Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

William Ernest Henley

Kate-a-Whimsies, John-a-Dreams,
Still debating, still delay,
And the world’s a ghost that gleams—
Wavers—vanishes away!

We must live while live we can;
We should love while love we may.
Dread in women, doubt in man . . .
So the Infinite runs away.

Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Poems | Macmillan and Co., 1920

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Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

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