Poems by Charles Dickens

All Poems Original Poems Translations

These Things Shall Never Die

The pure, the bright, the beautiful

That stirred our hearts in youth,

The impulses to wordless prayer,

The streams of love and truth,

The longing after something lost,

The spirit's yearning cry,

The striving after better hopes --

These things can never die.

Charles Dickens

A Fine Old English Gentleman

I'll sing you a new ballad, and I'll warrant it first-rate,

Of the days of that old gentleman who had that old estate;

When they spent the public money at a bountiful old rate

On ev'ry mistress, pimp, and scamp, at ev'ry noble gate,

In the fine old English Tory times;

Soon may they come again!

The good old laws were garnished well with gibbets, whips, and chains,

With fine old English penalties, and fine old English pains,

Charles Dickens

Squire Norton's Song

The child and the old man sat alone

In the quiet, peaceful shade

Of the old green boughs, that had richly grown

In the deep, thick forest glade.

It was a soft and pleasant sound,

That rustling of the oak;

And the gentle breeze played lightly round

As thus the fair boy spoke:—

Charles Dickens

Gabriel's Grub Song

Brave lodgings for one, brave lodgings for one,

A few feet of cold earth, when life is done;

A stone at the head, a stone at the feet;

A rich, juicy meal for the worms to eat;

Rank grass overhead, and damp clay around,

Brave lodging for one, these, in holy ground!

Charles Dickens

The Ivy Green

Oh, a dainty plant is the Ivy green,

That creepeth o'er ruins old!

Of right choice food are his meals, I ween,

In his cell so lone and cold.

The wall must be crumbled, the stone decayed,

To pleasure his dainty whim:

And the mouldering dust that years have made

Is a merry meal for him.

Charles Dickens

The Hymn Of The Wiltshire Laborers

O God! who by Thy prophet's hand

Didst smite the rocky brake,

Whence water came, at Thy command,

Thy people's thirst to slake;

Strike, now, upon this granite wall,

Stern, obdurate, and high;

And let some drops of pity fall

For us who starve and die!

Charles Dickens

George Edmunds' Song

Autumn leaves, autumn leaves, lie strewn around he here;

Autumn leaves, autumn leaves, how sad, how cold, how drear!

How like the hopes of childhood's day,

Thick clust'ring on the bough!

How like those hopes in their decay—

How faded are they now!

Autumn leaves, autumn leaves, lie strewn around me here;

Autumn leaves, autumn leaves, how sad, how cold, how drear!

Charles Dickens

Lucy's Song

How beautiful at eventide

To see the twilight shadows pale,

Steal o'er the landscape, far and wide,

O'er stream and meadow, mound and dale!

How soft is Nature's calm repose

When ev'ning skies their cool dews weep:

The gentlest wind more gently blows,

Charles Dickens

The Song Of The Wreck

The wind blew high, the waters raved,

A ship drove on the land,

A hundred human creatures saved

Kneel'd down upon the sand.

Threescore were drown'd, threescore were thrown

Upon the black rocks wild,

And thus among them, left alone,

They found one helpless child.

Charles Dickens

Little Nell's Funeral

And now the bell, — the bell

She had so often heard by night and day

And listened to with solemn pleasure,

E'en as a living voice, —

Rung its remorseless toll for her,

So young, so beautiful, so good.

Decrepit age, and vigorous life,

And blooming youth, and helpless infancy,

Charles Dickens

A Child's Hymn

Hear my prayer, O heavenly Father,

Ere I lay me down to sleep;

Bid Thy angels, pure and holy,

Round my bed their vigil keep.

My sins are heavy, but Thy mercy

Far outweighs them, every one;

Down before Thy cross I cast them,

Charles Dickens