• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Monday, October 19, 2026
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry

‘Little Girl’ and Other Poetry by Martin John King

June 22, 2018
in Poetry
A A
15
poems 'Little Girl' and Other Poetry by Martin John King

Little Girl

She’s fishing in a rock pool
just abandoned by the sea
She’s too engrossed within her world
to notice you and me.

She sprawls to draw a picture
open book upon the sand
Great masters never wielded
so delicate a hand.

Her rainbow spreads across the page
to seek a pot of gold
Our little girl within her world
thinks never to grow old.

 

Yours

Thinking bye and bye, my dear
Of youths fresh beauty flawed,
And glories of past form, I fear
Times distance has ignored.

Then thinking bye and bye, my love
Life’s work and toil and chores,
Remind me how, as wings to dove
I’m yours, and yours, and yours.

 

Martin John King is a retiree living in Somerset, England.

ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here

RandomPoems

‘Rushing to Get the Hay In’ by Reid McGrath
Beauty

‘Rushing to Get the Hay In’ by Reid McGrath

July 30, 2013

The Farmer’s Wife He may as well be sitting on a piece Of junk john-boat out on some open lake....

‘Of Election and Limits’ by Alec Ream
Culture

An Over-18 Riddle: ‘Let’s Do It!’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

November 2, 2020

Let's Do It! The surgeon does it in a snip within a stitch of time. The comic does it with...

Next Post
‘The Beast Once Foretold’ by Evan Mantyk

'The Beast Once Foretold' by Evan Mantyk

A Sonnet by Edward Hoke

A Sonnet by Edward Hoke

A Translation of André Chénier’s ‘Elegy XX’ by Douglas Thornton

A Translation of André Chénier's 'Elegy XX' by Douglas Thornton

Comments 15

  1. Bruce Wren says:
    8 years ago

    Quite charming, both! A touch of Dickinson and Rossetti. Have you a collection?

    Reply
    • Martin King says:
      8 years ago

      Thank you Bruce. As a beginner (age 73) I had to look up the 2 poets you mention, high praise indeed.
      I do have a very small collection of work which will depend on Evan deeming them to be of merit to appear here.

      Reply
  2. Gregory Spicer says:
    8 years ago

    As well executed an eight and six as my eyes have ever beheld!

    Reply
    • Martin King says:
      8 years ago

      Wow! I am speechless, thank you very much.

      Reply
  3. David Watt says:
    8 years ago

    Martin, I really enjoyed your charming poems!

    My only suggestion would be a slight revision as shown below:

    Yours

    Thinking bye and bye, my dear
    Of Youth’s fresh beauty flawed,
    And glories of past form, I fear
    Time’s distance has ignored.

    Then thinking bye and bye, my love
    Life’s work and toil and chores,
    Remind me how, as wings to dove
    I’m yours, and yours, and yours.

    This would serve to make the plural possessives consistent.

    Reply
    • Martin King says:
      8 years ago

      Thank you David for your helpful comments. I did not think “youth’s” needed a capital, as I had in mind that period of physical appearance which sadly is too often only a memory in maturity.

      If I am wrong, I stand corrected and thank you again for your help.

      Reply
      • David Watt says:
        8 years ago

        Hello Martin, I was thinking of Youth’s as qualifying for a capital due to personification. I can see your point, given the context, that lower case is correct. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

        Reply
  4. Father Richard Libby says:
    8 years ago

    These poems are beautifully simple and simply beautiful!

    Reply
    • Martin King says:
      8 years ago

      Thank you so much. Your comment is a poem in itself.

      Reply
  5. Amy Foreman says:
    8 years ago

    A beginner, just now, at age 73:
    What a fine time to write for the great SCP!

    Welcome, Mr. King!

    Is it “bye and bye” or “by and by?” Dickens may have occasionally said, “by and bye,” so perhaps either is correct. But I think I’ve usually seen it as “by and by,” as in the hymn, “In the Sweet By and By.”

    Reply
    • Martin King says:
      8 years ago

      Hello Amy,
      I think that you are correct with “by” in a modern sense, although “bye” seemed to please my old fashioned brain at the time of writing.
      It is dedicated to my wonderful wife Margaret.
      Thank you for your help.

      Reply
  6. Dave Whippman says:
    8 years ago

    “Little Girl” skilfully evokes the intensity of childhood. It’s a pleasure to praise a piece by a fellow West Countryman!

    Reply
    • Martin King says:
      8 years ago

      Thank you Dave “yer tiz”.

      Reply
  7. C.B. Anderson says:
    8 years ago

    Very appealing lyrics, indeed, these two. You might have set the record for the age at which a poet started writing poems. I started at age 54, and I thought that was something.

    Reply
    • Martin King says:
      8 years ago

      Thank you very much C.B. I must confess that most were written 10 years ago and then I had Aortic valve replacement and after the op. my brain did not seem inspired to write more.
      However after finding SCPoets I have polished the old ones and am trying to think of new themes.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


  1. Gerard Maritato on The Blobfish—‘Mr Blobby’: A Poem by Paul A. FreemanOctober 19, 2026

    I especially like the last two lines. Strangely reminds me of nursing home residents, the least of our society relegated…

  2. Stephen DiLauro on ‘Biblical? Emblematic?’: A Poem by Stephen DiLauroOctober 19, 2026

    Then this little ditty is successful. Thank you, Gerard!

  3. Stephen DiLauro on ‘Every New Pantheon’: A Poem by C.B. AndersonOctober 19, 2026

    Excellent, Mr. Anderson! I almost always find sentiment with intent worthy. And "cauliflower clouds" is brilliant. Thank you!

  4. Rohini Sunderam on ‘The River & The Sea’: A Poem by Rohini SunderamOctober 19, 2026

    Oh, wow and thank you! I used to love this form of personification of natural forces as a child. It…

  5. Gerard Maritato on ‘Biblical? Emblematic?’: A Poem by Stephen DiLauroOctober 19, 2026

    I will never look in the same way at that apple on my phone! Good cause for reflection.

Subscribe to Daily Poems

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,660 other subscribers
No Result
View All Result

Resources

       1. A Guide to Writing Poetry

      2. The Best Poems of 2020      

      3. Poetry and Writing Contests

      4. Journals Accepting Formal Verse

Recent Poems

  • ‘Every New Pantheon’: A Poem by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘Biblical? Emblematic?’: A Poem by Stephen DiLauro
  • ‘The Valley’: A Poem by Briana Reavis
  • The Blobfish—‘Mr Blobby’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman
  • ‘Nature’s Family’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘The River & The Sea’: A Poem by Rohini Sunderam
  • Poems by Derzhavin, Akhmatova, and Tyutchev, Translated by Kevin Rainbow
  • ‘After-Action Report’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi
  • ‘The Walking Wounded’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann
  • ‘Their Words, My Fault’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick
  • ‘Lazarus I’: A Poem by Jason Hunt
  • Poetry Challenge: Dictionary Delights
  • ‘In Defense of Rhyme’: An Essay by Euphrates Moss
  • ‘Gun Control’: A Poem by Kevin Ahern
  • ‘Power of a Pen’: A Poem by Janice Stanley
  • The Best Haiku of 2026
  • ‘One Night in Bangkok’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko
  • ‘Invocation’: A Poem by D.R. Rainbolt
  • ‘Enjoy the Peace, Prepare for War’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson
  • Faust Part Two, Act One: ‘A Pleasant Landscape’ by Goethe, Translated by Josh Olson
  • A Song Inspired by Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’, by Gunny Markefka
  • ‘Reappraisals of Mortality’: A Poem by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘What Is the Measure of My Days?’: A Poem by Peter Venable
  • ‘Polar Coordinates’: A Poem by Adam Sedia
  • ‘It Never Lies!’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman
  • ‘The Mahjong Flowers’: A Set of Sonnets by Margaret Coats
  • ‘The Martyrdom of Saint Cassian’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi
  • ‘Mind Versus Beauty’: A Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Translated by Eric v.d. Luft
  • ‘Summer Sails’: A Poem by Paulette Calasibetta
  • ‘Aquarius’: A Poem by Patricia Rogers Crozier

Categories

  • Acrostic
  • Alexandroid
  • Alliterative
  • Art
  • Best Poems
  • Blank Verse
  • Chant Royal
  • Classical Poets Live
  • Clerihew
  • Covid-19
  • Deconstructing Communism
  • Educational
  • Epic
  • Epigrams and Proverbs
  • Essays
    • Interviews with Poets
    • Poetry Reviews
  • Featured
  • From the Society
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Human Rights in China
  • Limerick
  • Love Poems
  • Music
  • Pantoum
  • Performing Arts
  • Poetry
    • Beauty
    • Children's Poems
    • Culture
    • Ekphrastic
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Humor
    • Riddles
  • Poetry Challenge
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
    • Curtal Sonnet
    • Haiku
  • Poetry Readings
  • Rhupunt
  • Rondeau
  • Rondeau Redoublé
  • Rondel
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sapphic Verse
  • Satire
  • Science
  • Sestina
  • Shape Poems
  • Short Stories
  • Song Lyrics
  • Sonnet
  • Symposium
  • Terrorism
  • Terza Rima
  • The Environment
  • Translation
  • Triolet
  • Video
  • Villanelle

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.