last Line: That brought him back and %nails shingles to the wall
Subject(s): Fathers-in-law


FATHER-IN-LAW, by MARGARET W. MAXFIELD    Poem Source                    
First Line: He hunkers glum, surviving christmas morning
Last Line: He'll leave the shirt untried upon its hanger %until too late to change it, him, or me
Subject(s): Fathers-in-law


FATHER-IN-LAW, SIX YEARS LATER, by JAMES MCKEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: He edges into the room
Subject(s): Fathers-in-law


FATHERHOOD, by HENRY CHARLES BEECHING    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A kiss, a word of thanks, away
Last Line: Though he spread out his hands all day?
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHERHOOD, by CHARLOTTE LOUISE BERTLESEN    Poem Text                    
First Line: He wore his fatherhood with awe
Last Line: The fatherhood of god.
Subject(s): Fathers; God; Religion; Theology


FATHERHOOD, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Before you came, my little lad
Last Line: The means of leading you astray.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHERS, by DAVID CITINO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My children can't wait to leave
Last Line: Three times each day I hear the silence
Subject(s): Fathers; Religion


FATHERS, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Scattered, aslant
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Dead, The


FATHERS, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Scattered, aslant
Last Line: The ground, wants this frozen ground
Subject(s): Death; Fathers


FATHERS, by MICHAEL JOSEPH HEFFERNAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We talked to our jamesons at closing time
Last Line: To somebody else two or three blocks over %who yelled back once. It got quiet after that
Subject(s): Ancestors And Ancestry; Dublin, Ireland; Family Life - Ireland; Fathers


FATHERS AND SONS, by JOSEPH T. COX    Poem Source                    
First Line: My boy lives a half a world away, a man
Last Line: Will always and never again be my little boy
Subject(s): Absence; Army - United States; Fathers And Sons; Soldiers


FATHERS AND SONS, by LIZ ROSENBERG    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: His boys are so embarrassed they can hardly stand it
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Basketball


FATHERS AND SONS (6), by WALTER ROBERT MCDONALD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They leaped like soap squirted in the first tub bath
Last Line: A simple man with boots and a rifle of his own
Alternate Author Name(s): Mcdonald, Walt
Subject(s): Fathers; Sons


FATHERS CERTAINLY ARE FUNNY, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fathers are the funniest things!
Last Line: Fathers certainly are funny!
Subject(s): Fathers


FATHERS IN THE SNOW: 2, by JILL BIALOSKY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: After father died
Subject(s): Death - Fathers


FATHERS OF NEW ENGLAND, by CHARLES SPRAGUE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold! They come, those sainted forms
Subject(s): New England; Pilgrim Fathers


FATHERS'S TEACHING, by ELANA HAYES    Poem Source                    
First Line: He took small brown hands
Last Line: Secure in her identity
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


FEAR OF IRISH SONS, by PAUL T. HOGAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I have this notion of you: irish
Last Line: I fear of my first son
Subject(s): Family Life - Ireland; Fathers And Sons


FEEL ME, by MAY SWENSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers; Death; Dead, The


FEEL ME, by MAY SWENSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Feel me to do right,' our father said on his deathbed
Last Line: Lie down with me, and hold me, tight. Touch me. Be %with me. Feel with me. Feel me to do right'
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FERRY CROSSING, by PAUL MARIANI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Beyond the granite breakers, a world of roiling
Subject(s): Fathers; Old Age


FEVER, by JUDITH ORTIZ COFER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Father was to her, and to me
Last Line: A small plant set, by accident, close %to the window
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FIRESTARTER, by TESS GALLAGHER            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers


FIRST BASEBALL GLOVE, by DONALD GRAVES    Poem Source                    
First Line: Stee-rike,' george yells
Last Line: Feeling the sting %smart in the pocket
Subject(s): Fathers


FIRST FISH, by DIANE JARVENPA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Water lapped blue tongues
Last Line: In cool blue water
Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Fathers; Fishing And Fishermen


FIRST LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS, by ROBERT SOUTHEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Days pass, winds veer, and favoring skies
Last Line: Where, on the fatal shoals, the wreck lies whelmed below.
Subject(s): Cape Cod; Pilgrim Fathers


FIRST MEMORY, by LOUISE ELIZABETH GLUCK    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Long ago, I was wounded. I lived
Last Line: It meant I loved
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FIRST SEX, by RICHARD TAYSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: When we found your father's playboy
Last Line: In the dark and entered manhood
Subject(s): Aids (disease); Children; Fathers; Homosexuality; Love; Sex; Sickness


FIRST TIME, by JILL ROBIN SISSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Aftewards he whispered do you like fishing and
Last Line: Watching him measure and cut with strict thumbs a good %piece of the thin, invisible stuff
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Fishing And Fishermen


FISHING WITH DAD, by DAVID ROGNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Pinched into the triangle
Last Line: Which both divided and united us
Subject(s): Fathers; Fishing And Fishermen


FLERIDA AND DON DUARDOS, by GIL VICENTE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was the month of april
Last Line: Against the might of death and love %in vain is all assay
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Flowers; Love; Spring


FLOWER GIVEN TO MY DAUGHTER, by JAMES JOYCE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Frail the white rose and frail are
Last Line: My blueveined child
Subject(s): Daughters; Fathers; Men; Prayer


FLYING LESSON, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: This time, father says
Last Line: That I can almost see
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


FOG TROPES, by JOSEPH DONALD MCCLATCHY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A sheet of water turned over
Last Line: Unknowning all, whose pain has just begun
Alternate Author Name(s): Mcclatchy, J. D.
Subject(s): Aids (disease); Fathers And Daughters; Sickness


FOLLOWER, by SEAMUS HEANEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father worked with a horse-plough
Subject(s): Fathers; Plowing & Plowmen


FOLLOWER, by SEAMUS HEANEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father worked with a horse-plough
Last Line: It is my father who keeps stumbling %behind me, and will not go away
Subject(s): Fathers; Plowing And Plowmen


FOR A BOY IN A BUS DEPOT, by EDUARDO C. CORRAL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Moonlight topples %from the star-cabled night
Last Line: Wings rimmed with the color of the apple
Subject(s): Apples; Boys; Childhood Memories; Fathers; Fruit


FOR A FATHERLESS SON, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You will be aware of an absence, presently,
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Sons; Fathers


FOR HIS FATHER, by WILLIAM MEREDITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I was young I looked high and low for a father
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Morris
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


FOR JESSICA, MY DAUGHTER, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tonight I walked
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


FOR JESSICA, MY DAUGHTER, by MARK STRAND    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tonight I walked
Last Line: In the dark %when I am away
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FOR MIRANDA, by GREGORY NUNZIO CORSO    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My daughter %walks in grace
Last Line: To his visor'd mouth %there are white horses in manhattan
Alternate Author Name(s): Corso, Gregory
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FOR MY DAUGHTER, by WELDON KEES    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Looking into my daughter's eyes I read
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


FOR MY DAUGHTER, by WELDON KEES    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Looking into my daughter's eyes I read
Last Line: These speculations sour in the sun. %I have no daughters. I desire none
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FOR MY DAUGHTER IN REPLY TO A QUESTION, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: We're not going to die
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


FOR MY DAUGHTER IN REPLY TO A QUESTION, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We're not going to die
Last Line: We will not be forgotten and passed over %and buried under the births and deaths to come
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FOR MY FATHER, by DURIEL E. HARRIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: December/ no signs of a chicago winter/no boulder-sized clumps of snow
Last Line: Awkwardness/ small but indelicate failures/ elegant and human in the knowing
Subject(s): Fathers


FOR MY FATHER, by HANS LODEIZEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: O father we've been together
Last Line: My lips my tender lips composed
Subject(s): Fathers


FOR MY FATHER, by KATHARINE TYNAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Over and over again I dream a dream
Last Line: In the quiet evening I am finding you.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Daughters; Death; Dreams; Fathers; Homecoming; Dead, The; Nightmares


FOR MY FATHER LOOKING FOR MY UNCLE, by JORIE GRAHAM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The clues are everywhere
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


FOR MY FATHER LOOKING FOR MY UNCLE, by JORIE GRAHAM    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The clues are everywhere
Last Line: Until we believed there was another indoors, %assiduous, free, a small community, a dream with shutt
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FOR MY FATHER, DEAD AT FIFTY-SIX, ON MY FIFTY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY, by STANLEY PLUMLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I watched you humble a man in a fight once
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Death; Childhood Memories; Dead, The


FOR MY SON JOHN, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Jonnel, this is for you -- my river-saint-named
Last Line: The first life and the first and still the first
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


FOR MY SON JOHN, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Jonnel, this is for you -- my river-saint-named
Last Line: The first life and the first and still the first
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


FOR MY SON, NOAH, TEN YEARS OLD, by ROBERT BLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Night and day arrive, and day after day goes by
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


FOR MY SON, NOAH, TEN YEARS OLD, by ROBERT BLY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Night and day arrive, and day after day goes by
Last Line: So we pass our time together, calm and delighted
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


FOR YOUR SAKE, by KATHARINE TYNAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: For your sake who have left me grieving
Last Line: I see your hands and I wake and weep.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Fathers; God; Old Age


FORGET-ME-NOT, by MICHAEL DENNIS RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: You forget yourself at times
Last Line: And everything you can't recall
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


FORGIVING MY FATHER, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is friday. We have come
Last Line: And no accounting will open them up
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Forgiveness; Clemency


FORGIVING MY FATHER, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is friday. We have come
Last Line: You lie side by side in debtors' boxes %and no accounting will open them up
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Forgiveness


FOUR FOR THEODORE ROETHKE: 2. THE GARDEN, by CHARLES MARTIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the ruined kingdom of his father's house
Subject(s): Fathers; Gardens & Gardening


FOUR POEMS FOR A CHILD SON / DECEMBER 18, 1972: IT WAS THE THIRD DAY, JULY 12 , 1971, by SIMON J. ORTIZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Hitchhiking on the way to colorado
Last Line: Look, the stones with voices
Subject(s): Native Americans; Hitchhikers; Fathers & Sons


FOURTEEN PAGES, by ALBERT GOLDBARTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers; Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930); Books & Reading


FOURTH BOOK OF AIRS: TO JOHN MOUNSON, SON AND HEIR TO SIR THOMAS, by THOMAS CAMPION    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On you th' affections of your fathers friends
Last Line: On each side placing you as near my heart!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Friendship


FREEDOM, by LUCILE ENLOW    Poem Text                    
First Line: Observe the son stampede
Last Line: Until he dies.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Revolutions


FROGGY-BACK, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: This little froglet never
Last Line: To swim all on his froggy own
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


FROM A DAY-BOOK OF A FORGOTTEN PRINCE, by JEAN STARR UNTERMEYER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father is happy or we should be poor
Subject(s): Fathers; Family Life; Relatives


FROM FATHER TO SON, by OPAL PALMER ADISA    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's no surprise
Last Line: Just like your grandfather
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers And Sons


FROM FATHER TO SON, by RAINER MARIA RILKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Reject the complicated life
Last Line: From father to son and from son to father
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


FROM JOSEF IN THE REST HOME, by SHARON CHMIELARZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'm still alive
Last Line: By the t.V. Tray
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Immigrants; Nursing Homes; Old Age; Poland; United States


FROM MY DAD IS A MAGICIAN 2, by LESLIE REESE    Poem Source                    
First Line: They say that all little girls adore their fathers/want to marry
Last Line: That's why my birth certificate says that my dad was a 26 %year old alabama negro straightener for b
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FROM THE CADAVER, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The arm you hold up
Last Line: Cold in a stranger's hand
Subject(s): Corpses; Death; Fathers And Sons


FROM THE FATHER OF MY COUNTRY, by DIANE WAKOSKI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If george washington
Last Line: Father, %have you really come home
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FROM THEN TO NOW, by KIM THERESA ADDONIZIO    Poem Source                    
First Line: I've been thinking of your father
Last Line: And make him give her back
Subject(s): Children; Domestic Relations; Fathers


FROM WAR AND MEMORY 1, by JUNE JORDAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Daddy at the stove or sink. Large
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


FROM WAR AND MEMORY 1, by JUNE JORDAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Daddy at the stove or sink. Large
Last Line: My daddy chasing %after me
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


FRONT MAN, by CHARLIE SMITH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father was a social man, talking
Last Line: Only fear running in your head; the emptiness is moving too
Subject(s): Fathers


FUNDAMENTALISM, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Because the eye has a short shadow or
Last Line: He would not follow his father into war
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


FUNERAL OF THE COUNT OF SALDANA, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: All in the centre of the choir bernardo's knees are bent
Last Line: Still, father, thirsts that burning lance, and still thy son can wield it
Subject(s): Bernardo Del Carpio; Courts And Courtiers; Death; Fathers And Sons; Funerals; Grief; Revenge


FURNACE, by MONICA OCHTRUP    Poem Source                    
First Line: I see the small girl following her father down the basement steps every
Last Line: I see the moment of flame when %he told her to turn her faceaway, and she didn't
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Furnaces


FUTURE, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am going to leave a child in an empty room
Last Line: Prepare to live without me %as I am prepared
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


GAMES, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father orders me to run around a giant billiard
Last Line: Their tiny, funereal flags
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers


GARDENER, by JOHN HALL WHEELOCK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, whom I knew well for forty years
Last Line: This kiss, father, from his who was your son
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


GATHERING THE BONES TOGETHER; FOR PETER ORR, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When all the rooms of the house
Last Line: That arches toward the other shore.
Subject(s): Brothers; Death; Family Life; Fathers & Sons; Fratricide; Hunting; Half-brothers; Dead, The; Relatives; Hunters


GET-AWAY, SELS., by ROBERT MALISE BOWYER NICHOLS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beginning when I was six I became my father's accomplice
Last Line: In its locked berths the sleepers are soaring like arrows
Subject(s): Fathers; Railroads


GHOST, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If a man stands by a pin oak emptying
Last Line: "it's like a tub overflowing onto a floor."
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Ghosts; Marriage; Suicide; Supernatural; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


GIFT, by RALPH BURNS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When my father-in-law gave me the knife
Subject(s): Fathers-in-law; Gifts And Giving


GIFT, by KIEV RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: If my birds don't fly
Last Line: What I cannot even %tell myself
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


GIRL FROM ANDROS: FATHER-SON CONFRONTATION, by PUBLIUS TERENTIUS AFER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pese anger not thyself so I thee pray
Last Line: What woldyst thou say
Alternate Author Name(s): Terence
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


GLASS, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I think of it with wonder now
Last Line: On the table, these last mouthfuls
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers; Glasses (tumblers); Love


GLASS, by CHARLES KENNETH WILLIAMS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I'd have thought by now it would have stopped
Last Line: Not it's still no there, but something like come in, be still
Alternate Author Name(s): Williams, C. K.
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory; Mirrors; Mourning


GLORY DAYS, by TANYA KERN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Daddy wanted a uniform
Last Line: Drifts atlantic floor, hot guns on the kitchen table
Subject(s): Army Life; Death; Fathers; World War Ii


GOD, by FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ten thousand worlds his face behold
Last Line: And as the father, so the child.
Subject(s): Fathers; God; Religion; Theology


GOD AND MY COUNTRY, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He had the bluest eyes I ever saw
Last Line: "to get some cigarettes and some shaving blades."
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Soldiers; World War I; First World War


GOD LOVES YOU, AND SO DO I, by MICHAEL BLUMENTHAL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Because it is what he says always, to anyone
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


GOD'S EYES, by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Father, what colour are god's eyes
Last Line: God's eyes change slow from shade to shade.
Subject(s): Eyes; Fathers & Daughters; God; Nature - Religious Aspects; Truth


GOING TO ZAKOPANE, by MARGARET C. SZUMOWSKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: And so mama divided the potato among the three of us ...'
Last Line: On the icy peak
Subject(s): Fathers; Poland; Travel


GOLD LILY, by LOUISE ELIZABETH GLUCK    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As I perceive
Last Line: Close enough to hear %your child's terror? Or %are you not my father, %you who raised me?
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


GOLDEN BELLS, by PO CHU-YI    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I was almost forty
Last Line: Must now be postponed for fifteen years!
Alternate Author Name(s): Bai Juyi; Bo Juyi; Po Chu-i; Lo T'ien; Jyu-yi
Subject(s): China - Tang Dynasty (618-905); Fathers & Daughters


GOLDEN STATE, by FRANK BIDART    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To see my father
Subject(s): Family Life; Death - Fathers; Divorce; Relatives


GOLDFINCH, MY FATHER, IN THE FORSYTHIA, by LEN ROBERTS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He is going on forever
Last Line: The one that shot straight %from the heart
Subject(s): Fathers; Fights


GOOD SPIRITUAL FATHER, by GIUSEPPE GIOCCHINO BELLI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Confess, my daughter. I'm ashamed to start
Last Line: But when I get in bed, I think I might
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


GRATITUDE, by ALES DEBELJAK    Poem Source                    
First Line: The arc of your eyebrows-so new!-draws a splendid dome
Last Line: I'm grateful to you for guiding me safely through the throes of birth
Subject(s): Birth; Children; Fathers; Gratitude; Parents


GRIEF CALLS US TO THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD, by SHERMAN ALEXIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The eyes open to a blue telephone
Last Line: And haul us, prey and praying, into dust
Subject(s): Grief; Fathers; Death; Sorrow; Sadness; Dead, The


GROTESQUES, by ROBERT COOPERMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When your surgeon-father retired
Last Line: As you are now, his shop %silent less than a year
Subject(s): Fathers; Retirement


GUILTY FATHER TO HIS DAUGHTER, by JAMES SCHEVILL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Why are you always glad to see me?
Last Line: Demon down the fatherly drain
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


HAD I THE WYTE, HAD I THE WYTE, by ROBERT BURNS            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


HAIKU, by NAKAMURA KUSADAO    Poem Source                    
First Line: A father at last
Last Line: Stopping, starting, stopping
Subject(s): Fathers


HAIKU, by NICK VIRGILIO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: After father's wake
Last Line: To the darkened house
Alternate Author Name(s): Virgilio, Nicholas
Subject(s): Fathers; Funerals


HALLELUJAH!, by JAN LEE ANDE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Praise the lord, I'm all but levitating
Last Line: May I feel him, make my hair stand on end!
Subject(s): Blessings; Fathers; God; Praise


HANG-GLIDER'S DAUGHTER, by MARILYN HACKER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My forty-year-old father learned to fly
Last Line: Then it was me flying, feet still %on the road. We're here, on top of the hill
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


HANGIN', by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mom's a mess %dad says she's tired
Last Line: Hangin'. %just us two. %hangin' all day long
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


HAPPY, by STACY JO CROSSEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When my daddy comes home
Last Line: Just me, %I'm happy!
Subject(s): Fathers


HARD DADDY, by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I went to ma daddy
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Langston
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers & Daughters; Negroes; American Blacks


HARD DADDY, by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I went to ma daddy
Last Line: Fly like the eagle flies %I'd fly on ma man an' %I'd scratch out both his eyes
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Langston
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers And Daughters


HE LIVES IN ME, by NAOMI LONG (WITHERSPOON) MADGETT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father was a strong and stalwart man
Last Line: With hallelujahs. Trumpets, cymbals, and drums
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


HE WROTE THE HISTORY BOOK,' IT SAID, by MARIANNE MOORE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There! You shed a ray
Last Line: Your father's autograph.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; History; Historians


HEARING HIM TALK, by BARBARA GOLDBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: My own father died of swine flu, spent
Last Line: A lot of noise. The way I am
Subject(s): Fathers; Holocaust, Jewish - Beginnings


HEART'S NEEDLE, by WILLIAM DEWITT SNODGRASS    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Child of my winter, born
Alternate Author Name(s): Gardons, S. S.; Mcconnell, Will; Snodgrass, W. D.
Subject(s): Divorce; Fathers And Daughters; Parents


HEARTBEAT, SELS., by SANDY SHREVE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am my father's daughter, no doubt about it
Last Line: All I can do with this bisected vision %is imagine a heartbeat
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


HEAVEN IS REALLY AN ISLAND WHERE MY IN-LAWS LIVE, by BRUCE BARTON    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father-in-law waits
Last Line: Where nothing dies, %really
Subject(s): Fathers-in-law


HER FATHER, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I met her, as we had privily planned
Last Line: Of time, and wrack, and foes.'
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


HER GREAT SECRET, by STRICKLAND GILLILAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Most every meal, when he's at home, my father says
Subject(s): Fathers


HER SCARLET LETTERS, by ALIKI BARNSTONE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Since the day on the scaffold I have refused
Last Line: Disclosing nothing to the men in black
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Guilt


HILL DAUGHTER, by LOUISE MCNEILL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Land of my fathers and blood, oh my fathers, whatever
Last Line: I have brought you a son
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


HIPPITY HOP TO BED, by LEROY F. JACKSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: O it's hippity hop to bed!
Last Line: Go hippity hop to bed
Subject(s): Fathers


HIS CHILDREN THREE; TO -- AT TWO YEARS OLD, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beautiful boy with the wistful eyes
Last Line: He watches over his children three!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Children; Death; Fathers; Mothers; Childhood; Dead, The


HIS EXAMPLE, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There are little eyes upon you, and they're watching
Last Line: For the little boy who's waiting to grow up to be like you.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


HIS GHOST, AGAIN, by KIM THERESA ADDONIZIO    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'm tired of my father coming around
Last Line: On the piano cover, an apple, %fingers finding the sweetest low notes
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Fathers And Daughters; Ghosts; Supernatural


HIS SIGNIFICANT DAY, by BECCA HENSLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: The head was a black circle
Last Line: Jaundice the white mats %of the others
Subject(s): Fathers; Funerals


HIS SMELL, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the last days of my father's life
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Smells; Dead, The; Odors; Aromas; Fragrances


HIS SMELL, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the last days of my father's life
Last Line: Smelling him, breathing him in %as you would breathe the air deeply before going into exile
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Smells


HIS STILLNESS, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The doctor said to my father, you asked me
Subject(s): Fathers; Incurable Diseases; Courage; Valor; Bravery


HIS STORY, by SANDRA CISNEROS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I was born under a crooked star
Last Line: And one female / gone
Variant Title(s): His History
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


HIS STORY, by SANDRA CISNEROS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I was born under a crooked star
Last Line: And one female, %gone
Variant Title(s): His Histor
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


HOLDING ON (FOR HIS FATHER PREMATURELY OLD), by RICHARD JACKSON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This morning my father studied the dead wasps
Last Line: A thread passing between his teeth, %towards a loud kite in a remembered sky
Subject(s): Aging; Fathers


HOLES, by JR. ORVAL A. LUND    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your father's fighting world war ii %and you're in a brown foxhole you dug
Last Line: And wail at the whole damn sky
Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Children; Fathers; Play; Soldiers; World War Ii


HOME AFTER THREE MONTHS AWAY, by ROBERT LOWELL    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Gone now the baby's nurse
Variant Title(s): Life Studies: Home After Three Months Away
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


HOME AFTER THREE MONTHS AWAY, by ROBERT LOWELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Gone now the baby's nurse
Last Line: I keep no rank nor station. %cured, I am frizzled, stale and small
Variant Title(s): Life Studies: Home After Three Months Awa
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


HOMECOMING, by DORIANNE LAUX    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At the high school football game, the boys
Last Line: Smelling the flowers pressed against her neck.
Subject(s): Education; Fathers & Daughters; Homecoming; Schools; Students


HOMING PIDGIN, by DEBRA KANG DEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Smoked-glass highrises
Last Line: I t'ink dees mus' be heaven
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean, Debi Kang
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


HORSE IN THE CAGE, by STANLEY PLUMLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Its face, as long as an arm, looks down & down.
Subject(s): Horses; Fathers; Dreams; Nightmares


HOSPITAL WINDOW, by JAMES DICKEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have just come down from my father
Last Line: I have just come down from my father
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Hospitals


HOST, by JOHN DUFFRESNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father's body is the narrow grave
Last Line: Pressed to the sternum of the world
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Peace; Rest; Silence


HOUSEHOLD POEMS: 1. BRONWEN, by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If I should ever grow rich by chance
Last Line: I shall give them all to my elder daughter.
Alternate Author Name(s): Eastaway, Edward; Thomas, Edward
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


HOUSEHOLD POEMS: 2. MERFYN, by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If I were to own this countryside
Last Line: Should be his till the cart tracks had no ruts
Alternate Author Name(s): Eastaway, Edward; Thomas, Edward
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


HOUSEHOLD POEMS: 3. MYFANWY, by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What shall I give my daughter the younger
Last Line: That time without contentment brings
Alternate Author Name(s): Eastaway, Edward; Thomas, Edward
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


HOW MANY TIMES, by MARIE HOWE    Poem Source                    
First Line: No matter how many times I try I can't stop my father
Last Line: It's our father, and still the door opens, and she %makes that small oh turning over
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Fathers And Daughters


HOW MY FATHER FLEW, by ALBA NORA MARTINEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: His tawny, kohl-ringed eyes
Last Line: And flew against the moon
Subject(s): Fathers


HOW THE PAST INHABITS, by BARBARA GOLDBERG    Poem Source                    
First Line: When she was twelve, my mother
Last Line: Frets daily over what she should eat
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers And Daughters; Past


HOW TO BE UNCLE SAM, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father knew
Subject(s): Fathers; Parades


HOW YOU FIXED?, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How you fixed, dad? Pretty busy?'
Last Line: How you fixed?
Subject(s): Fathers


HUNTING FOR A '55 CHEVY, by WALTER ROBERT MCDONALD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My son wants a car with dents, rusted
Alternate Author Name(s): Mcdonald, Walt
Subject(s): Automobiles; Fathers And Sons; Repairing


HUSBANDRY, by BARTON SUTTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: And what does the farmer's daughter think
Last Line: And thinks: 'when I marry, I'll marry a farmer.'
Subject(s): Cows; Farm Life; Fathers And Daughters; Girls; Milk


HUSH, by DAVID ST. JOHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The way a tired chippewa woman
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


I DIDN'T SAY A WORD, OR WHO CALLED THAT PICCOLO PLAYER ..., by OGDEN NASH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A man could be granted to live a dozen lives
Last Line: So why does everbody have to shush me?
Subject(s): Fathers


I DOTE THE MORE, THE MORE I CONTEMPLATE, by VINCENZO MONTI    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: Hath graven in thy tender father's breast
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Beauty


I WANT TO BE SIDE OF PAPA, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER    Poem Text                    
First Line: I want to be side of papa,
Last Line: And live more close to god.
Subject(s): Fathers; Heaven; Paradise


I WAS MADE OF THIS AND THIS, by GERTRUDE ROBINSON ROSS    Poem Text                    
First Line: (I was mad eof this and this- / and angel's prayer, a gipsy's kiss.)
Last Line: The angel's prayer, or the gipsy's kiss!
Subject(s): Mothers; Fathers; Family Life


I WILL GO WITH MY FATHER A-PLOUGHING, by JOSEPH CAMPBELL                        Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Ultach; Maccathmhaoil, Seosamh
Subject(s): Plowing & Plowen; Fathers & Sons


I WONDER WHERE MY PAPA IS?, by JULIA A. MOORE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I wonder where my papa is
Last Line: "till we reach that home afar."
Alternate Author Name(s): Sweet Singer Of Michigan
Subject(s): Fathers


IDEA OF ANCESTRY, by ETHERIDGE KNIGHT    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Taped to the wall of my cell are 47 pictures: 47 black
Last Line: They are all of me, I am me, they are thee, and I have no children to float in the space between
Subject(s): African Americans; Ancestors And Ancestry; Fathers; Korean War, 1950-1953; Men; Prayer; Prisons And Prisoners


IF FATHER COULD HAVE CRIED, by DAVID HENRY KYES    Poem Text                    
First Line: He was not given to shedding tears. He faced
Last Line: Each tearless grief supreme love verified.
Subject(s): Fathers


IF I WERE AN EGG, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Me: big daddy's big bad %emperor penguin-to-be
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


IF THERE'S A GOD..., by GREGORY ORR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If there's a god of amphetamine, he's also the god of wrecked
Last Line: "laughing at all who stumble. Put out your tongue and receive it."
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; God; Medicine; Unfaithfulness; Dead, The; Drugs, Prescription; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy


IMMACULATE VIEW, by JANE MILLER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Love: the power of lust turned generous, the power of sleep
Last Line: Prescient body:
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Love; Lust


IMMRAMA, by PAUL MULDOON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I, too, have trailed my father's spirit
Subject(s): Fathers


IN DEDICATION OF 'THE CERTAIN HOUR', by JAMES BRANCH CABELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sad hours and glad hours, and all hours, pass over
Last Line: Love for his son.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


IN DREAM TIME, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear tomasito
Last Line: Just had a last fall
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


IN FATHER'S DAY, by J. K. DURICK    Poem Source                    
First Line: By reputation, my father drank far more
Last Line: The future fathers invent %at just such a moment
Subject(s): Drinks And Drinking; Fathers


IN HONOR OF DAVID ANDERSON BROOKS, MY FATHER, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A dryness is upon the house
Last Line: Old private charity
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


IN HONOR OF DAVID ANDERSON BROOKS, MY FATHER, by GWENDOLYN BROOKS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A dryness is upon the house
Last Line: Translates to public love %old private charity
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


IN MEMORIAM: PRIVATE D. SUTHERLAND, by ALAN MACKINTOSH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So you were david's father
Last Line: But I was your officer.
Alternate Author Name(s): Mackintosh, Ewart Alan
Subject(s): Brotherhood; Death; Fathers & Sons; Leadership; Military; Soldiers; Sons; War; Dead, The


IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE, by GEORGE+(2) BARLOW    Poem Source                    
First Line: Always first to rise
Last Line: Filled his great lungs %with cool air
Subject(s): Fathers; Jazz; Music And Musicians


IN THE AIRPORT, by ELENI SIKELIANOS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A man called dad walks by
Subject(s): Fathers


IN THE BLOOD, by DAVID WELCH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even before his father died
Last Line: And the autumnal new moon %relaxing of shoulders
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers And Sons


IN THE HIGH COUNTRY, by DAVID ST. JOHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Some days I am happy to be no one
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


IN THE HOSPITAL, NEAR THE END, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Suddenly my father lifted up his nightie, I
Variant Title(s): The Lifting
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Daughters; Dead, The


IN THE HOSPITAL, NEAR THE END, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Suddenly my father lifted up his nightie, I
Last Line: The veils would fall from our eyes, we would know everything
Variant Title(s): The Liftin
Subject(s): Death; Fathers And Daughters


IN THE LAST DAYS, by PETER EVERWINE    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the last days of my father's illness
Last Line: In the dark and sped away %as he watched
Subject(s): Fathers; Sickness


IN THE MORNING, by BURGES JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Reggalerly every day, / when my papa's gotten up
Last Line: Puttin' prickers in my chin.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Shaving


IN THE MOUNTAIN VALLEYS AROUND LAKE WOLFER, by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the mountain valleys around lake wolfer
Last Line: And flapped their peppery feathers and ran after me
Subject(s): Fathers


IN THE STUDY, by BURGES JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Nicest place in all the house
Last Line: Just as wise and big as he.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Rooms; Childhood


IN THE THIRD MONTH, by DAVID RAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: First snow wet against the windshield
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


IN THIS AGE OF HARD TRYING, NONCHALANCE IS GOOD AND, by MARIANNE MOORE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Really, it is not the
Last Line: Of manner, best bespeak that weapon, self protectiveness.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons (turgenev)


IN WHAT DIRECTION OR WHEN, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: By the time I find he was gone, it is
Subject(s): Fathers


INCANTO: 1, by JR. STANLEY TRAVIS RICE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I sit waiting for one of the two kinds of miracle
Last Line: Sunday - 8 october - 72 %michele now nothing but an emptying dress in the grave
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


INCANTO: 4, by JR. STANLEY TRAVIS RICE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Enough is never enough - that voice comes back - suave shell
Last Line: For a moment - %no more death
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


INJURY, by SUNSHINE GLENSTONE    Poem Source                    
First Line: My memory of my father is that he sat in the parlor
Last Line: I suppose we were all happier in summer
Subject(s): Farm Life; Fathers; Memory; Pain


INQUISITION, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: You always want to know where I'm going
Last Line: You sure do ask a lot of questions, dad. %thanks
Subject(s): Fathers


INSCRIBED ON A TOMBSTONE, by MANI LEIB BRAHINSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Here lies hersh itsi's son: on his unseeing
Last Line: Were left to all the children in his will
Subject(s): Fathers; Graves


INSIDE THE MOUNTAIN, by HELEN TRUBEK GLENN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father's hand smoothing my hair
Last Line: So the horses could wear down their hooves %on ground, sharpen their teeth %on grass and thistles
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


INVENTING FATHER IN LAS VEGAS, by LYNN EMANUEL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If I could see nothing but the smoke
Subject(s): Fathers


INVITATION, by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You who had the sense
Last Line: Let us be conscious and talk of these things.
Subject(s): Fathers


IPHIGENEIA AT AULIS: AGAMEMNON TRIES TO AVERT SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENEIA, by EURIPIDES    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O! Gods! How very wretched am I grown!
Last Line: Here take it for it is your victory
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Sacrifices


IPHIGENIA AT AULIS, by EURIPIDES    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Had I the voice of orpheus, o my sire
Last Line: Life is more precious than the noblest death!
Subject(s): Euripides (484-406 B.c.); Fathers & Sons; Murder


IRON PANTS, by DEBORAH WARREN    Poem Source                    
First Line: New they were black now top-frizzed like charcoal
Last Line: A winter warmth that underneath the hoar %frost's rime-skin wears like iron warms blood
Subject(s): Fathers; Time


IT'S ONLY FAIR, by BERTON BRALEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Mother has had a heap of praise
Last Line: I sing a little song to dad!
Subject(s): Caregivers; Fathers; Poetry & Poets


JEALOUSY, by NATHALIA CRANE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Flatbush! Flatbush! Rah! Rah! Rah!
Last Line: See the bobbed-head riding on the bob-tailed car.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Jealousy


JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER, by JENNIFER ATKINSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Already two months alone %twice no blood
Last Line: My father will kill him and steal his land %I am a widow in a blood-stained shawl
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Jephthah (bible); Sacrifices


JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER, by BARBARA KEENER SHENK    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father promised, so there is no chance
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Jephthah (bible); Sacrifices


JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER, by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She stood before her father's gorgeous tent
Last Line: And she was dead -- but not by violence.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Jephthah (bible); Sacrifices


JOHNSON BROTHERS LTD, by R. H. VAN DEN HOOFDAKKER    Poem Source                    
First Line: In those days when my father was still big
Last Line: From the little copper tap marked 'cold'
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


JOSEPH KALLINGER, by JACK K. ISRAEL    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was his endless father, endless
Last Line: My pale beard framed his face of seeds
Subject(s): Death; Fathers And Sons; Murder


JOSEPH'S LAMENT, by HARRY HIBBARD KEMP    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My boy, my boy, and art thou dead?
Last Line: My murdered boy! ... Woe, woe is me!
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; Murder; Trees; Dead, The


JUMP, by SHIRLEY KAUFMAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sundays. Sun-narrowed eyes. My father
Last Line: What I want most is on the other
Subject(s): Arabs; Boats; Fathers; Jerusalem; Jews; Middle East - Conflicts; Palestine


JUST DAD, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There's someone in the lower hall
Last Line: "see who it is."" ""just dad, that's all."
Subject(s): Fathers


KATALIN'S CHILDREN, by GYULA ILLYES    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'd have gladly given birth
Last Line: Had I met the right one
Subject(s): Children; Fathers And Sons; Marriage


KILLJOY, by EDWARD FIELD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When my mother and father
Last Line: Artist / & / killjoy
Alternate Author Name(s): Elliot, Bruce
Subject(s): Suburbs; Anti-semitism; Family Life; Fathers


KITCHEN WALTZ, by REBECCA KAI DOTLICH    Poem Source                    
First Line: My small bare feet %spoon his shoes
Last Line: To daddy's %kitchen waltzing song
Subject(s): Fathers


KOANS, by HOWARD NELSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father-in-law, a nobly intelligent and tense man
Subject(s): Fathers-in-law


KYOTO BORN IN SPRING SONG, by GARY SNYDER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Beautiful little children
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


KYOTO BORN IN SPRING SONG, by GARY SNYDER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Beautiful little children
Last Line: Wild babies %in the ferns and plums and weeds
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


LA PAMPA, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The dead truck sits in the shimmering wheat
Last Line: In white pajamas and turquoise slippers.
Subject(s): Brothers; Fathers; Graves; Librarians & Libraries; Half-brothers; Tombs; Tombstones; Library; Librarians


LAKOTA WARRIOR, by ARTHUR J. HARVEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: My lakota father
Last Line: Only saluted, %at moment of death
Subject(s): Fathers; Korean War, 1950-1953


LAMENT, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The sting of bees took away my father
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Dead, The


LAMENT FOR MY FATHER, by SHANG JINGLAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The southern clouds, like the signal fires, are dark
Last Line: And grievingly watch the stars descend
Subject(s): Fathers


LAMENT OF A MAN FOR HIS SON, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Son, my son!
Subject(s): Fathers; Native Americans


LAST DEATHS, by CHARLES KENNETH WILLIAMS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A few nights ago I was half-watching the news on television and half
Last Line: But our little love days were just seeds it blew out on parachutes into the summer wind
Alternate Author Name(s): Williams, C. K.
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


LAST SUPPER IN MONTANA, by DAVID BOTTOMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father-in-law begins the feast
Last Line: Kept flying through the leaves.
Subject(s): Divorce; Fathers-in-law; Food & Eating; Montana; Prayer


LASTNESS: 2, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: A black bear sits alone
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


LASTNESS: 2, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A black bear sits alone
Last Line: And smelled the grasslands and the ferns
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


LATE POEM TO MY FATHER, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Suddenly I thought of you
Subject(s): Fathers; Grandparents; Love; Alcoholics & Alcoholism; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


LAWYER AND CHILD, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How large was alexander, father
Last Line: About the size of me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; History; Childhood; Historians


LEADING THE LONELY, by KIEV RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: From the beginning we have moved,
Last Line: Taking us deeper and %deeper into ourselves
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


LEAR, by THOMAS HOOD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A poor old king, with sorrow for my crown
Last Line: Foolish -- and blind -- and overcome with years!
Subject(s): Fathers; Lear, King


LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN: 51. LOST CHILDHOOD, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How was it possible, I a father
Last Line: And it was as though satisfying %my own lost childhood
Subject(s): Children; Fathers


LEAVING THE GARDEN, by EAMON GRENNAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Time to remember again
Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Fathers


LEE, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My mother's people
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers; Generals; Lee, Robert Edward (1807-1870); Slavery; Southern States; Virginia (state); Negroes; American Blacks; Serfs; South (u.s.)


LEE, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My mother's people
Last Line: Chaining his mother to lee
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers; Generals; Lee, Robert Edward (1807-1870); Slavery; Southern States; Virginia (state)


LESSON, by HUMBERT WOLFE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It was 1963 or 4, summer
Last Line: With him, I kept thinking, fixed against noise %from the dark
Subject(s): African Americans - Children; Fathers


LETTER FROM BROOKLYN, by DEREK WALCOTT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: An old lady writes me in a spidery style
Last Line: So this old lady writes, and again I believe, %I believe it all, and for no man's death I grieve
Subject(s): Fathers


LETTER TO A FATHER, LETTER FROM A SON, by LYNN SHOEMAKER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Cincinnati. Aprill 11th
Last Line: And my anger shakes in the lilies
Subject(s): Cincinnati, Ohio; Fathers And Sons; Letters


LETTER TO DAD, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Write him a letter
Last Line: It doesn't seem fair that...'(beep)
Subject(s): Fathers


LETTERS FROM A FATHER, by MONA VAN DUYN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Ulcerated tooth keeps me awake, there is
Last Line: So the world woos its children back for an evening kiss
Subject(s): Fathers; Letters


LETTERS FROM A FATHER, by MONA VAN DUYN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Ulcerated tooth keeps me awake, there is
Last Line: So the world woos its children back for an evening kiss
Subject(s): Fathers


LIFE AND DEATH, by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What is life, father?
Last Line: "and god is over all!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Berwick, Mary
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Life; Religion; Dead, The; Theology


LIGHTS IN THE SKY ARE STARS: A SWORD IN A CLOUD OF LIGHT, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your hand in mine, we walk out %to watch the christmas eve crowds
Last Line: Abstractions of the rascals %hwo live by killing you and me
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Love; Stars


LIKE MY FATHER WAKING EARLY, by THOMAS LYNCH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Even for an undertaker, it was odd
Last Line: I do this like my father, waking early, %I have my coffee, cigarettes, and worry
Subject(s): Fathers; Undertakers


LINE IS SLACK, by JANICE N. HARRINGTON    Poem Source                    
First Line: I know tonight what I've always known
Last Line: The line is slack, and the dark waters ripple over
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Grief


LINES ADDRESSED TO HIS FATHER ON ... PRESENT OF A KNIFE, by JAMES EDWARD AUSTEN-LEIGH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Though superstitious folks may say
Last Line: And me, your duteous son beleive
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Gifts And Giving; Knives


LINES TO MY FATHER, by COUNTEE CULLEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The many sow, but only the chosen reap;
Subject(s): Fathers


LISTEN, by LUCI TAPAHONSO    Poem Source                    
First Line: One in high school, a friend
Last Line: Smiling a little %his own prayer after the songs
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


LISTENING TO A WHITE MAN PLAY THE BLUES, by SILVIA CURBELO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Pushing the seed into the ground
Last Line: You don't know what dirt is %until you bury your first daughter
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


LITTLE AGLAE; TO HER FATHER ON HER STATUE BEING CALLED LIKE HER, by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father! The little girl we see
Last Line: She kiss'd you first and ran away.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


LITTLE BLACK POEM 4 LARRY, by LESLIE REESE    Poem Source                    
First Line: A big black man with a big black smile holds
Last Line: Holds my smaller black hand and %protects me
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


LITTLE POPEET: THE LOST CHILD, by WILLIAM MCGONAGALL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Near by the silent waters of the mediterranean
Last Line: And lived happy with his father for many a day.
Subject(s): Disappeared Persons; Fathers & Sons; Missing Persons


LITTLE TOOTH, by THOMAS LUX    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your baby grows a tooth, then two
Last Line: You did, you loved, your feet %are sore. It's dusk. Your daughter's tall
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


LIVELIHOOD: PROEM, by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Audrey, these men and women I have known
Last Line: In old incredible days before your birth.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


LIVES, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Bessie’s face lingers before me
Last Line: And as if speaking for me
Subject(s): Women; Music & Musicians; Fathers & Daughters; Perseverance


LIVING ROOM, by ANDREA HOLLANDER BUDY    Poem Text                 Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: In the cave of memory my father
Subject(s): Fathers


LONELINESS, by KATHARINE TYNAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He who had all else heaven and earth
Last Line: For loneliness, for loneliness.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Fathers; God; Jesus Christ; Mary. Mother Of Jesus; Mothers; Solitude; Women - Bible; Virgin Mary; Loneliness


LOOMING FLOCK, by JUDY GALBRAITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was dreaming my father
Last Line: A whole flock hanging behind and %coming even closer
Subject(s): Dreams; Fathers; Goats


LORD IVON AND HIS DAUGHTER, by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How beautiful it is! Come here, my daughter!
Last Line: Thank god! Thank god!
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Love - Nature Of


LORD ROBERTS, by GEORGE MURRAY (1830-1910)    Poem Text                    
First Line: He came, he saw, he conquered; though his heart
Last Line: The idol of his country and his queen.
Subject(s): England; Fathers & Sons; Roberts, Frederick Sleigh (1832-1914); Soldiers; English


LOST CHILDHOOD, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How was it possible, I a father
Last Line: My own lost childhood
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


LOST SON, by THEODORE ROETHKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At woodlawn I heard the dead cry
Last Line: Be still. %wait
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


LOTUS LEAVES, by OSCAR WILDE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There is no peace beneath the noon
Last Line: By sailing on the barren sea.
Alternate Author Name(s): Finga, O'flahertie Wills
Subject(s): Fathers; Lotus; Lotos


LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, by CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON MORLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Not long ago I fell in love
Last Line: And she'll be three weeks old on sunday!
Alternate Author Name(s): Hall, Galway
Subject(s): Babies; Fathers & Daughters; Infants


LOVE'S PHOTOGRAPH (OR FATHER AND SON), by JAMES SCHUYLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Detected little things: a peach-pit
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Photography & Photographs


LOVER BOYS, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I saw the movie where indiana jones
Last Line: We couldn't even share the la-z-boy without fighting
Subject(s): Courtship; Fathers And Sons; Love Affairs; Women


LOWELL: 46., by AHARON SHABTAI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Little elegy for my father run over on columbus circle
Last Line: Of the famous was for him an indispensible part of the city decor
Subject(s): Death; Fathers


LULLABY FOR A DAUGHTER, by JAMES HARRISON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Go to sleep. Night is a coal pit
Last Line: Her sweet subject, dark.
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Love; Sleep


MAIDEN VOYAGE, by D. NURSKE    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father made me
Last Line: Around a missing mouth
Subject(s): Boats; Children; Fathers; Rivers


MANTALK, by GREG HEWETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was born when you were 29
Last Line: Of the language of men
Subject(s): Aging; Birth; Fathers; Men


MAPS, by SUSAN MITCHELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Don't doubt it, they remember
Last Line: There was still a thin strip of sky %in the one eye closing
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MARINA, by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands
Alternate Author Name(s): Eliot, T. S.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Sea; Ocean


MARINA, by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands
Last Line: And woodthrush calling through the fog %my daughter
Alternate Author Name(s): Eliot, T. S.
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Sea


MATISSE TOO, by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Matisse, too, when the fingers ceased to work
Last Line: Damn the fathers. We are talking about defiance
Subject(s): Matisse, Henri (1869-1954); Courage; Art & Atists; Perseverance; Fathers


MAYFLOWER, by JOSEPH CROSBY LINCOLN    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the gleam and gloom of the april weather
Subject(s): Mayflower (ship); Pilgrim Fathers


MAYFLOWER, by ALFRED NOYES    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I think some angel christened her
Subject(s): Mayflower (ship); Pilgrim Fathers


MEAT AND MEMORY, by NATALIE KENVIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When my father receded, I became small
Last Line: The smell of meat and memory
Subject(s): Cows; Death; Fathers; Memory


MEMORIES OF MY FATHER, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When we drove a spike too weak into wood too hard
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory


MEMORIES OF MY FATHER, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When we drove a spike too weak into wood too hard
Last Line: That in mid-morning bursts %into glittering dust in the sunshine
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory


MEMORY OF MY FATHER, by PATRICK KAVANAGH    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Every old man I see
Last Line: Seems to say to me: %'I was once your father'
Alternate Author Name(s): Monaghan, Patrick
Subject(s): Fathers


MEN AND BIRTH; THE UNEXPLAINABLE, by HAKI R. MADHUBUTI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Malepractice and maleabsence issue is loneliness & limiting
Last Line: Smiles occasional tears and undying commitment
Alternate Author Name(s): Lee, Don L.
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


MEN AT NY FATHER'S FUNERAL, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The ones his age who shook my hand
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Fathers; Funerals; Burials


MEN WITH SECRETS, by MICHAEL DENNIS RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Our faults like san andreas
Last Line: Well enough to start us telling
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


MEN WITHOUT, by TIMOTHY LIU    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father is a coward, and I have grown
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Cowardice; Fathers & Sons; Love; Estrangement; Outcasts


MENTAL PATIENT MAULED BY POLAR BEAR IN VILAS PARK ZOO, by B. J. BUHROW    Poem Source                    
First Line: Father stood in the doorway
Last Line: And I taste iron in my mouth %and my feet grow wings
Subject(s): Animals; Bears; Fathers; Insanity


MERCY, by BRUCE SMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: When you came down the river to me in your rush basket
Last Line: Yet, little white girl, my moses
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MESSAGE TO CALIBAN, by ERIC HOWARD    Poem Source                    
First Line: Our one fall sign
Last Line: His words cathedral-sized %and in those hands leaves
Subject(s): Autumn; Fathers And Sons; Labor And Laborers; Leaves; Seasons


MESSENGER, by THOMAS KINSELLA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: For days I have wakened and felt immediately
Last Line: Grandchildren, colourful and silent
Subject(s): Fathers


MESSENGER: 1. THE FATHER, by JEAN VALENTINE    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the strange house %in the strange town
Last Line: Her hair back from her eyes. His eyes %settle. On us
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


METAMORPHOSES, by DEBORAH NARIN-WELLS    Poem Source                    
First Line: My son recites the names of birds
Last Line: Upward, contemplating %the hard blue sky
Subject(s): Birds; Change; Children; Fathers And Sons; Growth


METAMORPHOSIS: 1. NIGHT, by LOUISE ELIZABETH GLUCK    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The angel of death flies
Last Line: Even the spot on the lung %was always there
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


METAMORPHOSIS: 2. METAMORPHOSIS, by LOUISE ELIZABETH GLUCK    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father has forgotten me
Last Line: Turned away from the contract
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


METAMORPHOSIS: 3 FOR MY FATHER, by LOUISE ELIZABETH GLUCK    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm going to live without you
Last Line: Against your cheek, my hand is warm %and full of tenderness
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MIDDLE MANAGER, by ANTHONY OAKSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: When he trudges in the front door
Last Line: Before he takes off his winter coat
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers And Daughters


MINUS ONE, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Of seven sparrows on a country wire
Last Line: Hawk in this now? Unchosen? Come to choose?
Subject(s): Sparrows; Hawks; Fathers & Sons


MIRRU, by KENNETH PATCHEN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I tiptoed into her sleep
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


MIRRU, by KENNETH PATCHEN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I tiptoed into her sleep
Last Line: While the snow swirled so prettily on the lawn %like a white queen in a beautiful dress
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MISSING MY DAUGHTER, by STEPHEN SPENDER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This wall-paper has lines that rise
Last Line: Or on a white page, a white poem. %the roses raced around her name
Alternate Author Name(s): Spender, Stephen (harold), Sir
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Travel


MISSING MY FATHER'S HEART SURGERY, by KRISTIN BECKER    Poem Source                    
First Line: They did not look between your ribs
Last Line: That beat in you %like a smooth, heavy fist
Subject(s): Fathers; Hearts; Surgery


MOLLY, by MAURICE KENNY    Poem Source                    
First Line: If I could scratch figures
Last Line: A people who do not remember: %rain which falls upon a rock
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MOLOCH IN STATE STREET, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The moon has set: while yet the dawn
Last Line: God of the free!
Subject(s): Boston; Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Pilgrim Fathers; Antislavery Movement - United States


MOMENTS WITH DAD, by DAN QUISENBERRY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Boxing with dad, %I but a child
Last Line: That read empty the whole way
Subject(s): Fathers


MOON MONEY, by B. J. BUHROW    Poem Source                    
First Line: One huge arc
Last Line: Circling his %hushed tongue
Subject(s): Boys; Children; Fathers; Psychiatry; Psychology


MOSS OF HIS SKIN, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It was only important
Last Line: How I hold my daddy %like an old stone tree
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; God; Religion


MOTETS: 4, by EUGENIO MONTALE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Far away, yet I was with you when your father
Subject(s): Absence; Fathers; Death; Separation; Isolation; Dead, The


MOTHERHOOD, by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: With what angelic countenance
Last Line: To fatherhood and motherhood!
Subject(s): Fathers; Mothers


MOUNTAIN SONG: 1, by FENG MENG-LUNG    Poem Source                    
First Line: My old man's small, shriveled and shrunk
Last Line: Every year the harvest of its flowers will be reaped by others
Subject(s): Fathers


MOURNING PICTURE (PAINTED BY EDWIN ROMANZO ELMER), by ADRIENNE CECILE RICH            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They have carried the mahogany chair and the cane rocker
Variant Title(s): Mourning Picture
Subject(s): Elmer, Edwin Romanzo (1850-1923); Fathers & Daughters; Paintings & Painters


MOURNING PICTURE (PAINTED BY EDWIN ROMANZO ELMER), by ADRIENNE CECILE RICH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They have carried the mahogany chair and the cane rocker
Last Line: And leave this out? I am effie, you were my dream
Variant Title(s): Mourning Pictur
Subject(s): Elmer, Edwin Romanzo (1850-1923); Fathers And Daughters; Paintings And Painters


MOUSE HAIKU, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Blind and tissue-skinned
Last Line: Of fluttering hearts
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


MOVING AGAIN, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At night the mountains look like huge
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Divorce


MOVING ON IN THE DARK LIKE LOADED BOATS AT NIGHT, THOUGH THE, by LUCIE BROCK-BROIDO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Master, then this -- I crossed my father's gate
Last Line: How long how on how oft how long
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MR. FIX-IT, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dad's not so good with hammers
Last Line: There's no one like my dad
Subject(s): Fathers


MUSEUM MAN!, by LORINE NIEDECKER    Poem Source                    
Last Line: It would come back
Variant Title(s): The Museum Man!..
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MY BOY, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You smile and you smoke your
Last Line: A trouble like yours, my boy!
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Fathers; Sons


MY BUDDY, by FOREST M. KELP    Poem Text                    
First Line: Want to tell you of my buddy
Last Line: Splendid buddy—is my dad!
Subject(s): Fathers; Hearts; Love


MY DAD IS A MAGICIAN, by LESLIE REESE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Frederick douglass, crispus attucks, toussaint l'ouverture
Last Line: Old alabama negro straightener for burroughs, corp
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


MY DADDY, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: My daddy %is a very, very, very good man
Last Line: My daddy %is a very, very, very good man
Subject(s): Fathers


MY DADDY, by OGDEN NASH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have a funny daddy
Last Line: I hope he fries in hell
Subject(s): Fathers


MY DADDY IS A COOL DUDE, by KARAMA FUFUKA    Poem Source                    
First Line: When my daddy comes in from work %at night
Last Line: My daddy sure is a cool dude
Subject(s): Fathers


MY DADDY'S FINGERS MOVE AMONG THE COUPLERS, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: My daddy's fingers might be men again
Subject(s): Fathers


MY DADDY'S FINGERS MOVE AMONG THE COUPLERS, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: What do the couplers know %about being locked together?
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


MY DADDY'S SHAKIN SOMETHING AWFUL, by RUBA NADDA    Poem Source                    
First Line: And my daddy's hands are shakin something awful as he
Last Line: Crazy daddy, he's shaking something awful, I don't speak %his language. And he don't speak mine
Subject(s): Children; Depression, Mental; Fathers


MY DAUGHTER, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou hast thy mother's eyes, my child
Last Line: The delicate darling of a dream.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


MY DAUGHTER AND APPLE PIE, by RAYMOND CARVER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She serves me a piece of it a few minutes
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Food & Eating; Pies


MY DAUGHTER AND APPLE PIE, by RAYMOND CARVER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She serves me a piece of it a few minutes
Last Line: She says she loves him. No way %could it be worse
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Food And Eating; Pies


MY DAUGHTER VERY ILL, by PAUL GOODMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My little darling looked so pale today
Last Line: That alone stirs to courage and to walk %and to work
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MY FATHER, by VICENTE ALEIXANDRE    Poem Source                    
First Line: You are far away, my father, there in your realm of shadows
Last Line: Cast down upon immense arms that horribly mimic you
Subject(s): Absence; Fathers And Sons; Hearts; Orphans


MY FATHER, by CHAIM NACHMAN BIALIK    Poem Source                    
First Line: My way of life was strange and its paths wondrous
Last Line: Testifies to him in truth: 'here lies a righteous and honest man'
Alternate Author Name(s): Bialik, Hayim Nahman; Byalik, Chaim Nachman
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER, by EULA BISS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I saw a windowsill full of wasps when I was six. A swarm of terrifying black
Last Line: And our eyes meet as the first stitch is pulled tight
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER, by ABRAHAM CHALFI    Poem Source                    
First Line: I live my father's old age
Last Line: My father is sad
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER, by SAM CORNISH    Poem Source                    
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER, by PABLO GUEVARA    Poem Source                    
First Line: He had a big workshop. It was part of the world
Last Line: He died alone, and with me. No one remembers him
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Solitude


MY FATHER, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father! In the vague, mysterious past
Last Line: Longing (how oft!) with him to be at rest.
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER, by SCOTT HIGHTOWER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Was a cowboy
Last Line: For my own catalog of metaphors
Subject(s): Death - Fathers


MY FATHER, by MARY ANN HOBERMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father doesn't live with us
Last Line: But after he has gone away %I miss him
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER, by MAY MILLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: With springtime my father comes alive
Last Line: Now I live in the flow of that green time, %and my father lives there too
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


MY FATHER, by FELIX MNTHALI    Poem Source                    
First Line: That we may have life
Last Line: His sons would return
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER AMONG HIS SISTER'S CHILDREN, by RINA FERRARELLI    Poem Source                    
First Line: If his father hadn't been away
Last Line: White shirts with collars and ties
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Memory; Photography And Photographers


MY FATHER AND GOD, by LINDA GREGG    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The rain comes down on the desert and the next day
Last Line: Making a huge %animal sound. It was just like a bear roaring, she said
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Greece


MY FATHER AND I, by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR.    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father prayed as he drew a bead on the graycoats
Last Line: What is the matter?
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark, Badger
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; God; Murder; Prayer; War


MY FATHER AND MYSELF FACING THE SUN, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are both strong, dark, bright men
Last Line: Night, night, night, before the following morning
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


MY FATHER AT 75, by MICHAEL S. HARPER            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He makes his own soup from scratch
Last Line: Penchant of a man who contends to stay home
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER AT 75, by MICHAEL S. HARPER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He makes his own soup from scratch
Last Line: Caress and afflict him %he has the neat %penchant of a man who contends to stay home
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER AT HIS HEIGHT, by BARTON SUTTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I grew to his exact same size
Last Line: All right! That's it! Everyone out of the water!'
Subject(s): Fathers; Fathers And Sons; Old Age; Sons


MY FATHER COMES BACK FROM THE GRAVE, by LINDA GREGERSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I think you must contrive to turn this stone
Subject(s): Deat - Fathers


MY FATHER DIED IMPERFECT AS A MAN, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: My father's love, imperfect as a man
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER DYING: 1984, by WILLIAM WITHERUP    Poem Source                    
First Line: He hums [or, burns] with prostate cancer
Last Line: Igniting everywhere karmaic fires.'
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Death; Fathers; Labor And Laborers


MY FATHER IN AN ORCHARD, by ROD TULLIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Everything becomes obvious in the evenings
Last Line: So he can give them an apple %and call them, once more, by name
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER IS A RETIRED MAGICIAN, by NTOZAKE SHANGE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Williams, Paulette
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER IS A RETIRED MAGICIAN, by NTOZAKE SHANGE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: & you gonna love it/bein colored/all yr life/colored & love it %love it/bein colored
Alternate Author Name(s): Williams, Paulette
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MY FATHER TAMED WILD HORSES, by VENETA LEATHAM NIELSEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father who is eighty shot white bears
Last Line: He gave me bows, and arrow barbs, %my ride, his rein, my name
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Mormons


MY FATHER TRAVELS, by DILIP CHITRE    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father travels on the late evening train
Last Line: Of nomads entering a subcontinent through a narrow pass
Subject(s): Fathers; Travel


MY FATHER'S BIRTHDAY, by ELIZABETH ZELVIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother doesn't want to give the party
Last Line: Rather pleased about it all %and says: I am an ancient man
Subject(s): Aging; Fathers; Psychoanalysis; Relationships; Worry


MY FATHER'S BODY, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: First they take it away,
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Fathers; Corpses; Funerals; Cremation; Cadavers; Burials


MY FATHER'S CAR, by JUSTIN BIGOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Because it is winter rub out
Last Line: In the usual folds and crevices %the same deep-seated pattern emerge
Subject(s): Automobiles; Fathers; Home


MY FATHER'S CORPSE, by ANDREW HUDGINS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He lay stone still, pretended to be dead
Last Line: To have the resurrected bastard back
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


MY FATHER'S DESK, by KATE DANIELS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The wrinkles in the taxi driver's face
Last Line: He was afraid for me-afraid I would break. %something the world could never feel for me
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MY FATHER'S DIARY (1), by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I get into bed with it, and spring
Subject(s): Diaries; Fathers & Daughters


MY FATHER'S DIARY (2), by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I sit on the bed, and spring the brass
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Diaries


MY FATHER'S DREAM, by IONNA-VERONIKA WARWICK    Poem Source                    
First Line: That winter of the war
Last Line: My heart just broke,' he said, 'when I saw %that beautiful bird go down.'
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Winter


MY FATHER'S FACE, by HAYDEN CARRUTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Old he was but not yet wax
Last Line: This man not
Subject(s): Blake, William (1757-1827); Fathers


MY FATHER'S FACE, by MICHAEL S. HARPER            Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Over his fastidious hands
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER'S FACE, by MICHAEL S. HARPER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Over his fastidious hands
Last Line: A sacred seat with the father
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER'S FINGERNAILS, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the hardware store a young clerk
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Human Behavior; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature


MY FATHER'S FOOTBALL GAME, by DAVID WAGONER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He watched each tv game for all he was worth, while swaying
Subject(s): Fathers; Football


MY FATHER'S GARDEN, by DAVID WAGONER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On his way to the open hearth where white-hot steel
Subject(s): Fathers; Junk And Junkyards; Metaphor; Mills And Millers; Steel; Similes


MY FATHER'S GARDEN, by DAVID WAGONER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On his way to the open hearth where white-hot steel
Last Line: As if they were his ripe prize vegetables
Subject(s): Fathers; Junk And Junkyards; Metaphor; Mills And Millers; Steel


MY FATHER'S GHOST, by DAVID WAGONER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I counted them, and now I look through the door
Last Line: My father's ghost in my arms in his dark doorway
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Relatives


MY FATHER'S HALLS, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father's halls, so rich and rare
Last Line: And bear me to my father's arms.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Absence; Fathers; Separation; Isolation


MY FATHER'S HEROES, by ALLISON JOSEPH    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Not jfk, not mlk
Last Line: The last words %she'd give them
Subject(s): African Americans - Song And Music; Athletes; Fathers; Jazz; Music And Musicians


MY FATHER'S HOUSE, 1908-1970, by CALVIN FORBES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I live quietly and go nowhere
Last Line: Its secret life as if a fortune were yours
Subject(s): Fathers; Houses


MY FATHER'S HOUSE, 1908-1970, by CALVIN FORBES    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I live quietly and go nowhere
Last Line: Its secret as if a fortune were yours
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER'S HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY (1), by PETER DAVISON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Neither the moon face, scarlet
Last Line: As if a lover were cradled in his arms
Subject(s): Birthdays; Fathers


MY FATHER'S HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY (2), by PETER DAVISON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Not only the moon face, scarlet
Last Line: As if a darling had crept into his arms
Subject(s): Birthdays; Fathers


MY FATHER'S LEAVING, by IRA SADOFF    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I came back, he was gone.
Subject(s): Fathers; Mothers; Abandonment; Family Life; Desertion; Relatives


MY FATHER'S NIPPLES, by ANDREA ENGLAND    Poem Source                    
First Line: The first dry shave
Last Line: Careening back into myself
Subject(s): Bodies; Fathers; Memory


MY FATHER'S SHOES, by ROBERT NAZARENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am the son who polished his shoes
Last Line: But never could fill them
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Shoes


MY FATHER'S SONG, by SIMON J. ORTIZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Wanting to say things
Last Line: And my father saying things
Subject(s): Father


MY FATHER'S TUMOR, by LAURIE KUTCHINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: It comes to me out of nowhere, always an image
Last Line: And to kill him
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers; Love


MY FATHER'S VOICE, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Even as I rage, I see my daughter
Last Line: Weathers the shaping blast.
Subject(s): Anger; Children; Discipline; Fathers; Childhood


MY FATHER'S WALLETS, by GEORGE O'CONNELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was august, and the end
Last Line: The breath of a whole season
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory


MY FATHER'S WATCH, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: One night I dreamed I was locked in my father's watch
Last Line: I saw my father's face frown through the glass
Subject(s): Dreams; Fathers; Watches; Nightmares


MY FATHER'S WATCH, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: One night I dreamed I was locked in my father's watch
Last Line: I saw my father's face frown through the glass
Subject(s): Dreams; Fathers; Watches


MY FATHER'S YAHRZEIT, by FLORENCE WEINBERGER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The flame yearns upward through thick glass
Last Line: Let me repeat this prayer every year
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


MY FATHER, FAR IN SOME HOSPITAL, by PAUL T. HOGAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I startle him with my late
Last Line: I rage gently, %'goodnight'
Subject(s): Absence; Family Life; Fathers; Love; Old Age; Telephones


MY FATHER, MY HANDS, by RICHARD BLANCO    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father gave me these hands, fingers
Last Line: Keeping me steady above the world, still
Subject(s): Fathers; Hands


MY FATHER, MY SON, by JOHN MALCOLM BRINNIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, %one day longer on this earth than you
Last Line: They were so bad I cried
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER, THE PRISONER, by RAINER SCHULTE    Poem Source                    
First Line: After ten years
Last Line: Not even his death %erases the memory
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER, WHO'S STILL ALIVE, by JOSE KOZER    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Who was a tailor and a communist
Subject(s): Fathers


MY FATHER-IN-LAW REMEMBERS THE ARGONNE, by MARINE ROBERT WARDEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It helps to be mad
Subject(s): Argonne, Battle Of (1918); Fathers-in-law; World War I


MY FATHER: OCTOBER 1942, by WILLIAM EDGAR STAFFORD    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He picks up what he thinks is
Last Line: Or wrong. He just wins or loses
Subject(s): Fathers


MY GOOD FATHER, by CAROLYN KIZER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Pierone's inc. / riverside and post - spokane, washington 99201
Last Line: Carolyn
Subject(s): Biography; Fathers; Fathers & Daughters; Marriage; Virtue; Women; Women's Rights; Biographers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Feminism


MY JOSE, by MARTHA S. ROBINSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: When he sees friends come home with me
Last Line: Hey guys, this is my jose
Subject(s): Fathers


MY LAWRENCE, by STANLEY PLUMLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The future, rain in every syllable and cell
Last Line: It was raining and no one knew who lawrence was
Subject(s): Fathers; Family Life; Coal Mines & Miners; Lawrence, David Herbert (1885-1930)


MY LITTLE GIRL, by SAMUEL MINTURN PECK    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My little girl is nested
Last Line: Who has my love and prayers!
Variant Title(s): My Drowsy Little Queen
Subject(s): Children; Fathers & Daughters; Mothers; Childhood


MY LITTLE SON, by MORRIS ROSENFELD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have a son, a little son
Last Line: You'll find that I'm not here
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


MY MOTHER'S POEM, by MICERE GITHAE MUGO    Poem Source                    
First Line: The day after %my father
Last Line: My father %was buried
Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism; Fathers; Funerals; Mothers


MY PAPA'S WALTZ, by THEODORE ROETHKE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: The whiskey on your breath / could make a small boy dizzy
Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Dancing & Dancers; Fathers; Men; Night; Play; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse; Bedtime


MY PAPA'S WALTZ, by THEODORE ROETHKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The whiskey on your breath %could make a small boy dizzy
Last Line: Then waltzed me off to bed %still clinging to your shirt
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Dancing And Dancers; Fathers; Men; Night; Play


MY POOR NEIGHBOR, by RAY CLARKE ROSE    Poem Text                    
First Line: My neighbor hath a lordly pile
Last Line: While I have home—and you, my dear!
Subject(s): Blessings; Family Life; Fathers; Happiness; Neighbors; Poverty; Wealth; Relatives; Joy; Delight; Riches; Fortunes


MY SON, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers; Religion


MYRRHA TO THE SOURCE, by HEATHER MCHUGH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O fluent one, o muscle full of hydrogen,
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


MYTH OF MUSIC, by RACHEL M. HARPER    Poem Source                    
First Line: If music can be passed on
Last Line: With anyone %but you
Subject(s): Fathers; Music And Musicians


NAME, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Be natural
Last Line: Be more than the man %who watches
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Parents; Women


NAMES, by DODIE MEEKS    Poem Source                    
First Line: If I had one like %makepeace
Last Line: Saying what? What did you say?
Subject(s): Fathers; Names


NAMING OUR BOY, by CHARLES HARPER WEBB    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The jokes come first
Last Line: For us, %touched my arm, and whispered, your shot, son.
Subject(s): Babies; Boys; Fathers And Sons; Names; Poetry And Poets


NAMING THE UNBORN, by DANIEL HALPERN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Marry late and the next question
Last Line: And await what will come, %this vigil we keep for the nameless
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


NANI WORRIES ABOUT HER FATHER'S HAPPINESS IN THE AFTERLIFE, by ANA CASTILLO    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: He knew nothing about death
Last Line: This is hell. %this is not the whole story
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


NATURE'S LAW, by ROBERT BURNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let other heroes boast their scars
Last Line: To endless generations!
Subject(s): Nature; Future; Fathers


NECROLOGY: 1929, by LOUISE A. JOHNSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: One generation did not see them come
Last Line: Them all. He garnered in both wheat and tares.
Subject(s): Baby Boom Generation; Fathers; Harvest


NEWBORN ODE, by ALES DEBELJAK    Poem Source                    
First Line: A soft baritone lifts you up, the one that drives the sap
Last Line: When I hold you in my arms I m the rock from the old testament
Subject(s): Babies; Fathers


NIGHT DRIVING, SELS, by JOHN COY    Poem Source                    
First Line: We walk outside
Last Line: I see snow sparkling in the light
Subject(s): Fathers


NIGHT SONG, by EDWARD FIELD    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I get up in the night to pee
Last Line: And though I have to desperately, not getting up to pee- %oh, how I hate it, hate it, being me
Alternate Author Name(s): Elliot, Bruce
Subject(s): Fathers; Night


NIGHT THOUGHTS, by RAY CLARKE ROSE    Poem Text                    
First Line: To you, o infant of my midnight thought!
Last Line: Ah, well, some day you 'll be a married man.
Subject(s): Babies; Fathers; Marriage; Parents; Infants; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Parenthood


NO ANSWER, by MICHAEL COFFEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's not all been said
Last Line: From fathers' tongues and goes out?
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


NO MAN CAN ESCAPE, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER    Poem Text                    
First Line: No man can escape from a woman's love
Last Line: No man can escape if he tries.
Subject(s): Fathers; Love - Nature Of; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations


NO MAP, by STEPHEN DOBYNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How close the clouds press this october first
Last Line: Showing the dark places and how to escape them?
Subject(s): Surgery; Fathers & Sons; Birthdays


NO TIME, by BRENDAN KENNELLY    Poem Source                    
First Line: From room to room he roared and strode
Last Line: A barkin' dog has no time to bite
Subject(s): Anger; Family Life; Fathers; Fear


NO WORK POEM #1, by VIRGIL SAUREZ    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What hurt my father most after his accident
Subject(s): Fathers; Unemployment


NOBODY CAN SAY DADDY WASN'T SAVED, by JUANITA BROWN TOBIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We were presbyterian
Last Line: For nothing more than trying
Subject(s): Fathers; Religion


NOMEN (TO FEMI SODIPO AND MY AFRICAN-AMERICAN ANCESTORS), by NAOMI LONG (WITHERSPOON) MADGETT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My sunlight came pre-packaged
Last Line: And having no need to let myself be robbed %a second time
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Fathers And Daughters


NOT BAD, DAD, NOT BAD', by JAN HELLER LEVI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I think you are most yourself when you are swimming
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Swimming And Swimmers


NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE NOW BETWEEN THE SKY AND THE LAKE, by DENISE DUHAMEL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father slides into third base
Last Line: Without gloves and a lit cigar in his mouth
Subject(s): Fathers; Illness


NUGGET AND DUST, by ALICE FULTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father clipped coupons at the kitchen table
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


OCHER ROAD, by CHI-HA KIM    Poem Source                    
First Line: I follow you, father
Last Line: Where you died wrapped in a burlap sack
Subject(s): Absence; Death; Fathers; Prisons And Prisoners


ODYSSEUS TO TELEMACHUS, by JOSEPH BRODSKY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: My dear telemachus,
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


OEDIPUS REFORMED, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I will not kill my father
Last Line: My wife will play my mother / and be kind
Subject(s): Fathers


OEDIPUS REFORMED, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I will not kill my father
Last Line: My wife will play my mother %and be kind
Subject(s): Fathers


OF A CHILD WHO WOULD NOT LEARN THE CRIS-CROSS ROW, by EMILY HENRIETTA HICKEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Little child of mine, come hit her to my knee
Last Line: Then the morning touched mine eyelids, and I woke.
Subject(s): Bible; Children; Fathers; Regret; Religious Education; Childhood; Sunday Schools; Yeshivas; Parochial Schools


OF YOUR FATHER'S INDISCRETIONS AND THE TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA, by LYNN EMANUEL            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: One summer he stole the jade buttons
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


OF YOUR FATHER'S INDISCRETIONS AND THE TRAIN TO CALIFORNIA, by LYNN EMANUEL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: One summer he stole the jade buttons
Last Line: In the dress %red as a house burning down
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


OF, OR FROM, by PAUL T. HOGAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: These sons %become me
Last Line: Become me they %become me
Subject(s): Family Life - Ireland; Fathers And Sons


OFFERING, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, you must have been
Last Line: "ah . . . Dearest father, dear
Subject(s): Boats; Fathers; Men


OFFISA POPP; A MANEUVER IN CLASS WARFARE, by PETER DAVISON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father suited up
Last Line: A goddam plowshare
Subject(s): Fathers; Guns; Soldiers


OIL & STEEL, by HENRI COLE            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


OLD MAN ON TRAIL, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I prayed so hard for old age to come
Last Line: Is today a curse in my hands?
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P.
Subject(s): Fathers; Old Age


OLD SHEPHERD IN PROVENCE, by ROBERT FAGLES    Poem Source                    
First Line: Frightening, how he recalls my father
Last Line: Ripen the work of my hands upon me, father, %full and ripe as adam in the fall
Subject(s): Fathers; Provence, France; Shepherds And Shepherdesses


ON HIS FATHER'S DEATH, by ALLEN GINSBERG            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Death - Fathers


ON MERE POINT, by ANDREW GOTTLIEB    Poem Source                    
First Line: Casting off the dock for stripers
Last Line: Tense and failing -- until that glossy pose, %the wide stilled eye
Subject(s): Fathers; Fishing And Fishermen


ON SECOND THOUGHT, by MEG KEARNEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was wrong about happiness. I thought
Last Line: You look so much like your father
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Happiness; Memory


ON SOME LINES OF LOPE DE VEGA, by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784)    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If the man who turnips cries
Last Line: Have a turnip than his father.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson, Dr.
Variant Title(s): Burlesque;burlesque Of Lope De Vega
Subject(s): Fathers; Vega Carpio, Lope Felix De (1562-1635)


ON THE BEACH, by CAROLYN D. WRIGHT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I cannot help you' was the message
Last Line: Away as a wing sewn by hand
Alternate Author Name(s): Wright, C. D.
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Love - Nature Of; Seashore; Summer


ON THE BEACH AT FONTANA, by JAMES JOYCE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Wind whines and whines the shingle
Last Line: Ache of love
Subject(s): Fathers; Love; Men; Prayer; Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore


ON THE BEACH AT FONTANA, by JAMES JOYCE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Wind whines and whines the shingle
Last Line: And in my heart how deep unending %ache of love!
Subject(s): Fathers; Love; Men; Prayer; Seashore


ON THE DEATH OF A GREAT CRITIC, by MARVIN BELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I look up into the death of my father
Subject(s): Death - Fathers


ON THE DEATH OF ALLEN'S SON, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A certain man had seven sons
Last Line: And it never again %can be pronounced the same
Subject(s): Absence; Death; Fathers And Sons; Heaven


ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER, by WEI WEN-TI    Poem Text                    
First Line: I look up and see / his curtains and bed
Last Line: Then why was he / not spared?
Subject(s): China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Death; Fathers; Dead, The


ON THE DEATH OF THE TWO DAUGHTERS OF MR. JAMES MUIR, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair garden of my life, my children's home
Last Line: "where blossoms never die—"" to heaven our home."
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Daughters; Death - Children; Fathers; Fathers & Daughters; Heaven; Mourning; Death - Babies; Paradise; Bereavement


ON THE DECLINE OF ORACLES, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father kept a vaulted conch
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Fathers


ON THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF MY FATHER'S DEATH, by CAROLYN LAU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Wandering into mother's bedroom
Last Line: I want you to know, daddy, %I'm glad you're dead
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


ON THE JOB, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Billy says hid dad's an architect
Last Line: Dad... %what is it you do, again?
Subject(s): Fathers


ONE STORY, by DEAN YOUNG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In one story, the coyote sings us into being
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Garcia Lorca, Federico (1898-1936); Paperweights; Dead, The


ONE STORY, by DEAN YOUNG    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In one story, the coyote sings us into being
Last Line: Mewing beneath the earth
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Garcia Lorca, Federico (1898-1936); Paperweights


ONE: HIS FATHER'S HANDS, by THOMAS KINSELLA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I drank firmly
Last Line: Squirming and dropping out of it
Subject(s): Fathers


ONLY TIME, by KIEV RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Something in me knew that the sky
Last Line: Could make silence an answer
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


ORACLE, by TOM SLEIGH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Because the burn's unstable, burning too hot
Subject(s): Engineering & Engineers; Rockets; Fathers; Death; Dead, The


ORGAN SONGS: HYMN FOR A SICK GIRL, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, in the dark I lay
Last Line: Rise and live in thine.
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Future Life; Girls; God; Sickness; Dead, The; Retribution; Eternity; After Life; Illness


ORPHAN, by PHILIP DACEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father's thinking out loud
Last Line: But we won't notice that
Subject(s): Death; Fathers And Sons; Old Age


OUR DAILY BREAD, by JANET S. WONG    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nine p.M. We close the store
Last Line: Thank you for this crazy day
Subject(s): Fathers


OUR FATHER, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, that I loved the father
Last Line: A star of perfect love.
Subject(s): Fathers


OUR FATHER AT 80 HAS MOVED TO THE COUNTRY WHERE, by MARTHA RHODES    Poem Source                    
First Line: He's no longer poisoned
Last Line: (squirrels steeping in wine)
Subject(s): Aging; Country Life; Fathers


OUR HARDY DADS, by WILLIAM A. PHELON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Our daddies sat upon unpainted planks
Last Line: Our daddies must have been the all-wool stuff!
Subject(s): Baseball; Fathers; Past; Sports


OUR HUNTING FATHERS TOLD THE STORY, by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: To hunger, work illegally, %and be anonymous?
Alternate Author Name(s): Auden, W. H.
Subject(s): Fathers; Hunting


OUR LESSON, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I love you, papa; -- that was all she said
Last Line: Is but a training for their utterance!
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


P. H. T., by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I may come near loving you
Last Line: Can I love you at all
Alternate Author Name(s): Eastaway, Edward; Thomas, Edward
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


PA DID IT, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The train of cars that santa brought is out of
Last Line: I'm going to ask for toys an' things that my pa cannot break.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers


PACK, by TINA CHANG    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the rain, the sound of them
Last Line: That guard, that wander, that obey, that creep, that bleed
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Rain


PAINTER'S DAUGHTER, by CAROL ANNE MUSKE    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's a kind of blindness
Last Line: Just like any father and daughter %out watching the sun go down
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


PANTOUM: AT MOUNT HEBRON, by KIM THERESA ADDONIZIO    Poem Source                    
First Line: This cemetery is no haven
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers And Sons; Grief; Jews; Mourning


PAP'S OLD SAYIN', by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Pap had one old-fashioned sayin'
Last Line: "shet up, and eat yer vittels!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Advice; Fathers


PAPA, by NUBIA KAI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Papa, %when men like you die
Last Line: Will come and join you %at our lord's throne
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


PAPER ANNIVERSARY, by MURIEL RUKEYSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The concert-hall was crowded the night of the crash
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Symphonies; Concerts


PAPER ANNIVERSARY, by MURIEL RUKEYSER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The concert-hall was crowded the night of the crash
Last Line: And see that startled face
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Symphonies


PARENTS, by TERRY SPOHN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dogs raise their heads from sleep. The rabbit's paws are wet. In the first
Last Line: Bread cooling in the sun. She doesn't intend to die
Subject(s): Fathers; Old Age; Parents


PARIS FALLING: MY FATHER, DEAD OF ALZHEIMER'S, by GORDON GRANT    Poem Source                    
First Line: He. %he became. %he became he out of all the thousands
Last Line: Christ, breathe your white distances %through him so the melting stops
Subject(s): Alzheimer's Disease; Death; Fathers


PASSAGES, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They come in in tiny boats
Last Line: We must not look back
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Stones; Granite; Rocks


PASSOVER HAMBURGERS, by PHILIP S. BRYANT    Poem Source                    
First Line: The hamgurgers
Last Line: Bitter herbs
Subject(s): Contentment; Family Life; Fathers; Food And Eating; Love; Passover


PASTORAL, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It happened so fast. Fenya was in the straight
Last Line: The vigil of astonishment.
Subject(s): Breast Feeding; Death; Fathers & Daughters; Nursing (infants); Dead, The


PATERNITY, by WILLIAM ROSE BENET    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Not only women dream the future's child
Last Line: And all my being yearned: my son! My son!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


PATIENCE, by STEPHEN DOBYNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What is she ran shouting from the house? What if she
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


PEER GYNT, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I sat down at last on a fallen log - that had
Last Line: I take for my petals the darkness of this hour
Subject(s): Wood; Fathers


PENANCE, by VERA BEATTY    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are sixteen hours into my father's death
Last Line: Shallow, repent, he will return
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Mourning


PENATES, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father is omniscient
Subject(s): Fathers; Wisdom


PENATES, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father is omniscient
Last Line: Behind her, father's sad eye blinks
Subject(s): Fathers; Wisdom


PENCIL STUB JOURNALS: PARENTHOOD, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My son was insolent to me
Last Line: I hit him: libery is to defend
Subject(s): Discipline; Fathers & Sons


PENCIL STUB JOURNALS: PARENTHOOD, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My son was insolent to me
Last Line: I hit him: liberty is to defend
Subject(s): Discipline; Fathers And Sons


PETITION OF A SCHOOLBOY TO HIS FATHER, by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Most honour'd sir, I must confess
Last Line: And your petitioner shall pray.
Alternate Author Name(s): Aikin, Anna Letitia
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Money; Schools; Poetry & Poets; Students


PHOTO OF HER FATHER'S LOVER, by DEBORAH BACHARACH    Poem Source                    
First Line: An old battered dresser in the background
Last Line: Framed, %larger than she can lift
Subject(s): Fathers


PHOTO OF MY FATHER IN A SNOWBOUND TRAIN, by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now that his name has turned to elegy
Last Line: Lost to this minnesota january, %where his name has turned to snow, to elegy
Subject(s): Fathers; Railroads


PIGGYBACK DAD, by DEBORAH CHANDRA    Poem Source                    
First Line: I don't want the ride to end
Last Line: I hold you tight %right to the end
Subject(s): Fathers


PILGRIM FATHERS, by JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here, on this rock, and on this sterile soil
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers


PILGRIM FATHERS, by CHARLES SPRAGUE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They come - that coming who shall tell?
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers


PILGRIM MOTHERS, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now thank god for the women
Last Line: Through sacrifice and tears?
Subject(s): Mothers; Pilgrim Fathers; Women - Heroes


PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, by ELLEN BRYANT VOIGT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the front yard, my father and his son
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Baseball


PLAYING DEAD, by ANDREW HUDGINS    Poem Text                 Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Our father liked to play a game.
Last Line: I’m way too young to quote ’em
Subject(s): Fathers; Family Life; Death; Relatives; Dead, The


PLEASING DAD, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I was but a little lad, not more than two or three
Last Line: That he may claim the old-time joy of being proud of me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


PLUMBLINE, by ALICE FULTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The world could snore, wrangle or tear
Subject(s): Fathers


POEM, by MARY FERRELL DICKINSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: My father could not make a poem
Last Line: He made a poem in living green.
Subject(s): Farm Life; Fathers; Poetry & Poets; Agriculture; Farmers


POEM, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I hear a heavy knocking
Last Line: Is coming home
Subject(s): Children; Fathers & Sons; Love; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood


POEM, by ALICE NOTLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You hear that heroic big land music?
Subject(s): Fathers


POEM - UNFINISHED POEM, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What a way to spend the golden years, tomasito
Last Line: To hell with that word, tomasito! Let's go out in the sun!
Subject(s): Fathers; Poetry & Poets; Sons; Writer's Block; Writing & Writers


POEM FOR BENN'S GRADUATION FROM HIGH SCHOOL, by JOHN CIARDI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Whenever I have an appointment to see the assistant
Last Line: To be terrified by that thought and its possibilities
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


POEM FOR ME, by JR. JOHN MICKLOS    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was still dark when I woke up
Last Line: But now it is
Subject(s): Fathers


POEM FOR MY FATHER, by TOI DERRICOTTE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You closed the door
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


POEM FOR MY FATHER, by TOI DERRICOTTE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You closed the door
Last Line: Old man whose sperm swims in my veins, %come back in love, come back in pain
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


POEM FOR MY FATHER, by ERICA ANNETTE PIERCE    Poem Source                    
First Line: He stood but 5'10
Last Line: Cast a giannt shadow
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


POEM FOR MY FATHER, by SONIA SANCHEZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How sad it must be %to love so many women
Last Line: Wife, I cross myself %with her confessionals
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


POEM FOR MY FATHER, by VIRGIL SAUREZ    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At night, long after the midnight movies
Subject(s): Immigrants; Fathers; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration


POEM FOR MY FATHER, by QUINCY TROUPE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Father, it was an honor to be there, in the dugout
Last Line: Father, a harbinger, of shock waves, soon come
Subject(s): African Americans; Baseball; Fathers & Sons; Sports; Negroes; American Blacks


POEM FOR MY FATHER'S GHOST, by MARY OLIVER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now is my father
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Relatives


POEM FOR MY FATHER'S GHOST, by MARY OLIVER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now is my father
Last Line: A brother who has walked his thousand miles
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers


POEM FOR MY SON (II), by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sexually I'm zero
Last Line: Would have no imagination. %I would have a son
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


POEM FOR TWO DAUGHTERS, by ISHMAEL REED    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Everybody wants to know
Last Line: The world would have run out of %bones
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


POEM: 2, by KIM HAEGYONG    Poem Source                    
First Line: When my father dozes off beside me I become my father
Last Line: And my father's father's father's roles must live?
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


POET FOR EMILY, by MILLER WILLIAMS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Small fact and fingers and farthest one from me
Last Line: When you were who knows what and I was dead %which is I stood and loved you while you slept
Variant Title(s): A Poem For Emil
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


PORCUPINE PA, by X. J. KENNEDY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Whenever pa neglects to shave
Last Line: That's up against a grater?
Alternate Author Name(s): Kennedy, Joseph
Subject(s): Fathers


PORTRAIT OF A FATHER, by KEITH WILSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father was a hard man, closed
Last Line: Flashing teeth flickering like gems in the dry air
Subject(s): Fathers; Ranch Life


PORTRAIT OF MY FATHER, by PHILIP S. BRYANT    Poem Source                    
First Line: The first time I felt his hands lifting me up like a gust of wind taking a
Last Line: Nameless and unknown
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers; Portraits; Sermons


PORTRAIT OF MY FATHER, by BONNIE D. ELKIN    Poem Text                    
First Line: Man of the soil, an ageless man
Last Line: A farmer's field of grain.
Subject(s): Farm Life; Fathers; Agriculture; Farmers


PORTRAIT OF MY FATHER AS A YOUNG MAN, by RAINER MARIA RILKE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the eyes: dream. The brow as if it could feel
Last Line: In my more slowly disappearing hand
Subject(s): Fathers


PORTRAIT OF THE FATHER, by LINDY HOUGH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Once I stood in a green bough
Last Line: My invasive mind on quietest hilly nights in%moon-black verdure of summer
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


POSTCARDS ON MY WINDOW LEDGE, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He's there, yes with hardy, larkin heaney
Last Line: My face, tiny, watching him
Subject(s): Great Britain; Soccer; Writing & Writers; Fathers; Poetry & Poets; Childhood Memories


PRAIRIE WIND, by DEBRA NYSTROM    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pegeon wings shatter the sunlight
Last Line: That wants to scatter us all, %warning it
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


PRAISES, by STEPHANIE MCCLAIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: They sing of my father
Last Line: Smelling kola nut and palmwine on his wine. I drank often
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


PRAYER, by OLIVER MURRAY EDWARDS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Great jehovah, loving father
Last Line: We shall see thee face to face.
Subject(s): Fathers; Holy Ghost; Religion; Trinity, The; Holy Spirit; Theology


PRAYER, by EDWARD BLISS REED    Poem Text                    
First Line: She cannot tell my name / nor whence I came
Last Line: When my child's call I hear, I catch her to my heart.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Love; Prayer; Death - Babies


PRAYER BEFORE BED, by ANDREW HUDGINS    Poem Text                 Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of course I pray for mommy's health
Last Line: Let daddy bring it home
Subject(s): Prayer; Fathers


PRAYER FOR MY FATHER, by ROBERT BLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your head is still
Subject(s): Fathers


PRAYER FOR MY SON, by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Bid a strong ghost stand at the head
Last Line: Protecting, till the danger past, %with human love
Alternate Author Name(s): Yeats, W. B.
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Poetry And Poets; Prayer


PREFACE TO A TWENTY VOLUME SUICIDE NOTE, by AMIRI BARAKA    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
Alternate Author Name(s): Jones, Leroi
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers & Daughters; Negroes; American Blacks


PREFACE TO A TWENTY VOLUME SUICIDE NOTE, by AMIRI BARAKA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
Last Line: Only she on her knees, peeking into %her own clasped hands
Alternate Author Name(s): Jones, Leroi
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers And Daughters


PRETTY, by NIKKI GRIMES    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Oh, I wish he'd hurry up!
Subject(s): African Americans; Family Life; Fathers


PROBLEM, by MICHAEL COLLIER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Awake in the dark, I counted the planes
Last Line: Until the tire began to spin
Subject(s): Death; Fathers


PRODIGAL SON, by WILLIAM STANLEY MERWIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Except for the flies, except that there is not water
Last Line: For little, takes the first step toward home
Alternate Author Name(s): Merwin, W. S.
Subject(s): Death; Fathers And Sons; Heaven; Prodigal Son


PROUST'S MADELEINE, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Somebody has given my
Subject(s): Card Games; Death; Fathers & Daughters; Fathers & Sons; Proust, Marcel (1871-1922); Playing Cards; Dead, The


PROUST'S MADELEINE, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Somebody has given my
Last Line: Slow horses and fast women
Subject(s): Card Games; Death; Fathers And Daughters; Fathers And Sons; Proust, Marcel (1871-1922)


PROVENANCE, by RAPHAEL RUBINSTEIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father's paintings in my uncle's house
Last Line: My father's paintings in my uncle's house
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Paintings And Painters; Uncles


PROVIDER, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let's say he's at the company christmas party
Last Line: No place to call home
Subject(s): Fathers; Houses; Men; Paranoia; Professions; Worry


PSALM: MAGNOLIAS IN THE APRIL SNOW, by UROS ZUPAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let us bite through the chains of enchanted words, father, let us melt
Last Line: Of my dreams, magnolias opening in the april snow
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Winter


PURPOSE OF NUNS, by JUDITH ORTIZ COFER    Poem Source                    
First Line: As a young girl attending sunday mass
Last Line: I'd resume my flight back to the world
Variant Title(s): The Changelin
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


PUTTING ON MY FATHER'S SHADOW, by LINDA RAMEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: As a girl I'd dress in its lengthy shape
Last Line: As a girl I'd dress in its lenghty shape
Subject(s): Daughters; Fathers; Shadows


QUARANTINE, SELS, by BRIAN HENRY    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father woke before dawn to work
Last Line: I am the only one here who is falling
Subject(s): Death; Drowning; Fathers And Sons


QUEST, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the beginning, I was the termite on the tree
Last Line: With two fiery arrows from her little red bow
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Fathers And Sons; Knowledge


QUIET MONEY, by ROBERT MCDOWELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: The bootlegger opens his eyes and stares
Last Line: How what we do to get them can make us sorry... %send the word, send the word to beware
Subject(s): Alcock, John William (1892-1919); Ambition; Aviation And Aviators; Brown, Arthur Whitten (1886-1948); Family Life; Fathers And Daughters; Lindbergh, Charles Augustus (1902-1974)


RABBI BEN HISSAR, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Rabbi ben hissar rode one day
Last Line: "'I thank thee, lord,' was all he said"
Subject(s): Clergy;death;fathers & Sons;jews; "priests;rabbis;ministers;bishops;dead, The;judaism;


RACE, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I got to the airport I rushed up to the desk
Last Line: All night %I watched him breathe
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Men


RADIO, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Since pa put in the radio we have a lot of fun
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers


RAIN, by MARY OLIVER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: All afternoon it rained, then
Subject(s): Rain; Barbed Wire; Swamps; Fathers; Gardens & Gardening; Forests; Life; Bogs; Fens; Marshes; Woods


RAIN, by MICHAEL DENNIS RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: As fluent as rain is in the desert
Last Line: Ready for the seasons to change us
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


READING A STORY TO MY CHILD, by PRIMUS ST. JOHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This is a small boy
Last Line: In a ragged coat.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers & Sons; Parents; Slavery; Childhood; Parenthood; Serfs


READING ALOUD TO MY FATHER, by JANE KENYON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I chose the book haphazard
Last Line: And let them pull it free
Subject(s): Books & Reading; Fathers & Daughters; Mortality


READINGS IN FRENCH, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Looking into the eyes of gerard de nerval
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets - French; Fathers


REAL FATHER, by BURNIECE AVERY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Some plant a seed and walk away
Last Line: We'll face this world together, %whatever the years my bring
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


REAPING, by JODY AZZOUNI    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father is dead
Last Line: I pretend the snapshots are flowers
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Memory


RECOGNITIONS, by DAVID MURA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Having just been aroused by some gurgling, rising and falling
Last Line: As the cold soaked in, I found myself thinking, yes, this isit, %I'm really travelling...
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


RELIEF PITCHING, by TED FLOREA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Because his dad was coach
Last Line: My dreams too wild %to say out loud
Subject(s): Baseball; Fathers And Sons; Sports


REMEMBER, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hey, dad %remember when I was six
Last Line: I know that I do
Subject(s): Fathers


REMEMBERED HANDS, by WINIFRED UPTON MCCAIG    Poem Text                    
First Line: My father's hands were long
Last Line: I feel his hand in mine.
Subject(s): Fathers


REMEMBERING MY FATHER, by ZBIGNIEW HERBERT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: His face severe in clouds above he waters of childhood
Last Line: To be reconciled
Subject(s): Fathers


REQUIEM, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father, listening to music, that's me
Last Line: Between them what was impossible %to settle in their early days?
Subject(s): Fathers; Opera


RETURN, by GEORGE MACBETH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: After the light has set
Last Line: My father turns, with tears on his young face
Subject(s): Fathers


RETURN OF THE LOST SON, by STEPHEN FRECH    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is color that carries our lives
Last Line: The golden grip of sunflowers
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Old Age; Weariness


RICE & BEANS, by CAMPBELL MCGRATH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dad?' yes. 'you are a wimp.' that's very nice, thank you. Eat your
Last Line: Please. You haven't finished your grilled cheese, have you? 'that's just %the bones, dad. Toast bone
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Food And Eating


RIDING THE EMPIRE BUILDER, 1948, by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father in the snowy window, face incandescent
Last Line: For where he's going too, crossed hands drowsing on his chest
Subject(s): Fathers; Railroads


RIVER, by PAUL ZWEIG    Poem Source                    
First Line: A bridge over the low-flowing river
Last Line: A tail drooped indolently in the sun, %a root branching into a continent
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


RIVERLIGHT, by FRANK STANFORD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father and I lie down together.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Death; Dead, The


ROADSIDE POEMS: THIS WORLD, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thy world is made to fit thine own
Last Line: Because thou, god, art all in all!
Subject(s): Children; Earth; Fathers; God; Childhood; World


ROADSIDE POEMS: WHAT THE LORD SAITH, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Trust my father, saith the eldest-born
Last Line: Little ones, I pray you, come to god!
Subject(s): Fathers; God; Love; Trust


ROSARY, by CHARLES BUKOWSKI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father was a man full of small
Last Line: I still thought her / beautiful
Subject(s): Fathers; Rosary


ROSARY, by CHARLES BUKOWSKI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father was a man full of small
Last Line: The way to a man's heart is %through his %stomach
Subject(s): Fathers; Rosary


ROUGHAGE, by MARC LEVY    Poem Source                    
First Line: In a white sink
Last Line: To look: that all boys are born %of a restless father
Subject(s): Fathers


ROUNDED WITH A SLEEP, by KRISSY BRADY    Poem Source                    
First Line: They're coarse and dry
Last Line: And how they will be remembered in this %illusion of left or right
Subject(s): Anger; Character; Fathers; Memory


RUBBING MY FATHER'S BACK, by SHARON KRAUS    Poem Source                    
First Line: That was when %I began to learn
Last Line: The tenderness of them, holding their lives in %their skin, away from me, I learned then %how to lov
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


RUFFIANS, by CHARLIE SMITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When my father got old, but not too old
Subject(s): Fathers; Aging


RULES OF THE PACK, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nose low, tail high
Last Line: Cubs like to play! %dads do, too
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


RUNDOWN CHURCH, by FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: I had a son and his name was john
Last Line: His son! His son! His son!
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Men; World War I


SAILING HOME FROM RAPALLO, by ROBERT LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your nurse could only speak italian,
Variant Title(s): Life Studies: Sailing Home From Rapallo
Subject(s): Italy; Mothers; Death; Sea Voyages; Cemeteries; Fathers; Italians; Dead, The; Graveyards


SALE, by MARY KINZIE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Older now, he is among us in diminished form
Last Line: At everything spread down there for sale
Subject(s): Fathers; Aging


SAM, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If he could have kept
Last Line: What did you do to my father?
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Fathers & Daughters; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


SAM, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If he could have kept
Last Line: What did you do to my father
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Fathers And Daughters; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SAND-QUARRY, by MURIEL RUKEYSER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father and I drove to the sand-quarry across the wined marshlands
Subject(s): Quarries; Fathers & Daughters; Environment; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation


SAND-QUARRY WITH MOVING FIGURES, by MURIEL RUKEYSER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father and I drove to the sand-quarry across the ruined
Last Line: He caught my hand as I cried, %and smiling, entered the pit,ran laughing down its side
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


SCEPTICS, by BURGES JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When your old dad was as little as you
Last Line: We used to spank children for mischief like that.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Mothers; Childhood


SCOTCH AND SUN, by MICHAEL WATERS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Home from night shift, my father
Last Line: Though I held him in my arms
Variant Title(s): The Art Of Tragedy; Scotch And Su
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Family Life; Fathers And Sons; Seashore


SEARCH, by JOHARI MAHASIN RASHAD    Poem Source                    
First Line: I look for my father in old men's faces
Last Line: I keep looking away
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


SEARCHING FOR MY FATHER'S BODY, by IRENA KLEPFISZ    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: As he sleeps leaning against a tombstone %and dreams, never considering %where he himself will one d
Alternate Author Name(s): Klepfitz, Irena
Subject(s): Fathers; Warsaw Ghetto; World War Ii


SEASON FOR FATHERS, by JEFFREY LAMAR COLEMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Days before my thirty-fourth year
Last Line: Of newfound absence, %should a good son do?
Subject(s): Absence; Fathers And Sons; Heaven; Prayer


SEASONS, by ROSALIE SHANNON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Old man %bent, gnarled, broken
Last Line: Has paid his dues %proudly
Subject(s): African Americans; Fathers


SECONDS OUT, by MACDARA WOODS    Poem Source                    
First Line: After humpty dumpty fell apart
Last Line: And at the speed of light %sons are older than their space-men fathers
Subject(s): Cambodia; Fathers And Sons; Men


SECRET HEART, by ROBERT PETER TRISTRAM COFFIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: Across the years he could recall
Subject(s): Fathers


SECRET HOME, by KIEV RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was in cornfields
Last Line: I will not use words
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


SEEING THINGS, by KIM BRIDGFORD    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father-in-law is going blind %because of his cancer
Last Line: Back on his pillow, telling us a joke %he finds so funny he can't help crying
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers-in-law


SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION, by TONY HOAGLAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: And when we were eight, or nine,
Last Line: Down into the belly of the world
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Conduct Of Life; Disappointment


SEPARATE PARTIES (FOR MY DAUGHTER), by DABNEY STUART    Poem Source                    
First Line: While your great-grandmother and her sons
Last Line: Child, though magician, elf, you're not %my imagination but my daughter
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


SESTINA, by PETER COOLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Outside this nursing home I'm not helpless
Last Line: Helpless, not a child or man, without a father
Subject(s): Fathers; Nursing Homes


SEVEN, by CORTNEY DAVIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: 1. I've come to visit father; he is like walking through snow
Last Line: Clean the basement, packing the china, the silverware, the pho- %tographs. Night enters, and we stri
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers


SEVEN HEADS, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Who bears such heart of baseness, a king I'll never call
Last Line: To keep his children company beneath the moorish sod
Subject(s): Courts And Courtiers; Cruelty; Death; Fathers And Sons; Moors (people); Murder


SEVEN LAMENTS FOR THE WAR-DEAD: 1, by YEHUDA AMICHAI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Mr. Beringer, whose son / fell at the canal that strangers dug
Last Line: That drift away
Subject(s): Middle East – Conflicts; Fathers & Sons; Death; Arab-israeli Conflict


SHABBY OLD DAD, by ANNE CAMPBELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: His collar is frayed, and his trousers unpressed
Last Line: Shabby old dad!
Alternate Author Name(s): Stark, George, Mrs.
Subject(s): Fathers


SHADOW-CASTING, by JAMES GALVIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This boy's father dies. / fine. / it always happens. / the boy knows
Last Line: This boy, it always happens, doesn’t know what to do anymore
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; Fish & Fishing; Life; Sports; Dead, The; Anglers


SHANE, by WENDY M. MNOOKIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The father's plowing, one crooked row after another
Last Line: Or because I put my hand in the hand of my new father
Subject(s): Fathers


SHORE LEAVE, by LYNDA HULL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She wears the sailor suit - a blouse with anchors
Last Line: All night long over the sleek, impossible cars
Alternate Author Name(s): Wojahn, David, Mrs.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


SHORE LINE, by CARL RAKOSI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We speak of mankind.
Alternate Author Name(s): Rawley, Callmann
Subject(s): Waves; Boats & Boating; Fathers & Sons


SHOULDERS, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A man crosses the street in rain
Last Line: The rain will never stop falling.
Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Fathers & Sons; Peace; Nuclear Freeze


SIESTA, by PAUL MULDOON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father took me to one side
Subject(s): Fathers; Accidents; Tools


SIGN FOR MY FATHER, WHO STRESSED THE BUNT, by DAVID BOTTOMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On the rough diamond
Last Line: I'm getting a grip on the sacrifice.
Subject(s): Baseball; Fathers; Selflessness; Sports


SIGNAL HILL, by SHARON LURA EDENS DOUBIAGO    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father leaves us in the car
Last Line: And sometimes %jesus
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


SILENCE, by MARIANNE MOORE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father used to say
Last Line: Inns are not residences.
Subject(s): Animals; Cats; Fathers; Guests; Home; Silence; Visiting


SILENCE, by KIEV RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I've heard it once or twice
Last Line: Stop tempering it with thunder
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


SILENCE A POEM MAKES, by MICHAEL DENNIS RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Not that I haven't heard from you lately
Last Line: But the silence a poem makes
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


SIMPLE QUESTION, by LLOYD SCHWARTZ    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Can you hear me? Do you / understand
Last Line: Of the author.
Subject(s): Fathers; Sickness; Illness


SIMPSON MEETS MONK, by RICHARD SIMPSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: 1 %on public radio, thelonious
Last Line: And shining eyes, is, like you, %my beloved earth father
Subject(s): Fathers; Monks; Religion


SISTER FOR MY FATHER, by HEID E. ERDRICH    Poem Source                    
First Line: I try to imagine a sister for my father
Last Line: Her back bent at the sink, her knife %poised on the fruit
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers


SITTING ALONE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, by STANLEY PLUMLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Maybe it was summer and I was back home for a while
Subject(s): Fathers


SITTING HERE, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Roof's peak is eye
Last Line: We were as gone
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


SITTING HERE, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Roof's peak is eye
Last Line: And whatever %we were has gone
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


SKIN-THE-CAT, by DAVID LANIER    Poem Source                    
First Line: I recognize that boy laughing
Last Line: He's just begun to recognize as his
Subject(s): Boys; Fathers; Memory


SKY IS FULL, by MICHAEL DENNIS RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The sky is full of tricks
Last Line: I guess at the beginning
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


SMALL DEFEATS: MY SKELETAL FATHER, by GORDON WEAVER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Lank leg cocked
Last Line: Soft songs to keep %his hells asleep
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory


SNOW, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once with my scarf knotted over my mouth
Last Line: The son! Before the weather changes.
Subject(s): Cold; Fathers & Sons; Relationships; Snow; Weather


SO LONG, by JAMES GALVIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers


SOLILOQUY IN CIRCLES, by OGDEN NASH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Being a father %is quite a bother
Last Line: But I like it rather
Subject(s): Fathers


SOLITAIRE, by ANN S. GOLDSMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's raining lightly. The oak leaves
Last Line: Alone in thick weather, the wind is rising
Subject(s): Fathers


SOME NOTES ON MY FATHER, by LLOYD SCHWARTZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Maybe he was happy in paris. He remembers a few french words,
Subject(s): Fathers


SOME PLACES OUT WEST, by JOHN REINHARD    Poem Source                    
First Line: They celebrate the testicle
Last Line: And the heavy weight of their delight
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Men; Tradition; West (u.s.)


SOME VERY INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT MY DAD THAT I WOULD LIKE TO WRITE.., by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: My dad told my mom that every boy should have a dog
Last Line: Just like my dad...Makes a very good man
Subject(s): Fathers


SOME YOUNGSTER'S DAD, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The greatest man who ever was
Last Line: Some youngster's dad.
Subject(s): Fathers


SOMEBODY'S FATHER, by EFFIE WALLER SMITH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas after the battle of gettysburg
Last Line: "july 3, '63."
Subject(s): American Civil War; Death; Fathers; Gettysburg Campaign (1863); U.s. - History; Dead, The; Gettysburg, Battle Of


SOMEDAY, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Someday %I sure heard that word a lot
Last Line: Someday-it's finally here
Subject(s): Fathers


SOMETIMES A MAN STANDS UP DURING SUPPER, by RAINER MARIA RILKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Toward that same church, which he forgot
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


SON AND FATHER, by MARK PIETRZYKOWSKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sure, the sun's an ugly beast
Last Line: More among the living than the living %can ever know
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


SON OF JESSE, by LUCILLE CLIFTON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father had eight sons
Last Line: For my lord my brothers fathers sons
Subject(s): Fathers; Sons


SON TO HIS FATHER, by NAOMI LONG (WITHERSPOON) MADGETT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oft have I thought, since I have grown and grayed
Last Line: In godly ways my father taught to me
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


SONG FOR MY FATHER, by JESSICA TARAHATA HAGEDORN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I arrive
Last Line: Inherent %when we dance
Alternate Author Name(s): Hagedorn, Jessica
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


SONG FOR OUR SON, by RAFAEL CAMPO    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Pretending fatherhood was simply sperm
Last Line: Forgive us, but we love you very much
Subject(s): Fathers; Gays & Lesbians


SONG OF THE NIGHT, by JOYCE SIDMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am ancient, %two-toed
Last Line: I am...Me. %I am yours
Subject(s): Animals; Fathers


SONG OF THE PILGRIMS [SEPTEMBER 16, 1620], by THOMAS COGSWELL UPHAM    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The breeze has swelled the whitening sail
Last Line: England's shores, adieu! Adieu!
Subject(s): Mayflower (ship); Pilgrim Fathers


SONG TO MY SON, by RICHARD DEHMEL    Poem Text                    
First Line: About my father's house, - the gale
Last Line: Beats—
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


SONG UPON MISS HARRIET HANBURY, by CHARLES HANBURY WILLIAMS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dear doctor of st. Mary's
Last Line: Will, if she's alive, %be a goddess at fifteen, sir
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


SONG; SUNG BY FATHERS OF SIX-MONTHS-OLD FEMALE CHILDREN, by OGDEN NASH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My heart leaps up when I behold
Last Line: Then perhaps he'll struggle through fire and water %to marry somebody else's daughter
Variant Title(s): Song To Be Sung By The Father Of Female Infant Children; Song To Be Sung By The Father Of Infant Female Childre
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Poetry And Poets; Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)


SONGS OF NEW-SWEDEN: DEDICATION, by ARTHUR PETERSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: These to my father's memory, since
Last Line: Your simple lives, your pious worth.
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory


SONGS OF THE DAYS AND NIGHTS: SONGS OF THE WINTER NIGHTS, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Back shining from the pane, the fire
Last Line: My father, in my soul!
Subject(s): Children; Cold; Death; Fathers; God; Memory; Night; Winter; Childhood; Dead, The; Bedtime


SONNET, by PALMER. MICHAEL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now I see them sitting me before a mirror
Subject(s): Fathers; Numbers


SONS AND FATHERS, by RABINDRA K. SWAIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mahajanpur
Last Line: The shore they are forgetting
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Life; Money


SPANISH FOLK SONGS: 139, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: From the rose bush comes the rose
Last Line: And he does not know for whom
Subject(s): Children; Fathers And Daughters


SPANISH OF OUR OUT-LOUD DREAMS, by MARTIN ESPADA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You took your father %from the bronx hospital
Last Line: The vigil of your shimmering gaze
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers; Hispanic Americans


SPRING WALK, by KAREN SWENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father and I go for a walk
Last Line: Rotting in the green spring sun.
Subject(s): Fathers; Mortality; Time


STEP ON HIS HEAD, by JAMES LAUGHLIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let's step on daddy's head shout
Subject(s): Fathers


STEP ON HIS HEAD, by JAMES LAUGHLIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let's step on daddy's head shout
Last Line: Have love enough will I have love %enough when it's not just a game?
Subject(s): Fathers


STERN PARENT, by HARRY GRAHAM    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father heard his children scream
Alternate Author Name(s): Streamer, Col. D.
Subject(s): Fathers; Punishment


STEWARDESS, by B. J. BUHROW    Poem Source                    
First Line: Breakfasting on the best
Last Line: Every suday for my daddy %in my fine waving hair
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Flight; Labor And Laborers


STILL, by NIKIA LEOPOLD    Poem Source                    
First Line: Now, when my father is frail
Last Line: Let something resist
Subject(s): Aging; Fathers


STONE AT THE BOTTOM, by MANUEL ULACIA    Poem Source                    
First Line: As my father's breathing
Last Line: The stone, falling, %has hit bottom
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers


STORIES, by PHILIP SCHULTZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Nights she counted coins from my father's vending machines
Last Line: Five languages at once & every house was white with red shutters
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Life


STORY, by LI-YOUNG LEE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sad is the man who is asked for a story
Last Line: Which posits that a boy's supplications %and a father's love add up to silence
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


STORY, by ELENI SIKELIANOS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is no one in this world than my father
Last Line: On the piano keys
Subject(s): Fathers


STORY THAT COULD BE TRUE, by WILLIAM EDGAR STAFFORD    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If you were exchanged in the cradle and
Last Line: Maybe I'm a king
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


STORYVILLE DIARY, by NATASHA TRETHEWEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I cannot now remember the first word
Subject(s): Bellocq, E. J.; Fathers; Identity; Nudity; Photography & Photographers; Portraits; Prostitution; Storyville, New Orleans; Nakedness; Harlots; Whores; Brothels


STOW-ON-THE-WOLD, by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I met an old man at stow-on-the-wold
Last Line: "and each was a tall and a lively lad."
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Sons; Soldiers; Sons; War; Death - Babies


STUDIES STATIC AND ECSTATIC, by EDWARD RALPH CHEYNEY    Poem Text                    
First Line: In the house of my fathers
Last Line: And goes on its way, whistling.
Alternate Author Name(s): Cheyney, Ralph
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Home; Self; Soul; Relatives


STUDY IN BLACK & WHITE, by PAUL MARIANI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Seven days a week, six till ten,
Subject(s): Automobiles - Service Stations; Fathers & Sons; Childhood Memories; Friendship; Gasoline Stations; Filling Stations; Automobile Repair Shops


SUITE FOR MY FATHER, SELS., by LUIGI FONTANELLA    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the train at the time of ... %my father suddenty small
Last Line: Judas and spy
Subject(s): Fathers


SUITE TO FATHERS: 1, by JAMES HARRISON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I think that night's our balance
Last Line: Finding him as the bones of a fish in stone.
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Death; Fables; Fathers; Ghosts; Levertov, Denise (1923-1997); Love; Night; Supernatural; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Dead, The; Allegories; Bedtime


SUNDAY NIGHT, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When the family would go to a restaurant,
Subject(s): Waiters & Waitresses; Fathers; Bad Behavior; Shame; Sex


SUPERHEROES, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Superheroes don't wear capes
Last Line: Like the love my dad has for me
Subject(s): Fathers


SUPERNATURAL LOVE, by GJERTRUD SCHNACKENBERG    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father at the dictionary-stand
Alternate Author Name(s): Schnackenberg, Gertrude
Subject(s): Books; Fathers; Reading


SUPERNATURAL LOVE, by GJERTRUD SCHNACKENBERG    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father at the dictionary-stand
Last Line: The flowers I called christ's when I was four
Alternate Author Name(s): Schnackenberg, Gertrude
Subject(s): Books; Fathers


SURVIVAL, by PRIMUS ST. JOHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Where is my father?
Last Line: All by himself.
Subject(s): Blacks; Fathers; Slavery; Serfs


SWEET DADDY, by PATRICIA M. SMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: 62. You would have been 62
Last Line: But the moment is hollow. %it stinks. %it stinks sweet
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


SWEET FATHER, by MALKA HEIFETZ TUSSMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: And I call him
Last Line: And talks to me %through fire
Subject(s): Fathers


SWIMMING POOL, by RALPH BURNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We dropped rubber bricks to the bottom
Last Line: To his scalp but finned at top
Subject(s): Swimming & Swimmers; Fathers & Sons


SYMPATHY, A WELCOME, by JOHN BERRYMAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Feel for your bad fall how could I fail
Last Line: Deep in a forsaken wood, poor paul, %whose wild bad father loves you well
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, John, Jr.
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


TABLE OVERTURNED, by BRIAN ADLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Each time I remember %my father and the table
Last Line: While I box shadows, and wait %to gin myself into the floor
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Drinks And Drinking; Fathers


TAKE IT FROM FATHER, by BERTON BRALEY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Son, I haven't much to tell you; I have
Last Line: Don't you ever try to argue with a cop!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


TAKING IN WASH, by RITA DOVE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Papa called her pearl when he came home
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TAKING IN WASH, by RITA DOVE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Papa called her pearl when he came home
Last Line: And I'll cut you down %just like the cedar of lebanon
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TAKING THE TRAIN HOME, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Dusk grew on the window.
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Railways; Homecoming; Family Life; Fathers; Death; Relatives; Dead, The


TAPROOT, by DEBRA KANG DEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Stooping to pull up a weed
Last Line: It was easy to love him then
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean, Debi Kang
Subject(s): Fathers; Love


TARZAN IS DEAD, by GREG HEWETT    Poem Source                    
First Line: The radio announces
Last Line: Tarzan is dead
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Jungles


TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER, by NANCY SCHOENBERGER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Always long afternoon shadows
Last Line: To put the last touch %to the beautiful wood duck
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TEA PARTY, by JEAN EARLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I asked my dead to tea
Last Line: And the westering sun. I had no plans for you %beyond the afternoon
Subject(s): Fathers


TEARS OF RAGE, by ROBERT ZIMMERMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We carried you in our arms
Last Line: We're so low %and life is brief
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TEENAGE DAUGHTER OBSERVATIONS: 1, by DAN QUISENBERRY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Small-framed %teenage girl
Last Line: Goes back %to her geometry
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TEENAGE DAUGHTER OBSERVATIONS: 3, by DAN QUISENBERRY    Poem Source                    
First Line: She doodles %a snowflake
Last Line: All pencil shadowed %she breathes
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TERESA, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Am I too happy? Have I lost
Last Line: Bertrand and I and angelo!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Fathers; Heaven; Mothers; Religion; Paradise; Theology


TERMINAL RESEMBLANCE, by LOUISE ELIZABETH GLUCK    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I saw my father for the last time, we both did the same
Last Line: Like him, waved to disguise my hand's trembling
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TESTIMONY, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today I learned 'gomez' meant ox urine
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Relatives


TESTIMONY, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today I learned 'gomez' meant ox urine
Last Line: Hardening at the mere thought of 'drink'
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers


THANKS FOR LOVING MOM, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Thanks for loving mom, %dad
Last Line: Dad, %helps me feel loved, too
Subject(s): Fathers


THAT GRAY, COLD CHRISTMAS DAY (DECEMBER 25, 1620), by HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They sailed away from provincetown bay
Last Line: That gray, cold christmas day?
Subject(s): Christmas; Pilgrim Fathers; Nativity, The


THAT VALENTINE, by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KING    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Once,I remember, years ago
Last Line: I sent a tender valentine.
Alternate Author Name(s): King, Ben
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Holidays; Valentine's Day


THE ALIEN BOY, by MARY DARBY ROBINSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas on a mountain, near the western main
Last Line: By the wide world forgotten!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Solitude; Loneliness


THE ANNIVERSARY, by DAVID BOTTOMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is the night I come to my room
Last Line: The flesh of his forehead, and old scar.
Subject(s): Anniversaries; Fathers & Sons; Memory; Scars; World War Ii; Second World War


THE ARCHITECT (1), by KAREN SWENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The only places I can find you
Last Line: Forms most faithfully the face of god.
Subject(s): Architecture & Architects; Churches; Faith; Fathers & Daughters; Cathedrals; Belief; Creed


THE ARCHITECT AT THE EDGE OF THE SEA, by KAREN SWENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My stride was two to my father's by the sea
Last Line: Surge, master of the arch of element.
Subject(s): Architecture & Architects; Fathers & Daughters; Memory; Poetry & Poets


THE BATTLE ON THE FLOOR, by NATHALIA CRANE    Poem Text                    
First Line: My father was a soldier, so
Last Line: A battle all her own.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Soldiers; War


THE BEAR AND THE MAN, by ROBERT BLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Suppose there were a bear and a man. The bear
Last Line: Coming from far up there, near the north pole.
Subject(s): Animals; Bears; Fathers & Sons; Knowledge


THE BEEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A garden of mouthings. Purple, scarlet-speckled, black
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Bees; Fathers & Daughters; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs


THE BLIND MAN, by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR.    Poem Text         Poet Analysis            
First Line: At nogent, on the river marne
Last Line: "my little eleanor is dead."
Alternate Author Name(s): Allen, Hervey
Subject(s): Blindness; Death; Death - Children; Democracy; Fathers; Innocence; Schools; Social Protest; War; Visually Handicapped; Dead, The; Death - Babies; Students


THE BOOK OF THE DEAD: HE COMETH FORTH INTO THE DAY, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: "I am here, I have traversed the tomb, I behold thee"
Last Line: "in the beautiful world by the bright lake of horus, / riseth the day"
Subject(s): Death;fathers & Sons;heaven; "dead, The;paradise;


THE BOY SOLDIER, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Each evening on my lap there climbs
Last Line: Just as he captured me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Games; Recreation; Pastimes; Amusements


THE BREED OF WOE, by LUIS MONTOTO Y RAUTENSTRAUCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now whither go ye? - would that we did know
Last Line: Refuse us not an alms, for love of god.
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Fathers; Pain; Suffering; Misery


THE BROKEN HOUSEHOLD, by ALICE CARY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Vainly, vainly, memory seeks
Last Line: Where none wander and none die.
Subject(s): Death – Children; Family Life; Fathers; Survival


THE BURIAL-PLACE, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Erewhile, on england's pleasant shores, our sires
Last Line: Her ruddy, pouting fruit. -- -- -- -- -- -
Subject(s): England; Graves; Pilgrim Fathers; English; Tombs; Tombstones


THE CATCH, by STANLEY JASSPON KUNITZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It darted across the pond
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE CELLAR, by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I want my father to stop sending me down there
Last Line: Yet another cry for mercy.
Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Antwerp, Belgium; Betrayal; Cellars; Duty; Fathers & Daughters; Food Habits; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Penance; Potatoes; Shame; Survival; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse; Basements; Shoah; Judaism


THE CHRISTMAS RIFLE, by DAVID BOTTOMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Over the spine of the ridge
Last Line: The weight of his hand comes down on my shoulder.
Subject(s): Christmas Gifts; Fathers & Sons; Hunting; Rifles; Hunters


THE COLOSSUS, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: I shall never get you put together entirely
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Fathers


THE COMPLEX, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father's madness is to own himself
Last Line: Giving of himself with forced breath
Subject(s): Fathers


THE COUNTESS LAMBERTI, by MARY HOWITT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She still was young; but guilt and tears
Last Line: "to one long penitence."
Alternate Author Name(s): Botham, Mary
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Love - Unrequited; Marriage; Marriage - Forced; Murder; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Marriage - Arranged


THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH, by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the old colony days, in plymouth the land of the pilgrims
Last Line: So through the plymouth woods passed onward the bridal procession.
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers; Standish, Miles (1584-1656); United States - Colonial Period


THE DAFFODIL FIELDS: 1, by JOHN MASEFIELD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Between the barren pasture and the wood
Last Line: The dancing waters danced by dancing daffodils.
Alternate Author Name(s): Masefield, John Edward
Subject(s): Children; Death; Fathers; Friendship; Love; Love - Unrequited; Oaths; Childhood; Dead, The


THE DAFFODIL FIELDS: 5, by JOHN MASEFIELD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The river brimming full was silvered over
Last Line: Over the barren fields where march brings daffodils.
Alternate Author Name(s): Masefield, John Edward
Subject(s): Abandonment; Death; Fathers; Love; Love - Unrequited; Marriage; Regret; Desertion; Dead, The; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


THE DAUGHTER, by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Come, mournful lute! Dear echo of my woe!
Last Line: Pausing forgetful as he pass'd along.
Alternate Author Name(s): Betham, Mary Matilda; Edwards, Matilda B.; Edwards, B. M.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Grief; Sorrow; Sadness


THE DEAD FATHER, by CARL RAKOSI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Let me be an old dog in a corner
Last Line: And have you care for me forever
Alternate Author Name(s): Rawley, Callmann
Subject(s): Death – Fathers


THE DEATH OF MATTAHIAS, by ROBERT SOUTHEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sons of my age, attend
Last Line: Hope lifts my soul to thee.
Subject(s): Christianity; Clergy; Death; Fathers & Sons; Legacies; Mysticism; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops; Dead, The


THE DEATH OF THE FATHERS: 1. OYSTERS, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oysters we ate, / sweet blue babies
Last Line: The woman won
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Oysters; Food & Eating; Coming Of Age


THE DEATH OF THE FATHERS: 2. HOW WE DANCED, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The night of my cousin's wedding
Last Line: Like two lonely swans
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Marriage; Dancing & Dancers


THE DEATH OF THE FATHERS: 3. THE BOAT, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father / (he calls himself 'old sea dog')
Last Line: Bailing the boat
Subject(s): Fathers; Boats


THE DESK, by DAVID BOTTOMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Under the fire escape, crouched, one knee in cinders
Last Line: To own my father's name.
Subject(s): Crime & Criminals; Fathers & Sons; Schools; Students


THE DESPERANTO OF WILLYNULLY, by DELMORE SCHWARTZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Her father's early portrait shows
Subject(s): Time; Portraits; Fathers & Daughters


THE DISCIPLE, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The times are changed, and gone the day
Last Line: In that fear doubteth thee.
Subject(s): Christianity; Doubt; Education; Faith; Fathers & Sons; God; Humility; Skepticism; Belief; Creed


THE DISTANT FOOTSTEPS, by CESAR VALLEJO    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father is sleeping. His noble face
Subject(s): Fathers


THE DOOR CLICKS. HE RETURNS TO ME', by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Is it measureless pain?
Subject(s): Veterans; Homecoming; Marriage; Fathers & Sons


THE DREAM SONGS: 145, by JOHN BERRYMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Also I love him: me he's done no wrong
Last Line: Trying to make yourself forgive someone for something so unforgiveable
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, John, Jr.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Suicide


THE DREAM SONGS: 385, by JOHN BERRYMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My daughter's heavier. Light leaves are flying
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, John, Jr.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE ENTHUSIAST, SONGS OF ARLA: 3, by ANNE BATTEN CRISTALL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Impassioned strains my trembling lips rehearse
Last Line: Her heart, resigned, to simple truth accords.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Passion


THE ESSENTIAL STORY, by CHARLIE SMITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We each wanted our own story, my father and I
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Stories


THE EXCAVATION, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In this dry, stubble field
Last Line: In this dry, stubble field.
Subject(s): Archeology; Artifacts; Curiosities & Wonders; Fathers; Native Americans; Old Age; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


THE EXHAUSTED BUG; FOR MY FATHER, by ROBERT BLY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here is a tiny., hard-shelled thing. He is the length of a child's tooth, and
Last Line: Father stretched out in his coffin.
Subject(s): Beetles; Curiosities & Wonders; Death; Fathers & Sons; Insects; Enigmas; Oddities; Dead, The; Bugs


THE EXILE, by THEODOSIA (PICKERING) GARRISON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Above him in the city street
Last Line: The sound of one girl's laughter came from half a world away.
Alternate Author Name(s): Faulks, Frederick J., Mrs.
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory; Mothers


THE FACE AT THE WINDOW, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We had gone down at christmas, where our host
Last Line: "only the fact could make my story true."
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.
Subject(s): Christmas; Fathers; Ghosts; Story-telling; Supernatural; Nativity, The


THE FADING OF THE MAYFLOWER, by THEODORE TILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: But is it fading? Is it doomed to die?
Last Line: ^18^ so named from the town of worstead in england.
Subject(s): Mayflower (ship); Pilgrim Fathers; United States; America


THE FATHER, by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: That was his sort
Last Line: And cut him short.
Subject(s): Fathers; World War I; First World War


THE FATHER, by CARL RAKOSI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I find among my notes
Last Line: Where to, mistress quickly?
Alternate Author Name(s): Rawley, Callmann
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE FATHER IN SCHOOL, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Unfamiliar work and rule
Last Line: Stays till school is at an end.
Subject(s): Fathers; Schools; Students


THE FATHER OF PREDICAMENTS, by HEATHER MCHUGH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He came at night to each of us asleep
Subject(s): Fathers; Self; Librarians & Libraries; Library; Librarians


THE FATHER OF THE MAN, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I can't help thinkin' o' the lad!
Last Line: My boy has made a man o' me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE FATHER'S BODY, by JAMES DICKEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: His father steps into the shower
Subject(s): Fathers


THE FATHER'S LOVE, by MARY TUCKER LAMBERT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Far more priceless than the diamonds rare from golconda's rich mine
Last Line: The blessing mine, the ray divine, may father's love e'er be.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tucker, Mary Eliza Perine
Subject(s): Fathers


THE FATHER'S LOVE, by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis no tmy home - he made it home
Last Line: But I had only thine.
Alternate Author Name(s): L. E. L.; Maclean, Letitia
Subject(s): Fathers


THE FATHER'S THOUGHT OF HIS DAUGHTER, by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: She will jilt a lover
Last Line: When I am dead.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY GHOSTS, by ESSEX HEMPHILL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We are not always
Last Line: We both use it. / precisely. Often.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE FATHERS, by SIEGFRIED SASSOON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Snug at the club two fathers sat
Last Line: These impotent old friends of mine.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Soldiers' Writings; World War I; First World War


THE FEATHER AT BREENDONCK, by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am praying again, god -- pale god
Last Line: That's all we needed: a good war . . .
Subject(s): Absence; Angels; Concentration Camps; Fathers & Daughters; Feathers; Guilt; Holocaust, Jewish - Aftermath; Jews; Memory; Prayer; Relationships; Salvation; Separation; Isolation; Judaism


THE FERRYER, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Three years after my father's death
Subject(s): Fathers


THE FINEST FELLOWSHIP, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There may be finer pleasures than just tramping with your boy
Last Line: I spend it in the open with that little lad o' mine.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE FIRST BREAK, by ALEXANDER ANDERSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The first break in our happy household hearth
Last Line: Close by his rest, they thunder day by day.
Alternate Author Name(s): Surfaceman
Subject(s): Accidents; Death - Children; Fathers & Sons; Railroads; Death - Babies; Railways; Trains


THE FIRST PROCLAMATION OF MILES STANDISH [NOVEMBER 23, 1620], by MARGARET JUNKIN PRESTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ho, rose!' quoth the stout miles standish
Last Line: And order a washing-day!
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers; Standish, Miles (1584-1656)


THE FOND FATHER, by ROBERT OF BRUNNE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of a man that some time was
Last Line: That the son to the father is not kind.
Alternate Author Name(s): Mannyng, Rober
Subject(s): Fathers; Ten Commandments


THE FOOTSTEPS, by DONALD HALL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the kitchen of the old house, late
Subject(s): Fathers; Past; Family Life; Relatives


THE FOUNDRY GARDEN, by STANLEY PLUMLY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers; Family Life; Relatives


THE FREEBORN, by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: God made the man and bid him multiply
Last Line: When this free man comes forth, what must he do?
Alternate Author Name(s): Sigerson, Dora; Shorter, Mrs. Clement
Subject(s): Crime & Criminals; Family Life; Fathers; Hunger; Poverty; Relatives


THE FRONT MAN, by CHARLIE SMITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father was a social man, talking
Subject(s): Fathers


THE FUNERAL SERMON, by ANDREW HUDGINS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Almost droll / in its assault on magisterial
Subject(s): Funerals; Fathers; Burials


THE FUTURE, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I am going to leave a child in an empty room
Last Line: As I am prepared
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE GIFT; FOR MY DAUGHTER, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Scissors, glue, clumsy
Last Line: Each beat a breath.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Gifts & Giving


THE GLASS, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I think of it with wonder now
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers; Glasses (tumblers); Love


THE GLASS ESSAY, by ANNE CARSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I can hear little chicks inside my dream
Last Line: It walked out of the light
Subject(s): Love – Unrequited; Psychiatry; Mothers & Daughters; Fathers; Home Life; Women's Rights; Solitude; Alzheimer's Disease; Dreams; Anger; Love – Nature Of; Love – Loss Of; Bronte, Emily (1818-1848); Bronte, Charlotte (1816-1855); Man-woman Relationships


THE GRANDFATHER-FATHER POEM, by CHARLES OLSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Rolled in the grass
Subject(s): Grandparents; Fathers; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


THE HANG-GLIDER'S DAUGHTER, by MARILYN HACKER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My forty-year-old father learned to fly
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE HIGHWAY DEATH TOLL, by KAREN SWENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The highway's edge / of unmalicious deaths
Last Line: If I'd turned it off before I might have heard.
Subject(s): Death; Driving & Drivers; Fathers; Popes; Dead, The; Papacy


THE HILLS OF RUEL, by WILLIAM SHARP    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Over the hills and far away
Last Line: Honey-sweet folk of the hills of ruel.
Alternate Author Name(s): Macleod, Fiona
Subject(s): Death; Fairies; Fathers & Sons; Fear; Ireland; Lutes; Story-telling; Dead, The; Elves; Irish


THE HOSPITAL WINDOW, by JAMES DICKEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have just come down from my father
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Hospitals; Dead, The


THE HUMAN TRINITY, by GRANVILLE LOWTHER    Poem Text                    
First Line: The sunshine reached across the space
Last Line: In father, childhood, motherhood.
Subject(s): Babies; Children; Fathers; Love; Mothers; Parents; Infants; Childhood; Parenthood


THE IDEA OF ANCESTRY, by ETHERIDGE KNIGHT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Taped to the wall of my cell are 47 pictures: 47 black
Subject(s): African Americans; Ancestors & Ancestry; Fathers; Korean War, 1950-1953; Men; Prayer; Prisons & Prisoners; Negroes; American Blacks; Heritage; Heredity; Convicts


THE IDIOT, by CHARLES REZNIKOFF    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: With green stagnant eyes
Subject(s): Fathers


THE INDIAN'S WELCOME TO THE PILGRIM FATHERS, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Above them spread a strange sky
Last Line: Say, who shall welcome thee?
Subject(s): Americans; Native Americans; Pilgrim Fathers; United States; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America; America


THE INTERCEPTED SALUTE, by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A little maiden met me in the lane
Last Line: It is an added glory on the earth.
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, T. E.
Subject(s): Flirtation; Fathers & Daughters


THE KEEPER'S SON, by ANDRE THEURIET    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Black is the night and as though in fight
Last Line: The son of the keeper had breathed his last!
Subject(s): Death - Children; Family Life; Fathers & Sons; Poaching; Death - Babies; Relatives


THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS IN NEW ENGLAND [NOVEMBER 19, 1620], by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The breaking waves dashed high / on a stern and rock-bound coast
Last Line: Freedom to worship god.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Variant Title(s): The Landing Of The Pilgrim Fathers;the Pilgrim Fathers
Subject(s): Freedom; Holidays; Patriotism; Pilgrim Fathers; Plymouth, Massachusetts; Thanksgiving Day; United States; Women; Liberty; America


THE LAST THING I SAY, by MARVIN BELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To a thirteen-year-old sleeping
Last Line: A small part of himself and sweet dreams.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers & Sons; Love; Parents; Sleep; Childhood; Parenthood


THE LAST TIME, by LIZ ROSENBERG    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The last time I saw him awake and talking
Subject(s): Fathers; Prayer; Death; Dead, The


THE LIGHTS IN THE SKY ARE STARS: A SWORD IN A CLOUD OF LIGHT, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your hand in mine, we walk out / to watch the christmas eve crowds
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Love; Stars


THE LONELY CHILD, by JAMES OPPENHEIM    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Do you think, my boy, when I put my arms around you
Last Line: Drift into dreams and healing sleep.
Subject(s): Fathers


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 LOST PILOT, by JAMES TATE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your face did not rot
Subject(s): World War Ii; Fathers; Second World War


THE LOST SON, by THEODORE ROETHKE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: At woodlawn I heard the dead cry
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE MAIDEN'S SORROW, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Seven long years has the desert rain
Last Line: I shall feel it no more again.
Subject(s): Death - Fathers; Grief; Sorrow; Sadness


THE MAN YOUR BOY WILL BE, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You sometimes worry, wonder what
Last Line: The life his father led.
Subject(s): Fathers


THE MARTYR, by WALT MASON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My wife and seven daughters,' said g
Last Line: Gravel carters, that girls may have a treat!
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers & Daughters; Relatives


THE MAYFLOWER [DECEMBER 21, 1620], by ERASTUS WOLCOTT ELLSWORTH    Poem Text                    
First Line: Down in the bleak december bay
Last Line: Mayflower.
Subject(s): Carver, John (1575-1621); Mayflower (ship); Pilgrim Fathers


THE MESSENGER: 1. THE FATHER, by JEAN VALENTINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the strange house / in the strange town
Last Line: His eyes / settle on us
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE MIRROR, by PAUL MULDOON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He was no longer my father
Subject(s): Fathers


THE MISSION, by KEVIN YOUNG    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Back there then I lived
Subject(s): Mortality; Conduct Of Life; Fathers


THE MORTAL ONE, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Three months after he lies dead, that
Subject(s): Fathers; Death; Dead, The


THE MOSELLE BOATMAN AND HIS DAUGHTER (1), by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Not high nor full enough to show things clear
Last Line: Twas sad to think we ne'er might see them more!
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE MOSS OF HIS SKIN, by ANNE SEXTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It was only important
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE MOTHER, by WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Is the nurse gone now? And are we alone at last?
Last Line: The father (joyously): no, no; good-morning, mother.
Alternate Author Name(s): Howells, W. D.
Subject(s): Babies; Fathers; Love - Marital; Mothers; Infants; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


THE MOTHS: 1. CIRCA 1952, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Indians stood on a hill in bath and watched
Last Line: Into tomorrow.
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; Knowledge; Moths; Native Americans; Pilgrimages & Pilgrims; Women; Dead, The; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


THE MOURNING DAUGHTER, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Wheels o'er the pavement roll'd, and a slight form
Last Line: The chasten'd wisdom of attemper'd bliss.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Mourning; Bereavement


THE MYSTERIOUS ARRIVAL OF AN UNUSUAL LETTER, by MARK STRAND    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: It had been a long day at the office and a long ride back to the small apartment
Subject(s): Letters; Fathers


THE NAME, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Be natural
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Parents; Women; Parenthood


THE NIGHT BEFORE THANKSGIVING, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A grove of deep sycamores drifts into the hudson
Last Line: Stepping out of a mountain into winter daylight.
Subject(s): Fathers; Holidays; Moths; Solitude; Thanksgiving; Loneliness


THE NURSERY SAGE, by RAY CLARKE ROSE    Poem Text                    
First Line: I know a quaint philosopher
Last Line: That fond expression—dad!
Subject(s): Babies; Fathers; Language; Mothers; Infants; Words; Vocabulary


THE ODE OF PERFECT YEARS: 1. FATHERHOOD, by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh, father! Sitting at thy hearth
Last Line: Even as thou dost these.
Subject(s): Fathers


THE OLD BARK HUT, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: In an old bark hut on the mountainside
Last Line: And broken a woman's heart
Subject(s): Crimes & Criminals;death;family Life;fathers & Sons;hunting;waiting; "dead, The;relatives;hunters;


THE OLD COUNTRY, by KATHARINE TYNAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As I go home at end of day, the old road
Last Line: And you sleeping so quietly under the grass.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Daughters; Death; Fathers; Home; Homecoming; Ireland; Roads; Dead, The; Irish; Paths; Trails


THE OLD MAN DREW THE LINE, by CARL RAKOSI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Rawley, Callmann
Subject(s): Old Age; Fathers & Sons


THE OLD PROFESSOR, by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: See, there he goes, a-pulling his long beard
Last Line: Seeks the high lark in god's clear element.
Alternate Author Name(s): Sigerson, Dora; Shorter, Mrs. Clement
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Marriage; Teaching & Teachers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


THE OLD-FASHIONED BIBLE, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How dear to my heart are the
Last Line: The leathern-bound bible my grandfather read.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Bible; Fathers; Memory; Past


THE ONLY DAUGHTER, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: They bid me strike the idle strings
Last Line: May cost thee, too, a sigh.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THE ORPHAN, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It has been along time
Last Line: -- no one with whom he could cry
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE OUTLAW, by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Before the fair aurora spread
Last Line: "the foreign lord no more appear."
Alternate Author Name(s): Betham, Mary Matilda; Edwards, Matilda B.; Edwards, B. M.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Percy, William De (1030-1096)


THE PEACE MESSAGE, by BURTON EGBERT STEVENSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At the door of his hut sat massasoit
Last Line: His messenger of peace.
Subject(s): Massasoit (d. 1661); Native Americans; Peace; Pilgrim Fathers; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


THE PEDIGREE, by ROBERT CREELEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: Or if I will not rape
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Self


THE PENNACESSE LEPER COLONY FOR WOMEN, CAPE COD: 1922, by NORMAN DUBIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: The island, you mustn't say, had only rocks and scrub pine
Last Line: Most everything for you. And I'll be gone.
Subject(s): Absence; Cape Cod; Fathers & Daughters; History; Leprosy; Separation; Isolation; Historians; Lepers


THE PENNSYLVANIA PILGRIM, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Hail to posterity!
Last Line: The world forgets, but the wise angels know.
Subject(s): Friends, Religious Society Of; Germantown, Pennsylvania; Pastorius, Francis Daniel (1651-1720); Pilgrim Fathers; Spener, Philipp Jacob (1635-1705); U.s. - Colonial Period; Quakers


THE PERUVIAN'S DIRGE OVER THE BODY OF HIS FATHER, by ROBERT SOUTHEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Rest in peace, my father, rest
Last Line: Where the strangers never shall come!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Funerals; Future Life; Lament; Peru; Prayer; Burials; Retribution; Eternity; After Life


THE PILGRIM FATHERS, by LEONARD BACON (1802-1881)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O god, beneath thy guiding hand
Last Line: And spring adorns the earth no more.
Variant Title(s): Forefathers' Hymn
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers; Religion; Theology


THE PILGRIM FATHERS, by EBENEZER ELLIOTT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A voice of grief and anger
Last Line: Bring forth such men again!
Alternate Author Name(s): Corn-law Rhymer; Elliot, Ebenezer
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers


THE PILGRIM FATHERS, by JOHN PIERPONT    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: The pilgrim fathers, - where are they?
Last Line: Shall foam and freeze no more.
Subject(s): Holidays; Pilgrim Fathers; Plymouth, Massachusetts; Thanksgiving Day


THE PILGRIM'S VISION, by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the hour of twilight shadows / the puritan looked out
Last Line: Here was the pilgrim's land!
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers


THE PILGRIMS, by RALPH WALDO EMERSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold I make partition
Last Line: As they had been of yore.
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers


THE PILGRIMS, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How slow yon tiny [or, lonely] vessel ploughs the main!
Last Line: Kneel, and renew the vow they breath'd to god
Subject(s): New England; Pilgrim Fathers


THE PILGRIMS CAME, by ANNETTE WYNNE    Poem Text                    
First Line: The pilgrims came across the sea
Last Line: We thank the pilgrims, every one!
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers


THE POEMS OF COLD MOUNTAIN: 108, by HAN SHAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Mister shih had two sons
Last Line: Like buckteeth that never meet
Alternate Author Name(s): Kanzan; Hanshan; Han-shan
Subject(s): Chinese Literature; Fathers & Sons; Success


THE POET'S JOURNAL: THE FATHER, by BAYARD TAYLOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The fateful hour, when death stood by
Last Line: And lead me with thy helpless hands!
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Life; Love; Time; Dead, The


THE PRODIGAL SON, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I went back for redress
Last Line: In setting him adrift
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE PULL, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As the flu goes on, I get thinner and thinner
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Absence; Separation; Isolation


THE PURITAN LOVERS, by ANNIE DOUGLAS GREEN ROBINSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Drawn out, like lingering bees, to share
Last Line: Of white life-everlasting.
Alternate Author Name(s): Douglas, Marian
Subject(s): Love; Pilgrim Fathers


THE QUEST, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the beginning, I was the termite on the tree
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Fathers & Sons; Knowledge


THE RACE, by SHARON OLDS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I got to the airport I rushed up to the desk
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Men


THE RANTIN DOG THE DADDIE O'T, by ROBERT BURNS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: O wha my babie-clouts will buy?
Last Line: The rantin' dog, the daddie o't.
Subject(s): Sex; Fathers


THE REMAINS, by TIMOTHY LIU    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Walking out of the new cemetery, my father
Last Line: My eighty-year-old father nodding off into sleep
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Ancestry & Ancestors; Cemeteries


THE RETURN, by KATHARINE TYNAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I rested in your easy chair
Last Line: I was quite sure I felt your smile.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Comfort; Daughters; Death; Fathers; Legacies; Love; Dead, The


THE ROCK OF LIBERTY; A PILGRIM ODE, 1620-1920: 2. STRUGGLE, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The lord is my strength; of whom shall I be afraid
Last Line: Of a greater hope than men have known!
Subject(s): Pilgrim Fathers; Religion; Theology


THE ROCK OF LIBERTY; A PILGRIM ODE, 1620-1920: 3. ACHIEVEMENT, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We have felled the forest and pierced the hill
Last Line: Amen.
Subject(s): Freedom; Patriotism; Pilgrim Fathers; Religion; Success; Liberty; Theology


THE ROCK OF LIBERTY; A PILGRIM ODE, 1629-1920: 1. VISION, by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lord god of hosts, defender of the weak
Last Line: Should through the ages ring!
Subject(s): Freedom; Mayflower (ship); Pilgrim Fathers; Prayer; Religion; Liberty; Theology


THE ROMAUNT OF MARGRET, by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I plant a tree whose leaf
Last Line: Margret, margret.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Longing; Courts & Courtiers; Dreams; Failure; Longing; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Nightmares


THE SECOND BROTHER; AN UNFINISHED DRAMA, by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair shine this evening's stars upon your pleasure
Last Line: . . . . . . .
Subject(s): Brothers; Courts & Courtiers; Death; Deception; Fathers; Love; Magic; Marriage; Nile (river); Pleasure; Politics & Government; Travel; Wealth; Half-brothers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Dead, The; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Journeys; Trips


THE SEEKERS, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Our grandfathers were strangers and their absurd notions
Last Line: We'll have to walk because we're going farther
Subject(s): Fathers; Grandparents; Knowledge; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


THE SOUL'S CRY (THE HIGHER ANTHROPOMORPHISM), by JOHN LAURENCE RENTOUL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father, let thy little child
Last Line: "to land, by the hushed wondering sea!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Gage, Gervais
Subject(s): Children; Fathers & Daughters; Grief; Soul; Tears; Childhood; Sorrow; Sadness


THE SPANISH OF OUR OUT-LOUD DREAMS, by MARTIN ESPADA                        Poet's Biography
First Line: You took your father / from the bronx hospital
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers; Hispanic Americans; Latinos


THE SUBWAY ENTRANCE, by MINNIE BRUCE PRATT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He was her guide. He lived in hell. Every day he thought
Subject(s): Nursing Homes; Fathers & Daughters; Old Age Homes; Assisted Living


THE TALK; FOR MY FATHER, by GREGORY ORR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How many years we've circled round this date
Last Line: And talk at last, though all our talk's too late.
Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers & Sons; Fear; Procrastination; Talk


THE THREE-CORNERED LOT, by NATHALIA CRANE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Said the farmer to his daughter: 'when I die, as like as not
Last Line: "and the stone walls of the foolish man wherewith to build a home."
Subject(s): Farm Life; Fathers & Daughters; Inheritance & Succession; Agriculture; Farmers; Heirs


THE TIME COMES WHEN YOU ARE FACING HIM, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: And it is like the moment before going into battle
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE TRYST OF SOULS, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Low hung the moon, the wind was still
Last Line: Till stars and shadows yield to day.
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Death; Dreams; Fathers; Dead, The; Nightmares


THE TURTLE, by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Not because of his eyes, / the eyes of a bird
Last Line: He is your friend
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


THE TWINS: 2, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We're the twins from aunt marinn's
Last Line: Iram, coram, dago.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Fathers; Names; Twins


THE TWO INTERPRETERS, by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The clouds are fleeting by, father
Last Line: Upon the father's heart.
Alternate Author Name(s): Berwick, Mary
Subject(s): Fathers; Love


THE UPSTAIRS ROOM, by WELDON KEES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It must have been in march the rug wore through
Last Line: And, for my life, imperishable
Subject(s): Home; Death - Fathers


THE WAKING FATHER, by PAUL MULDOON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father and I are catching spricklies
Subject(s): Fathers


THE WHIP-POOR-WILL, by HENRY VAN DYKE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Do you remember, father
Last Line: "a passing thrill, -- ""whippoorwill!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Civis Americanus
Subject(s): Birds; Fathers & Sons; Whipporwills


THE WISH, by BOB HICOK    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On a tuesday I learned I'd never sit
Last Line: This man was
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


THE WITCH, by ROBERT SOUTHEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Father! Here, father! I have found a horse-shoe
Last Line: She may recover; so drive t'other nail in!
Subject(s): Christianity; Curses; Fathers & Sons; Horseshoes; Witchcraft & Witches


THE WORDS, by DONALD HALL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My mother said, of course
Subject(s): Cancer, Lung; Death - Fathers


THE WORK, by TOM SLEIGH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Today, this moment, speechlessly in pain,
Subject(s): Fathers; Illness; Hospitals


THE WRITER, by RICHARD WILBUR    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: In her room at the prow of the house
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers & Daughters; Relatives


THE ZEBRA GOES WILD WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, by HENRY DUMAS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Neon stripes tighten my wal
Subject(s): United States; Racism; Fathers; America; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


THEIR LAST GIFTS; FOR MY FATHER, JOSEPH LAPIDUS (1899-1990), by ELIZABETH ZELVIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Her last gift to him
Last Line: Such a short time to hurt %such a long time to be immortal
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Jewish Families; Mourning; Psychoanalysis; Relationships


THEN & NOW, by MICHAEL DENNIS RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I travelled to cities
Last Line: Will be everywhere and welcomed
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


THINGS WE THINK WE CANNOT SEE: 3. WOLVES, by DIANE JARVENPA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Today my father saw wolves on the french river
Last Line: At each vista the moon hangs just for him
Subject(s): Fathers; Nursing Homes; Old Age; Parents; Parkinson's Disease


THINKING ABOUT IT NOW, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Thinking about it now
Last Line: My heart says hold on tight
Subject(s): Fathers


THINKING ABOUT MY FATHER AT THE OMAK STAMPEDE, by ARGENTINA DALEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: They don't do it like this most places
Subject(s): Fathers


THINKING FOR BERKY, by WILLIAM EDGAR STAFFORD    Poem Source     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In the late night listening from bed
Last Line: Sirens will hunt down berky, you survivors in your beds %listening through the night, so far and goo
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


THOREAU IN CALIFORNIA, by SALLY ALLEN MCNALL    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's wrong for life to be so complicated
Last Line: No use. I can't read the rock my father and I love %as dearly as a wounded hand in perfect dark
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862)


THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS, by ROBERT EARL HAYDEN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sundays too my father got up early
Subject(s): Children; Family Life; Fathers; Home; Men; Sabbath; Winter; Childhood; Relatives; Sunday


THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS, by ROBERT EARL HAYDEN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sundays too my father got up early
Last Line: What did I know, what did I know %of love's austere and lonely offices?
Subject(s): Children; Family Life; Fathers; Home; Men; Sabbath; Winter


THOUGH HIS NAME IS INFINITE, MY FATHER IS ASLEEP, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When my father disappeared
Subject(s): Fathers


THOUGH HIS NAME IS INFINITE, MY FATHER IS ASLEEP, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When my father disappeared
Last Line: In the sweep of those syllables - %wind, crushed bones, & ashes - %begin to live again
Subject(s): Fathers


THOUGHTS OF A FATHER, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We've never seen the father here, but we have
Last Line: Man's greatest duty is to be the father of a man.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers; God


THOUGHTS OF A YOUNG GIRL, by JOHN ASHBERY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is such a beautiful day I had to write you a letter
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


THOUGHTS OF A YOUNG GIRL, by JOHN ASHBERY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is such a beautiful day I had to write you a letter
Last Line: May you not be long on the way!
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


THRALL, by CAROLYN KIZER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The room is sparsely furnished
Last Line: So you may write this poem.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Poetry & Poets; Women; Women's Rights; Feminism


THREE O'CLOCK; OCTOBER 17, 1923, by WILSON PUGSLEY MACDONALD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My brother met me at a prairie inn
Last Line: "I will take his brave spirit along with me."
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Dead, The


THREE PRAYERS OF TELEMAKHOS: 1., by BILL COLEMAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Father, I know this sea better than my blood
Last Line: Who will wait for me to come home?
Subject(s): Fathers; Sailors And Sailing; Sea


TIFFIN FOR TEA, LORRY FOR TRUCK, by REETIKA VAZIRANI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To say he got out of his village by cunning
Last Line: Fog owns the morning and you can't travel
Subject(s): Fathers; Immigrants


TO A CHILD, by FRANK PUTNAM    Poem Text                    
First Line: The years stretch far above thee
Last Line: His work will not forget.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Hope; Time; Youth; Childhood; Optimism


TO A FATHER, ON THE DEATH OF HIS ONLY CHILD, by BERNARD BARTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The hand of the highest, who woundeth, can heal
Last Line: That thou may'st go to him, though he cannot return.
Alternate Author Name(s): Quaker Poet
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers; Death - Babies


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 1. SIROCCO, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To a place of ruined stone we brought you, and sea-reaches
Last Line: And on the exposed approaches the last gold of gorse bloom, in the sorocco, shakes
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 1. SIROCCO, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To a place of ruined stone we brought you, and sea-reaches
Last Line: And on the exposed approaches the last gold of gorse bloom, in the sirocco, shakes
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 2. GULL'S CRY, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: White goose by palm tree, palm ragged, among stones the white oleander
Last Line: Hands and sing, redeem, redeem!
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 2. GULL'S CRY, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: White goose by palm tree, palm ragged, among stones the white oleander
Last Line: Hands and sing: redeem, redeem!
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 3. THE CHILD, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The child next door is defective because the mother
Last Line: I smile stiff, say ciao, and think: this is the world
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 3. THE CHILD, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The child next door is defective because the mother
Last Line: I smile stiff, saying ciao, saying ciao, and think: this is the world
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 4. THE FLOWER, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Above the beach, the vineyard
Last Line: It will rustle all night, darling
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 4. THE FLOWER, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Above the beach, the vineyard
Last Line: It will rustle all night, darling
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO A LITTLE GIRL, ONE YEAR OLD, IN A RUINED FORTRESS: 5. COLDER FIRE, by ROBERT PENN WARREN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It rained toward day. The morning came sad & white
Last Line: But defines, for the fortunate, that joy in which all joys shall rejoice
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Childhood Memories


TO A SAD DAUGHTER, by MICHAEL ONDAATJE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: All night long the hockey pictures
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TO A WALL OF FLAME IN A STEEL MILL, SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, 1969, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Except under the cool shadows of the pines
Subject(s): Fathers; Solitude; Farm Life; Mills & Millers; Agriculture; Farmers


TO ADA, by ANNE ISABELLA MILBANKE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thine is the smile and thine the bloom
Last Line: Thou art not near a father's heart!
Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lady; Milbanke, Annabella
Subject(s): Death - Children; Fathers & Daughters; Death - Babies


TO AN ADOLESCENT WEEPING WILLOW, by MARVIN BELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I don't know what you think you're doing
Last Line: It means you are a boy.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Grief; Willow Trees; Youth; Sorrow; Sadness


TO CHARLES BURNEY, by FRANCES (FANNY) BURNEY    Poem Text                    
First Line: Oh author of my being! - far more dear / to me than light
Last Line: Accept the tribute -- but forget the lay.
Alternate Author Name(s): D'arblay, Madame
Subject(s): Fathers


TO DAD, by MARY CRANE CLARK    Poem Text                    
First Line: He never feared november days
Last Line: Of youth revitalized by age.
Subject(s): Aging; Fathers; Soul; Youth


TO FATHER, by MARY TUCKER LAMBERT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father! When I saw thee last
Last Line: And lay thee down to rest.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tucker, Mary Eliza Perine
Subject(s): Fathers


TO HER FATHER, by SOPHIE CABOT BLACK    Poem Source                    
First Line: He has gone away again
Last Line: That comes just before clouds, %before the useless, inscrutable rain
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO HER FATHER WITH SOME VERSES, by ANNE BRADSTREET    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Most truly honored, and as truly dear
Last Line: Such is my bond, none can discharge but I, %yet paying is not paid until I die
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Home; Marriage; Puritans; Sickness


TO HESTER ON THE STAIR, by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Hester, creature of my love
Last Line: Mind this only, only mind!
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Daughters; Hearts; Love; Dead, The


TO HIS DAUGHTER, by EDITH BLAND NESBIT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I bought you flowers on ludgate hill
Last Line: A queen like you, my darling.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nesbit, E.; Bland, Mrs. Hubert
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Socialism


TO HIS FATHER, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Christ was your lord and captain all your life
Subject(s): Fathers


TO HIS FATHER, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Christ was your lord and captain all your life
Last Line: Of life, the snow-wreathed honor of extreme age
Subject(s): Fathers


TO HIS FATHER, by JOHN MILTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh that pieria's spring would through my breast
Last Line: Improve the fathers of a distant age!
Subject(s): Fathers


TO HIS SON, by WALTER RALEIGH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Three things there be that prosper up apace
Last Line: It frets the halter, and it chokes the child
Alternate Author Name(s): Ralegh, Walter
Variant Title(s): The Wood, The Wool, The Wag;the Wood, The Weed, The Wag;sir Walter Ralegh To His Son
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; Dead, The


TO JESUS VILLANUEVA, WITH LOVE, by ALMA LUZ VILLANUEVA    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My first vivid memory of you
Last Line: Enough.
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Fathers; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


TO M. LE VAYER ON THE DEATH OF HIS SON, by MOLIERE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Weep on le vayer, make thine eyes an urn
Last Line: And for these things we must for ever weep.
Alternate Author Name(s): Poquelin, Jean Baptiste
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; Loss; Dead, The


TO MY FATHER, by BEULA CHAMBERLAIN    Poem Text                    
First Line: They tell me that I have this gift from you
Last Line: Writing a poem upon the window-sill.
Subject(s): Fathers; Poetry & Poets; Writing & Writers


TO MY FATHER, by WILLIAM SYDNEY GRAHAM    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Yes as alike as entirely
Last Line: Takes over over our bodies.
Alternate Author Name(s): Graham, W. S.
Subject(s): Fathers


TO MY FATHER, by FENTON JOHNSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Good father o' the dusk, my love for thee
Last Line: My mariner across the starlit sea.
Subject(s): Fathers


TO MY FATHER, by GRACE DENIO LITCHFIELD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As the poorest may borrow some treasure
Last Line: May ennoble my words unaware.
Subject(s): Fathers; Memory; Prayer


TO MY FATHER, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Take of the first fruits, father, of thy care
Last Line: Revealed man's glory, god's great human heart.
Subject(s): Children; Christianity; Fathers & Sons; God; Poetry & Poets; Childhood


TO MY FATHER, by CHARLES V. H. ROBERTS    Poem Text                    
First Line: I kneel, my father, here beside thy grave
Last Line: Where thou my father with the angels art.
Subject(s): Angels; Death; Fathers; Graves; Heaven; Veterans Day; Dead, The; Tombs; Tombstones; Paradise


TO MY FATHER - 2, by DIANE DI PRIMA    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You were dying of grief from the moment I saw you
Last Line: Grow in the ground
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TO MY FATHER - 2, by DIANE DI PRIMA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: You were dying of grief from the moment I saw you
Last Line: On the rooftops / of yr mind, but things %grow in the ground
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO MY FATHER AT EIGHTY-TWO, by GERALDINE CONNOLLY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Where has your neatness gone
Last Line: You once lived %on the far side of ruin
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers And Daughters


TO MY FATHER'S BUSINESS, by KENNETH KOCH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Leo bends over his desk
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Careers


TO MY FATHER'S VIOLIN, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Does he want you down there
Last Line: Your present dumbness, shape your olden story.
Subject(s): Fathers; Violins


TO MY INFANT DAUGHTER, E. C. M., by DAVID MACBETH MOIR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There is no sound upon the night
Last Line: Be all my soul desires to see!
Alternate Author Name(s): Delta
Subject(s): Babies; Child Care; Fathers & Daughters; Gentility; Infants; Baby Sitters; Governesses


TO MY INFANT DAUGHTER: 2, by YVOR WINTERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Alas, that I should be
Last Line: Of what has had an end
Variant Title(s): To My Infant Daughter (2)
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TO MY INFANT DAUGHTER: 2, by YVOR WINTERS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Alas, that I should be
Last Line: Of what has had an end
Variant Title(s): To My Infant Daughter (2
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO MY SON, by THOMAS HOOD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou happy, happy elf!
Last Line: I cannot write unless he's sent above.)
Variant Title(s): To My Infant Son;a Parental Ode To My Son, Aged Three Years And Five Months;to My Son, Aged Three Years And Five Months;parental Ode To My [infant] Son
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


TO THE BOY, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I have no wish, my little lad
Last Line: Twas all worth while to be your dad.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


TO THE CARTER'S DAUGHTER, by ROCCO SCOTELLARO    Poem Source                    
First Line: I don't know how I can live near you any longer
Last Line: To chase away the stars with his whip
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Thy country's curse is on thee, darkest crest
Last Line: This curse should be a blessing. Fare thee well!
Subject(s): Child Custody; Fathers


TO TONY - AGED THREE (IN MEMORY T.P.C.W.), by MARJORIE WILSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Gemmed with white daisies was the great green world
Last Line: To win that heritage of peace you have.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Wilson, T.p. Cameron (1889-1918); Women And War; World War I - Casualties


TO WILLIAM CRAIG, ON THE DEATH OF AN ONLY SON IN A RAILWAY ACCIDENT, by JANET HAMILTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas drear november; by the turbid tide
Last Line: "to meet, and dwell with him in ""heaven our home."
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton, Janet Thompson
Subject(s): Accidents; Death; Fathers & Sons; God; Heaven; Mourning; Sons; Tragedy; Dead, The; Paradise; Bereavement


TOGETHER, by JUDSON MITCHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: When my father died
Last Line: Goodness indeed, I am thinking. The birds %turn together in the air above the dead
Subject(s): Death; Fathers


TOOLS, by BARTON SUTTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: My dad's old man was a carpenter
Last Line: And permanent jet black ink
Subject(s): Depressions, Economic; Fathers; Labor And Laborers; Tools


TORRISMOND; AN UNFINISHED DRAMA, by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Who has seen torrismond, my son, to-night?
Last Line: Torris. Then here's an end of life.
Subject(s): Abandonment; Betrayal; Courts & Courtiers; Fathers & Sons; Longing; Love; Loyalty; Pleasure; Politics & Government; Desertion; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


TRAVELING LIGHT, by ALICE FULTON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Every restaurant boarded up in softwood
Subject(s): Fathers - Death


TREAD THE DARK: 1. BRIGHTNESS AS A POIGNANT LIGHT, by DAVID IGNATOW    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I tread the dark and my steps are silent
Last Line: Beatin in, but %not for me
Subject(s): Fathers


TREETOPS, by MARVIN BELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father moves through the south hunting duck
Last Line: Probable volume of dreams, think so.
Subject(s): Death; Ducks; Fathers & Sons; Hunting; Dead, The; Mallards; Drakes; Hunters


TRICKSTER, by MARGARET C. SZUMOWSKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: You filled the governess's shoes with frogs
Last Line: Make a stout cage of these arms
Subject(s): Fathers; Old Age; Practical Jokes


TRIENNIAL ODE ON THE MASSACHUSETTS CHARITABLE MECHANIC ASSOCIATION, by CHARLES SPRAGUE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When, from the mitred churchman's power
Last Line: And clustering glories round their names shall bloom.
Subject(s): Charity; Pilgrim Fathers; Philanthropy


TRILOGY FOR A FRIEND WHO TOOK TO HIS BED: 3. HIS SON, by JORDAN MILLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father curls up in his bed
Last Line: And will not die till we are dead.
Subject(s): Fathers; Sickness


TURTLE, by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Not because of his eyes, %the eyes of a bird
Last Line: To unknown places. %he is your friend
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


TWELVE DARKNESSES FOR MY FATHER, by EDWARD KLEINSCHMIDT    Poem Source                    
First Line: One day the underwater currents
Last Line: Again, you take all the darkness with you
Subject(s): Fathers


TWO, by DON BARKIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Maybe we could take a walk.'
Last Line: And as cold as the galaxy
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Stars


TWO LIVES, by LARS LUNDKVIST    Poem Source                    
First Line: I remember him
Last Line: Cannot be determined
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Murder


UNDER THE MAUD MOON, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On the path
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


UNDER THE MAUD MOON, by GALWAY KINNELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On the path
Last Line: You shall open %this book, even if it is the book of nightmares
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 28. TO MY FATHER, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Peace and her huge invasion to these shores
Last Line: Some lost, complaining seaman pilot home.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): Fathers; Love; Sea; Ocean


UNHAPPY FATHER, by WALT MASON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It makes poor father's spirit sad, when he
Last Line: "thy victory, oh, death, where is thy sting?"
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Grief; Relatives; Sorrow; Sadness


UNREAL PRECISION OF THE HOUSES AT FIRST LIGHT, by DONALD REVELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Memory; Women; Fathers; War


UPON MY FATHERS SUDDEN & DANGEROUS SICKNESS, by JOSEPH BEAUMONT    Poem Text                    
First Line: Though sad this lesson be to me
Last Line: Deaths ev'n shall be the dawn of life to me.
Subject(s): Fathers; Grief; Mortality; Sickness; Sorrow; Sadness; Illness


UPON THE FIRST SIGHT OF NEW ENGLAND, by THOMAS TILLAM    Poem Text                    
First Line: Hail, holy land, wherein our holy lord
Last Line: Come yee my servants of my father blessed
Subject(s): New England; Pilgrim Fathers


VALECITION - TO MY FATHER, by EDDY VAN VLIET    Poem Source                    
First Line: All I want to say is that I do not know
Last Line: He walked out of the kitchen to the front door, %never to return
Subject(s): Desertion And Nonsupport; Fathers


VICTORY, VICTORIA, MY BEAUTIFUL WHISPER, by LUIS J. RODRIGUEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: You are the daughter who is sleep's beauty
Last Line: Make of them your heart's bed
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Hearts; Love; Relationships


VILIKINS AND HIS DINAH, by GEORGE MURRAY (1830-1910)    Poem Text                    
First Line: In london's fair city a merchant did dwell
Last Line: And vilikins and his dinah lie buried in one grave.
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Marriage - Forced; Suicide; Marriage - Arranged


VIRGIL WATCHED THEM, by DONALD REVELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers; Children; Childhood


VIRTUOSO, by NOEL SMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is the croquet game on the four o'clock grass
Last Line: Now where was I?' he asks
Subject(s): Fathers; Games


VISITOR, by MARY OLIVER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My father, for example, %who was young once
Last Line: Had we loved in time
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


WALKING OUT OF THE ROOM BACKWARDS, by HUGO WILLIAMS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Out of work at fifty, smoking fifty a day
Last Line: My father made me walk out of the room backwards, %bowing and saying, 'goodnight, my liege'
Subject(s): Fathers


WAREHOUSE WORK, by VIRGIL SUAREZ    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: When I turned fourteen, my father said
Last Line: Work means will carry me through, us, them
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Labor & Laborers


WATCHING FOR PAPA, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: She always stood upon the steps
Last Line: "will call with birdie voice, 'papa, / I's looten out for oo!'"
Subject(s): Consolation;fathers & Daughters


WAVING GOOD-BYE, by GERALD STERN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: I wanted to know what it was like before we
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


WAVING GOOD-BYE, by GERALD STERN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I wanted to know what it was like before we
Last Line: As they made their turn into the empty highway
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


WAX FATHER, by NICK FLYNN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Each day / the son came for more, scraping comb
Last Line: His entire body hung there
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Sickness; Waxworks; Illness


WAY OF KEEPING, by NANCY WILLARD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is the meadow of the mind
Last Line: The god in the forest of the heart
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


WE DID NOT FEAR THE FATHER, by CHARLES FORT    Poem Source                    
First Line: We did not fear the father as the barber who stood
Last Line: We did not fear our father until he stooped in the dark
Subject(s): Change; Family Life; Fathers


WHAT BECOMES OF US, by KIEV RATTEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Memory is a garden of statues
Last Line: My paper god on fire somewhere up there
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


WHAT BRINGS US OUT, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Something about pumpkins caused
Last Line: How fast you had to turn to make it move.
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Fear; Pumpkins


WHAT EFFECT HAS YOUR NEW SON HAD ON YOUR WRITING LIFE?, by RICHARD JONES    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: While andrew sleeps
Last Line: Andrew wants his bottle.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers & Sons; Parents; Poetry & Poets; Writing & Writers; Childhood; Parenthood


WHAT GOES THROUGH IT, by KATE NORTHROP    Poem Source                    
First Line: Of all places, tonight you're by the ocean
Last Line: You can forgive yourself.
Subject(s): Fathers; Forgiveness; Pennsylvania; Relationships


WHAT IS IT ABOUT DAD?, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: What is it about dad always being around
Last Line: That dad's always around
Subject(s): Fathers


WHAT MATTERS MOST, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mom's off to work
Last Line: That someone's %home with us
Subject(s): Fathers


WHAT MY FATHER BELIEVED, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Man of his age, he believed in the things
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Teaching & Teachers; Patriotism; Educators; Professors


WHAT PEOPLE DP, by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: November november november the days crowd together
Subject(s): Fathers


WHAT SHE KNEW WHAT SHE SAW, by TANYA KERN    Poem Source                    
First Line: She can't breathe with him in the house
Last Line: She wonders where he keeps the one he took
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


WHAT THE SEER SAID, by JANE COOPER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: She said I would see the future
Subject(s): Fathers


WHAT THEY DO, by MICHAEL JONES    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father-in-law loves
Subject(s): Fathers-in-law


WHEAT, by WENDY M. MNOOKIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The story of the good girl
Last Line: After a strong wind has blown through %and everything is still
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Mourning


WHEN DAD TAKES ME, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My dad sometimes some little trip
Last Line: "that boy, with my consent, again."
Subject(s): Fathers


WHEN FATHER PLAYED BASEBALL, by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The smell of arnica is strong
Last Line: The day he played baseball.
Alternate Author Name(s): Guest, Eddie
Subject(s): Baseball; Fathers & Sons; Sports


WHEN HE GOES TO PLAY WITH THE BOYS, by STRICKLAND GILLILAN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As I start for a saunter, I turn and say
Subject(s): Fathers


WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL AND MY MOTHER DIDN'T WANT ME, by JOYCE CAROL OATES    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My father was killed and I never knew why
Last Line: When I was a little girl and my mother didn't want me
Subject(s): Adoption; Death; Fathers; Mothers And Daughters; Relationships


WHEN PAPA DRIVES, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Old sorrel straightens up her ears
Last Line: When papa takes the reins!
Subject(s): Driving & Drivers; Fathers


WHEN SONS AND FATHERS PART, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You're going, son, the world to face
Last Line: And, oh, remember us!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


WHERE WE NEVER WERE, by ANN S. GOLDSMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: When my father died, I smelled a cigar
Last Line: Names in salt, on the high forbidden door
Subject(s): Death; Fathers


WHILE WATCHING 'YOUNG AND INNOCENT' I THINK OF MY MOTHER, by IRA SADOFF    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Pull down the shades. Those waifs
Subject(s): Mothers; Fathers; Absence; Abandonment; Separation; Isolation; Desertion


WHITE APPLES, by DONALD HALL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: When my father had been dead a week
Subject(s): Death - Fathers


WHITE CRANE, by DEAN YOUNG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Fathers; Death; Cranes (birds); Dead, The


WHO DAD USED TO BE, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's fun to hear stories
Last Line: He's dad...To me!
Subject(s): Fathers


WHY I LOVE FOOTBALL, by DELORES BRYANT    Poem Source                    
First Line: It started with my father
Last Line: Just %there
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Football


WHY YOUR FATHER CRIED, by ELAINE TERRANOVA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your sister is telling the story. It was
Last Line: "some of the best thoughts I had in my life."
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood


WILD HORSE ISLAND, by DEBRA KANG DEAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father stabled wild horses %in his heart. At least that's
Last Line: Five dead soldiers,' he said to the fridge, %'and one still cold'
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean, Debi Kang
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Fathers


WILL, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your face, my boy, when six months old
Last Line: And more than father, will!
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons


WILL I BE BIG?, by JANE MEDINA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Someday %will I be big like you, daddy?
Last Line: Yes, honey, %but, oh, %not yet
Subject(s): Fathers


WINTER NIGHT ON THE YENTNA RIVER, by ARLITIA JONES    Poem Text                    
First Line: If the lives we live depend on the stories we tell
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Winter


WINTER STARS, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Aging; Courage; Stars; Sickness; Valor; Bravery; Illness


WITH KIT, AGE 7, AT THE BEACH, by WILLIAM EDGAR STAFFORD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: We would climb the highest dune
Subject(s): Fathers; Labor & Laborers; Men; Prayer; Swimming & Swimmers; Work; Workers; Swimmers


WITH KIT, AGE 7, AT THE BEACH, by WILLIAM EDGAR STAFFORD    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We would climb the highest dune
Last Line: As far as was needed,' I said, %and as I talked, I swam
Subject(s): Fathers; Labor And Laborers; Men; Prayer; Swimming


WOMEN OF TRACHIS: HERACLES' LAST WORSD TO HIS SON, by SOPHOCLES    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Listen first, and show what you're made of
Last Line: Come at it that way, my boy, what %splendour, it all coheres
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons


WORDS FOR MY DAUGHTER, by JOHN BALABAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: About eight of us were nailing up forts
Last Line: To call me back into our helpless tribe.
Subject(s): Children; Fathers & Daughters; Men; Parents; Soldiers; Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975; War; Childhood; Parenthood


WORDS FOR MY FATHER, by PETER DAVISON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Your gorgeous voice soared
Last Line: Your gift to me %is my gift to you
Subject(s): Fathers


WORKING LATE, by LOUIS SIMPSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A light is on in my father's study
Subject(s): Fathers & Sons; Law & Lawyers


WORKING LATE, by LOUIS SIMPSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A light is on in my father's study
Last Line: At night in my father's study %now shines as late as mine
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Law And Lawyers


WORRIER, by STEPHEN ELLIOTT DUNN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So he wouldn't think of his children
Last Line: Whose funerals he might go to %out of some vague sense of duty
Alternate Author Name(s): Dunn, Stephen
Subject(s): Fathers


WORTH FOREST, by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Come, prudence, you have done enough to-day
Last Line: "sir, the child is dead!"
Subject(s): Brooks; Nature; Pilgrim Fathers; Rivers; Sussex, England; Worth Forest, England; Streams; Creeks


WRIST-WRESTLING FATHER, by JR. ORVAL A. LUND    Poem Source                    
First Line: On the maple wood we placed our elbows
Last Line: Than when I snapped my father's arm down to the table
Subject(s): Fathers And Sons; Poetry And Poets


WRITER, by RICHARD WILBUR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In her room at the prow of the house
Last Line: I wish %what I wished you before, but harder
Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers And Daughters


WRITING HISTORY, by ALISON MANDAVILLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: My daddy looks a fine small man in a tie
Last Line: Always set to walk under %when love calls
Subject(s): Fathers


WYTHEVILLE HOSPITAL, FEBRUARY, 1985, by DAVID HUDDLE    Poem Source                    
First Line: To help his cracked ribs heal, he was supposed
Last Line: You need a light on to read,' my father said, %'turn it on, son'
Subject(s): Fathers; Hospitals


YOU DIDN'T FIT, by SUSAN MUSGRAVE    Poem Source                    
First Line: You wouldn't fit in your coffin
Last Line: And it is. We're all clutching
Subject(s): Fathers


YOU TAUGHT ME, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All those years, alone
Last Line: I didn't even know my name!
Subject(s): Children; Fathers; Fathers & Sons; Love; Parents; Sons; Childhood; Parenthood


YOU WOULD KNOW, by MARVIN BELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: That you, father, are 'in my mind'
Last Line: What I was, happy, maybe am, you would know.
Subject(s): Escapes; Fathers & Sons; Happiness; Past; Fugitives; Joy; Delight


YOU'LL DO, by STEVEN L. LAYNE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I got this dump truck, see
Last Line: As the solution for all of them
Subject(s): Fathers


YOUR FATHER DEAD, by BOB HICOK    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Your father dead and a field to mow
Last Line: Is what he taught %but secretly hoped you'd outgrow
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers; Graves


YOUTH, by JAMES WRIGHT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Strange bird
Last Line: Than he is, or I am
Alternate Author Name(s): Wright, James A.
Subject(s): Fathers; Industry; Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers


YOUTH, by JAMES WRIGHT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Strange bird
Last Line: The waters flow past, older, younger %than he is, or I am
Alternate Author Name(s): Wright, James A.
Subject(s): Fathers; Industry; Labor And Laborers


ZIGZAG, by RAY CLARK DICKSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: I walk down country backroads along zigzag fences
Last Line: Zigzag fences wondering where my life had gone
Subject(s): Fathers; Malone, Marvin (d. 1996); Memory