Night Poems | Poemist

Popular Night Poems

Exposure

by Wilfred Owen

I

1 Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us ...
2 Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent ...
3 Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient ...
4 Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
5 But nothing happens.

6 Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.
7 Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.

......

Boots

by Rudyard Kipling

INFANTRY COLUMNS

We're foot--slog--slog--slog--sloggin' over Africa --
Foot--foot--foot--foot--sloggin' over Africa --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

Seven--six--eleven--five--nine-an'-tw enty mile to-day --
Four--eleven--seventeen--thirty-two the day before --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)

......

The Man With Night Sweats

by Thom Gunn

I wake up cold, I who
Prospered through dreams of heat
Wake to their residue,
Sweat, and a clinging sheet.

My flesh was its own shield:
Where it was gashed, it healed.

I grew as I explored
The body I could trust

......

The Road

by Nancy Fotheringham Cato

I made the rising moon go back
behind the shouldering hill,
I raced along the eastern track
till time itself stood still.

The stars swarmed on behind the trees,
but I sped fast at they,
I could have made the sun arise,
and night turn back to day.

......

A Red Palm

by Gary Soto

You're in this dream of cotton plants.
You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds
Fall with a sigh. You take another step,
Chop, and the sigh comes again,
Until you yourself are breathing that way
With each step, a sigh that will follow you into town.

That's hours later. The sun is a red blister
Coming up in your palm. Your back is strong,
Young, not yet the broken chair

......

Recent Night Poems

Sky of Fireflies

by Evelyn Judy Buehler

Sultry evening surprise,
the starry sky of fireflies!
Pink, shining, full moon
on rosy, Dragonfly Lagoon.
Lofty fireflies are winking,
as gold time is blinking.
Ash silhouetted clouds,
partially veil fleet crowds,
that glow emerald green,
until so suddenly unseen.

......

Reflections of the Self

by Ayatullah Nurjati

As I stand, a poet in an ocean of words,
Unspoken feelings, unheard verses surge.
What is this craft, this calling to write?
Is it light for others or my own plight?

I pen the tales of others, the struggles they bear,
Yet each word I write is a weight I wear.
To live, to serve, to break free from norm,
A poet’s life—a perpetual storm.

......

Cool Duskiness

by Evelyn Judy Buehler

Intense thirst in the sweltering desert,
yet, the emerald succulents still thrive;
for surviving, often takes extra effort.
Intense thirst in the sweltering desert,
Then cool moon arrives, as if pressured.
A beautiful, flowering cacti night, alive!
Intense thirst in the sweltering desert,
yet, the emerald succulents still thrive.

A Sonnet of 31: The Beauty Had Been Revealed

by Ayatullah Nurjati

In the shadow’s veil, beauty lay concealed
Unseen by those who walk the hurried way
The moonlight whispers secrets softly sealed
While shadows dance, the night turns pale and gray

A fragile bloom awaits the dawn's embrace
Its petals cloaked in night’s cold, tender shroud
Yet beauty thrives in such a quiet place
A truth unveiled when hearts no longer cloud

......

The Story Etched in Heaven on Earth

by Ayatullah Nurjati

Under the vast and silent sky, a young man raised his gaze to the twinkling stars above. He always felt that the stars held a special story for him, a story carved with light in the night sky.
On the other side of the world, there was a girl who also loved to look at the stars. She felt that there was something special every time she looked at the stars, as if they were whispering to her about a love she had yet to find.
One night, under the same blanket of stars, the young man and young woman found themselves thinking about love and hope. Unbeknownst to them, the twinkling stars above were actually forming a pattern that carried a message for the two of them.
The message was "A sincere heart will always find its way." The stars became silent witnesses to their meeting that had yet to happen, but was already written in the night sky. A love story carved in the name of heaven, waiting to be realized.
Sometime later, fate brought them together at an art event. They felt as if they had known each other for a long time, just as the stars told them on that silent night. Their love story begins, with the stars as silent witnesses who always remind them of the story carved in the night sky.

Jakarta, 3 January 2025