After Dinner Speeches

Every rose has its thorn
    There's fuzz on all the peaches.
There never was a dinner yet
    Without some lengthy speeches.

Unknown

The identity of this poet is not known. Their works, which are often of significant historical or cultural value, have been attributed to 'Unknown'. This designation is commonly used when the creator of works, ranging from ancient texts to more modern writings, remains anonymous or uncredited. Despite the lack of personal details, the impact and importance of these works endure, offering insight into the eras and cultures from which they originated.

Unknown

Nursery Rhyme. DLXVI. Natural History.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Thin People

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Nursery Rhyme. CCCCLIV. Love And Matrimony.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Nursery Rhyme. XXIV. Historical

Unknown , Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Swords And Roses

    Some lives have themes.
    Goldfish that stubbornly die;
    compatability only with distant lovers
    - flowers (but no sweet-breads)
    that wilt to the touch.

    Waiting. Charcoal-grey cat
    agreeably on a green linoleum table
    with light basking in....
    a tad playful,
    paws up,
    (classic boxer stance)
    but no one notices.
    Others oblique in their transparency,
    are unmindful of even the empty closet
    and greeting cards that smile hello.

    In the dark
    this room shimmers below
    life-raft status;
    chairs are buoys
    bobbing under waves
    of congealed fright.
    In the morning
    the first pigeons
    rifle over rooftops,
    mad flutterings like your eyes

Paul Cameron Brown

Etiquet

There was a young man so benighted,
He never knew when he was slighted;
    He would go to a party,
    And eat just as hearty,
As if he'd been really invited.

Unknown

Cupid's Darts, Which Are A Growing Menace To The Public

Do not worry if I scurry from the grill room in a hurry,
    Dropping hastily my curry and retiring into balk;
Do not let it cause you wonder if, by some mischance or blunder,
    We encounter on the Underground and I get out and walk.

If I double as a cub'll when you meet him in the stubble,
    Do not think I am in trouble or attempt to make a fuss;
Do not judge me melancholy or attribute it to folly
    If I leave the Metropolitan and travel 'n a bus.

Do not quiet your anxiety by giving me a diet,
    Or by base resort to vi et armis fold me to your arms,
And let no suspicious tremor violate your wonted phlegm or
    Any fear that Harold's memory is faithless to your charms.

For my passion as I dash on in that disconcerting fashion
    Is as arden...

Unknown

Airbrush

    Iced coffee,
    wedge of toast -
    the sun poking thru
    cranberry glass
    delights exquisite Duchess of Berry,
    her decanters & an hourglass.

    Halo-hello in your fingertips
    I said,
    to a cadaver of light
    boldly striking a tuning fork
    to ring an engagement
    of gold flecks
    by your bed.

    Limoges vase
    for lace and pretty underthings
    for outside the stream
    steals my interest,
    wearing tumbledown silk pyjamas
    and a peek-a-boo smile that points
    thru reed curtains.

    A rustle from her chemise
    and sun parasol parts green boudoir
    draping shiny, black rock.

    The muddle of this earth-time puzzle,
    brief flutter to the eyelid...

Paul Cameron Brown

Temperance

Here's to a temperance supper,
    With water in glasses tall,
And coffee and tea to end with
    And me not there at all.

Unknown

Verses For After-Dinner Phi Beta Kappa Society, 1844

I was thinking last night, as I sat in the cars,
With the charmingest prospect of cinders and stars,
Next Thursday is - bless me! - how hard it will be,
If that cannibal president calls upon me!

There is nothing on earth that he will not devour,
From a tutor in seed to a freshman in flower;
No sage is too gray, and no youth is too green,
And you can't be too plump, though you're never too lean.

While others enlarge on the boiled and the roast,
He serves a raw clergyman up with a toast,
Or catches some doctor, quite tender and young,
And basely insists on a bit of his tongue.

Poor victim, prepared for his classical spit,
With a stuffing of praise and a basting of wit,
You may twitch at your collar and wrinkle your brow,
But you're up on your legs, ...

Oliver Wendell Holmes