"Goblin Feet" is a short poem by J.R.R. Tolkien that pulls readers down a moonlit fairy lane alive with glowing lanterns, whirring beetles, and the padded feet of gnomes and leprechauns. The speaker is seized by an urgent, almost desperate longing to follow the enchanted procession before it vanishes around the bend. As the lights fade and the echo of dancing feet dies away, wonder curdles into something achingly bittersweet — the sorrow of a magical world that cannot be held.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

"Hallowe'en in a Suburb" is a poem by H. P. Lovecraft in which a moonlit village transforms into a landscape of creeping cosmic dread. Vampires drift past white steeples, ghouls wail among headstones, and the dead leap gleefully from their tombs. Lovecraft builds a vision where the familiar — chimneys, meadows, cobblestone rows — is quietly swallowed by an ancient, indifferent darkness. The poem moves toward a unsettling conclusion: that the living, the dead, and the man-made world are all equally destined for ruin beneath the relentless jaws of Time.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

"Song of the Witches," drawn from Shakespeare's Macbeth, is a poem that pulls readers into a midnight ritual as three witches circle a cauldron, hurling poisoned entrails, serpent fillets, and stranger horrors into a bubbling hell-broth. Each grotesque ingredient — eye of newt, lizard's leg, a strangled infant's finger — is chanted with gleeful precision, building toward a charm of terrifying power. The hypnotic refrain "Double, double toil and trouble" drives the incantation forward, making darkness feel almost musical.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

"As Children Bid the Guest Good-Night" by Emily Dickinson is a short poem that draws a tender parallel between the nightly closing and morning opening of flowers and the reluctant bedtime and joyful waking of children. With quiet charm, Dickinson imagines blooms pulling on their nightgowns at dusk and then peeping and prancing from their cribs at dawn — transforming the garden into a nursery full of small, spirited lives governed by the same rhythms as childhood.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

"The Bee" is a short poem by Emily Dickinson that transforms an ordinary bee into a jewelled, armoured warrior moving through a world of flowers. With gauze-shod feet, a golden helmet, and an onyx breast inlaid with chrysoprase, Dickinson's bee tilts victoriously from bloom to bloom in what reads as a tender act of sweet assault. The poem closes with the speaker's quiet longing — to trade places with the bee and know a life defined by clovers, chant, and the slow luxury of noon.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

"May-Flower" is a short poem by Emily Dickinson that captures the delicate arrival of the trailing arbutus, a small wildflower heralding the turn from April's secrecy to May's open bloom. With precise, jewel-like language, Dickinson traces the flower's modest beauty — aromatic, low to the ground, dear to moss and knoll — and elevates it to something held close in every human soul. The poem closes with a bold claim: that this tiny blossom is so vital and alive, nature itself abandons all that came before it.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

"Noel: Christmas Eve 1913" is a short poem by Robert Bridges in which a solitary speaker walks out on a frosty Christmas Eve and hears distant church bells ringing across the valley. The pealing sounds lift his thoughts back to that very first Christmas, when shepherds in the fields could not tell whether the music they heard came from angels or the stars themselves. Standing alone on the hillside, he finds in those far-off bells something ancient, tender, and consoling — a sound transformed by time into something close to the eternal.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

"The Christmas Wreath" is a short poem by Anna de Brémont in which a speaker gazes at a holiday wreath and is swept into bittersweet remembrance. The ivy's sheen and holly's crimson glow become echoes of lost loved ones — caressed hair, pressed lips, voices now silenced. Grief and tenderness intertwine as the speaker's tears become the only offering left to those whose spirits shine down from beyond. The poem moves quietly from nostalgia to mourning, holding both the warmth of memory and the ache of absence.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

A Christmas Prayer by Robert Louis Stevenson is a short devotional poem that moves through the hours of Christmas Day — from the joy of morning to the quiet of evening. The speaker calls on a loving Father to open doors of love, replace hate with kindness, and lead hearts toward forgiveness. Rooted in the nativity story, the poem weaves together the angels, shepherds, and wise men into a gentle plea to live the spirit of Christmas with gratitude and clear conscience.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.

"Ceremonies For Christmas" by Robert Herrick is a short poem brimming with the sights, sounds, and smells of a traditional Christmas celebration. The household bursts into cheerful motion as the great Yule log is hauled to the fire, lit with the ember saved from last year's flame, and the table fills with strong beer, white bread, and mince pies in the making. Herrick captures the warmth of communal festivity — music, drink, and the hopeful wish for good luck in the year ahead.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ririro-com-poetry--6577576/support.