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Poems About Eyes

The 11 poems about eyes, by 9 poets, ranked by third-party data. How poems are ranked

THE FAIREST THING IN MORTAL EYES

Charles, Duke of Orleans

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To make my lady's obsequies My love a minster wrought,And, in the chantry, service there Was sung by doleful thought;The tapers were of burning sighs, That light and odor gave:And sorrows, painted o'er with tears, Enlumined her grave;And round about, in quaintest guise,Was carved: "Within this tomb there liesThe fairest thing in mortal eyes."Above her lieth spread a tomb

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Of gold and sapphires blue:The gold doth show her blessedness, The sapphires mark her true;For blessedness and truth in her Were livelily portrayed,When gracious God with both his hands Her goodly substance made.He framed her in such wondrous wise,She was, to speak without disguise,The fairest thing in mortal eyes.

No more, no more! my heart doth faint When I the life recallOf her who lived so free from taint, So virtuous deemed by all,-- That in herself was so complete I think that she was ta'enBy God to deck his paradise, And with his saints to reign,Whom while on earth each one did prizeThe fairest thing in mortal eyes.

But naught our tears avail, or cries; All soon or late in death shall sleep; Nor living wight long time may keepThe fairest thing in mortal eyes.

Source

The World's Best Poetry, Vol. III, ed. Bliss Carman, 1904

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THE NOSE AND THE EYES

William Cowper

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Between Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose;The spectacles set them, unhappily, wrong;The point in dispute was, as all the world knows, To whom the said spectacles ought to belong.

So Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause, With a great deal of skill, and a wig full of learning,While chief baron Ear sat to balance the laws,-- So famed for his talent in nicely discerning.

"In behalf of the Nose, it will quickly appear (And your lordship," he said, "will undoubtedly find)That the Nose has the spectacles always to wear, Which amounts to possession, time out of mind."

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Then, holding the spectacles up to the court, "Your lordship observes, they are made with a straddle.As wide as the ridge of the Nose is; in short, Designed to sit close to it, just like a saddle.

"Again, would your lordship a moment suppose ('T is a case that has happened, and may happen again)That the visage or countenance had not a Nose, Pray, who would, or who could, wear spectacles then?

"On the whole, it appears, and my argument shows, With a reasoning the court will never condemn,That the spectacles, plainly, were made for the Nose,And the Nose was, as plainly, intended for them."

Then shifting his side (as a lawyer knows how), He pleaded again in behalf of the Eyes:But what were his arguments, few people know, For the court did not think them equally wise.

So his lordship decreed, with a grave, solemn tone, Decisive and clear, without one if or but,That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on, By daylight or candlelight,--Eyes should be shut.

Source

The World's Best Poetry, Vol. IX, ed. Bliss Carman, 1904

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LIPS AND EYES

Thomas Middleton

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Love for such a cherry lipWould be glad to pawn his arrows;Venus here to take a sipWould sell her doves and team of sparrows.But they shall not so;Hey nonny, nonny no!None but I this lip must owe;Hey nonny, nonny no!

Did Jove see this wanton eye,Ganymede must wait no longer;Phoebe here one night did lie,Would change her face and look much younger.But they shall not so;Hey nonny, nonny no!None but I this lip must owe;Hey nonny, nonny no!

Source

The Home Book of Verse, ed. Burton Egbert Stevenson

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"GOLDEN SLUMBERS KISS YOUR EYES"

Thomas Dekker

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Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,Smiles awake you when you rise.Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,And I will sing a lullaby.Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,You are care, and care must keep you.Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,And I will sing a lullaby.Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Source

The Home Book of Verse, ed. Burton Egbert Stevenson

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MAIDEN EYES

Gerald Griffin

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You never bade me hope, 'tis true;I asked you not to swear:But I looked in those eyes of blue,And read a promise there.

The vow should bind, with maiden sighsThat maiden lips have spoken:But that which looks from maiden eyesShould last of all be broken.

Source

The Home Book of Verse, ed. Burton Egbert Stevenson

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"THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES"

Francis William Bourdillon

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The night has a thousand eyes,And the day but one;Yet the light of the bright world diesWith the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,And the heart but one;Yet the light of a whole life diesWhen love is done.

Source

The Home Book of Verse, ed. Burton Egbert Stevenson

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LO! IN THINE HONEST EYES I READ

Robert Louis Stevenson

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LO! in thine honest eyes I readThe auspicious beacon that shall lead,After long sailing in deep seas,To quiet havens in June ease.

Thy voice sings like an inland birdFirst by the seaworn sailor heard;And like road sheltered from life’s seaThine honest heart is unto me.

Source

New Poems, and Variant Readings, 1918

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MINE EYES WERE SWIFT TO KNOW THEE

Robert Louis Stevenson

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MINE eyes were swift to know thee, and my heartAs swift to love. I did become at onceThine wholly, thine unalterably, thineIn honourable service, pure intent,Steadfast excess of love and laughing care:And as she was, so am, and so shall be.I knew thee helpful, knew thee true, knew theeAnd Pity bedfellows: I heard thy talkWith answerable throbbings. On the stream,Deep, swift, and clear, the lilies floated; fishThrough the shadows ran. There, thou and IRead Kindness in our eyes and closed the match.

Source

New Poems, and Variant Readings, 1918

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NOW BARE TO THE BEHOLDER’S EYE

Robert Louis Stevenson

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NOW bare to the beholder’s eyeYour late denuded bindings lie,Subsiding slowly where they fell,A disinvested citadel;The obdurate corset, Cupid’s foe,The Dutchman’s breeches frilled below.Those that the lover notes to note,And white and crackling petticoat.

From these, that on the ground repose,Their lady lately re-arose;And laying by the lady’s name,A living woman re-became.

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Of her, that from the public eyeThey do enclose and fortify,Now, lying scattered as they fell,An indiscreeter tale they tell:Of that more soft and secret herWhose daylong fortresses they were,By fading warmth, by lingering print,These now discarded scabbards hint.

A twofold change the ladies know:First, in the morn the bugles blow,And they, with floral hues and scents,Man their beribboned battlements.But let the stars appear, and theyShed inhumanities away;And from the changeling fashion see,Through comic and through sweet degree,In nature’s toilet unsurpassed,Forth leaps the laughing girl at last.

Source

New Poems, and Variant Readings, 1918

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THINE EYES STILL SHINED

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Thine eyes still shined for me, though far I lonely roved the land or sea:As I behold yon evening star, Which yet beholds not me.

This morn I climbed the misty hill And roamed the pastures through;How danced thy form before my path Amidst the deep-eyed dew!

When the redbird spread his sable wing, And showed his side of flame;When the rosebud ripened to the rose, In both I read thy name.

Source

Poems Household Edition

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IN THE MIND’S EYE

Thomas Hardy

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THAT was once her casement, And the taper nigh,Shining from within there, Beckoned, “Here am I!”

Now, as then, I see her Moving at the pane;Ah; ’tis but her phantom Borne within my brain!—

Foremost in my vision Everywhere goes she;Change dissolves the landscapes, She abides with me.

Shape so sweet and shy, Dear, Who can say thee nay?Never once do I, Dear, Wish thy ghost away.

Source

Time's Laughingstocks, and Other Verses, 1928

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11 poems about eyes

9 poets

By poet's century of death

15th1
17th2
18th1
19th5
20th2

Poets with more than one poem

Robert Louis Stevenson3

By poems shared with this page.