Yes, the Year is growing old,And his eye is pale and bleared!Death, with frosty hand and cold,Plucks the old man by the beard,Sorely, sorely!The leaves are falling, falling,Solemnly and slow;Caw! caw! the rooks are calling,It is a sound of woe,A sound of woe!Through woods and mountain passesThe winds, like anthems, roll;They are chanting solemn masses,Singing, [...]
The Gift of His Presence
May we never be so focused on getting fits and presents that we forget to receive the gift of His presence [...]
Blind Bartimeus
Blind Bartimeus at the gatesOf Jericho in darkness waits;He hears the crowd;--he hears a breathSay, "It is Christ of Nazareth!"And calls, in tones of agony,The thronging multitudes increase;Blind Bartimeus, hold thy peace!But still, above the noisy crowd,The beggar's cry is shrill and loud;Until they say, "He calleth thee!"Then saith the Christ, [...]
Sonnet 41: I thank all who have loved me in their hearts
XLII thank all who have loved me in their hearts,With thanks and love from mine. Deep thanks to allWho paused a little near the prison-wallTo hear my music in its louder partsEre they went onward, each one to the mart'sOr temple's occupation, beyond call.But thou, who, in my voice's sink and fallWhen the sob took it, thy divinest Art'sOwn instrument [...]
Sonnet 27: My own Beloved, who hast lifted me
My own Beloved, who hast lifted meFrom this drear flat of earth where I was thrown,And, in betwixt the languid ringlets, blownA life-breath, till the forehead hopefullyShines out again, as all the angels see,Before thy saving kiss! My own, my own,Who camest to me when the world was gone,And I who looked for only God, found thee!I find thee; I am [...]
Sonnet 18: I never gave a lock of hair away
I never gave a lock of hair awayTo a man, Dearest, except this to thee,Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully,I ring out to the full brown length and say'Take it.' My day of youth went yesterday;My hair no longer bounds to my foot's glee,Nor plant I it from rose or myrtle-tree,As girls do, any more: it only mayNow shade on two pale cheeks the mark [...]
Sonnet 29: I think of thee! my thoughts do twine and bud
I think of thee! my thoughts do twine and budAbout thee, as wild vines, about a tree,Put out broad leaves, and soon there 's nought to seeExcept the straggling green which hides the wood.Yet, O my palm-tree, be it understoodI will not have my thoughts instead of theeWho art dearer, better! Rather, instantlyRenew thy presence; as a strong tree should,Rustle [...]
A Dead Rose
O Rose! who dares to name thee?No longer roseate now, nor soft, nor sweet;But pale, and hard, and dry, as stubble-wheat,---Kept seven years in a drawer---thy titles shame thee.The breeze that used to blow theeBetween the hedgerow thorns, and take awayAn odour up the lane to last all day,---If breathing now,---unsweetened would forego thee.The sun [...]
Sonnet 32: The first time that the sun rose on thine oath
The first time that the sun rose on thine oathTo love me, I looked forward to the moonTo slacken all those bonds which seemed too soonAnd quickly tied to make a lasting troth.Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;And, looking on myself, I seemed not oneFor such man's love! more like an out-of-tuneWorn viol, a good singer would be wrothTo [...]
Sonnet 07: The face of all the world is changed, I think
The face of all the world is changed, I think,Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soulMove still, oh, still, beside me, as they stoleBetwixt me and the dreadful outer brinkOf obvious death, where I, who thought to sink,Was caught up into love, and taught the wholeOf life in a new rhythm. The cup of doleGod gave for baptism, I am fain to drink,And [...]
Sonnet 09: Can it be right to give what I can give?
Can it be right to give what I can give?To let thee sit beneath the fall of tearsAs salt as mine, and hear the sighing yearsRe-sighing on my lips renunciativeThrough those infrequent smiles which fail to liveFor all thy adjurations? O my fears,That this can scarce be right! We are not peers,So to be lovers; and I own, and grieve,That givers of such [...]
Sonnet 42: 'My future will not copy fair my past'
'My future will not copy fair my past'I wrote that once; and thinking at my sideMy ministering life-angel justifiedThe word by his appealing look upcastTo the white throne of God, I turned at last,And there, instead, saw thee, not unalliedTo angels in thy soul! Then I, long triedBy natural ills, received the comfort fast,While budding, at thy sight, [...]
Sonnet 01: I thought once how Theocritus had sung
I thought once how Theocritus had sungOf the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years,Who each one in a gracious hand appearsTo bear a gift for mortals, old or young:And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,Those of my own life, who by turns had flungA shadow across [...]
The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point
I.I stand on the mark beside the shoreOf the first white pilgrim's bended knee,Where exile turned to ancestor,And God was thanked for liberty.I have run through the night, my skin is as dark,I bend my knee down on this mark . . .I look on the sky and the sea.II.O pilgrim-souls, I speak to you!I see you come out proud and slowFrom the land of the [...]
A Child Asleep
How he sleepeth! having drunkenWeary childhood's mandragore,From his pretty eyes have sunkenPleasures, to make room for more---Sleeping near the withered nosegay, which he pulled the day before.Nosegays! leave them for the waking:Throw them earthward where they grew.Dim are such, beside the breakingAmaranths he looks unto---Folded eyes see brighter [...]
My Heart and I
I.ENOUGH ! we're tired, my heart and I.We sit beside the headstone thus,And wish that name were carved for us.The moss reprints more tenderlyThe hard types of the mason's knife,As heaven's sweet life renews earth's lifeWith which we're tired, my heart and I.II.You see we're tired, my heart and I.We dealt with books, we trusted men,And in our own [...]
Sonnet 11: And therefore if to love can be desert
And therefore if to love can be desert,I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as paleAs these you see, and trembling knees that failTo bear the burden of a heavy heart,This weary minstrel-life that once was girtTo climb Aornus, and can scarce availTo pipe now 'gainst the valley nightingaleA melancholy music, 'why advertTo these things? O Beloved, it is plainI [...]
Sonnet 33: Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear
Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hearThe name I used to run at, when a child,From innocent play, and leave the cowslips piled,To glance up in some face that proved me dearWith the look of its eyes. I miss the clearFond voices which, being drawn and reconciledInto the music of Heaven's undefiled,Call me no longer. Silence on the bier,While I call [...]
The Autumn
Go, sit upon the lofty hill,And turn your eyes around,Where waving woods and waters wildDo hymn an autumn sound.The summer sun is faint on them --The summer flowers depart --Sit still -- as all transform'd to stone,Except your musing heart.How there you sat in summer-time,May yet be in your mind;And how you heard the green woods singBeneath the freshening [...]
Sonnet 13: And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
And wilt thou have me fashion into speechThe love I bear thee, finding words enough,And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough,Between our faces, to cast light on each?I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teachMy hand to hold my spirit so far offFrom myself 'me' that I should bring thee proofIn words, of love hid in me out of reach.Nay, let the [...]
Comfort
SPEAK low to me, my Saviour, low and sweetFrom out the hallelujahs, sweet and lowLest I should fear and fall, and miss Thee soWho art not missed by any that entreat.Speak to mo as to Mary at thy feet !And if no precious gums my hands bestow,Let my tears drop like amber while I goIn reach of thy divinest voice completeIn humanest affection -- thus, [...]
Sonnet 28: My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!
My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!And yet they seem alive and quiveringAgainst my tremulous hands which loose the stringAnd let them drop down on my knee to-night.This said, 'he wished to have me in his sightOnce, as a friend: this fixed a day in springTo come and touch my hand . . . a simple thing,Yet I wept for it! 'this, . . . the paper's [...]
Sonnet 05: I lift my heavy heart up solemnly
I lift my heavy heart up solemnly,As once Electra her sepulchral urn,And, looking in thine eyes, I overturnThe ashes at thy feet. Behold and seeWhat a great heap of grief lay hid in me,And how the red wild sparkles dimly burnThrough the ashen grayness. If thy foot in scornCould tread them out to darkness utterly,It might be well perhaps. But if insteadThou [...]
Sonnet 35: If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchangeAnd be all to me? Shall I never missHome-talk and blessing and the common kissThat comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,When I look up, to drop on a new rangeOf walls and floors, another home than this?Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which isFilled by dead eyes too tender to know change?That [...]
Tears
THANK God, bless God, all ye who suffer notMore grief than ye can weep for. That is well--That is light grieving ! lighter, none befellSince Adam forfeited the primal lot.Tears ! what are tears ? The babe weeps in its cot,The mother singing, at her marriage-bellThe bride weeps, and before the oracleOf high-faned hills the poet has forgotSuch moisture [...]
Sonnet 23: Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead
Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead,Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine?And would the sun for thee more coldly shineBecause of grave-damps falling round my head?I marvelled, my Beloved, when I readThy thought so in the letter. I am thineBut . . . so much to thee? Can I pour thy wineWhile my hands tremble ? Then my soul, insteadOf dreams of [...]
Jabed Meeker (Humorist)
Twain? Oh, yes, I've heard Mark TwainHeard him down to Pleasant Plain;Funny? Yes, I guess so. FolksSeemed to laugh loud at his jokes!Laughed to beat the band; but ICouldn't rightly make out why.Guess his humor ain't refined.Quite enough to suit my mind.Mark's all right'right clever speaker'But he can't touch Jabed Meeker;And one thing that makes [...]
Still the Light
twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.they remembered nothing [...]
Road of Discipleship
“Wherever you now find yourself on the road of discipleship, you are on the right road, the road toward eternal life. Together we can lift and strengthen one another in the great days ahead. Whatever the difficulties confronting us, the weaknesses confining us, or the impossibilities surrounding us, [...]
A Health to Mark Twain
At his Birthday FeastWith memories old and wishes newWe crown our cups again,And here's to you, and here's to youWith love that ne'er shall wane!And may you keep, at sixty-seven,The joy of earth, the hope of heaven,And fame well-earned, and friendship true,And peace that comforts every pain,And faith that fights the battle through,And all your heart's [...]
Barren Woman, Sylvia Plath
Empty, I echo to the least footfall,Museum without statues, grand with pillars, porticoes, rotundas.In my courtyard a fountain leaps and sinks back into itself,Nun-hearted and blind to the world. Marble liliesExhale their pallor like scent.I imagine myself with a great public,Mother of a white Nike and several bald-eyed Apollos.Insread, the dead [...]
A Birthday Present
What is this, behind this veil, is it ugly, is it beautiful?It is shimmering, has it breasts, has it edges?I am sure it is unique, I am sure it is what I want.When I am quiet at my cooking I feel it looking, I feel it thinking'Is this the one I am too appear for,Is this the elect one, the one with black eye-pits and a scar?Measuring the flour, cutting [...]
Alicante Lullaby, by Sylvia Plath
In Alicante they bowl the barrelsBumblingly over the nubs of the cobblesPast the yellow-paella eateries,Below the ramshackle back-alley balconies,While the cocks and hensIn the roofgardensScuttle repose with crowns and cackles.Kumquat-colored trolleys ding as they trundlePassengers under an indigo fizzleNeedling spumily down from the wires:Alongside [...]
Buddha at Kamakura
O ye who tread the Narrow WayBy Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,Be gentle when "the heathen" pray To Buddha at Kamakura!To him the Way, the Law, apart,Whom Maya held beneath her heart,Ananda's Lord, the Bodhisat, The Buddha of Kamakura.For though he neither burns nor sees,Nor hears ye thank your Deities,Ye have not sinned with such as these, His [...]
The Children's Song
Puck of Pook's HillsLand of our Birth, we pledge to theeOur love and toil in the years to be;When we are grown and take our placeAs men and women with our race.Father in Heaven who lovest all,Oh, help Thy children when they call;That they may build from age to ageAn undefiled heritage.Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,With steadfastness and careful [...]
A Christmas Memory
Pa he bringed me here to stay'Til my Ma she's well.--An' nenHe's go' hitch up, Chris'mus-day,An' come take me back againWher' my Ma's at! Won't I beTickled when he comes fer me!My Ma an' my A'nty they'Uz each-uvver's sisters. Pa--A'nty telled me, th' other day,--He comed here an' married Ma....A'nty said nen, 'Go run play,I must work now!' ... An' [...]
A Bride
'O I am weary!' she sighed, as her billowyHair she unloosed in a torrent of goldThat rippled and fell o'er a figure as willowy,Graceful and fair as a goddess of old:Over her jewels she flung herself drearily,Crumpled the laces that snowed on her breast,Crushed with her fingers the lily that wearilyClung in her hair like a dove in its nest--.And naught [...]
A Poet's Wooing
I woo'd a woman once,But she was sharper than an eastern wind.Tennyson"What may I do to make you glad,To make you glad and free,Till your light smiles glanceAnd your bright eyes danceLike sunbeams on the sea?Read some rhyme that is blithe and gayOf a bright May morn and a marriage day?"And she sighed in a listless way she had,--"Do not read--it will [...]
The Old Times Were the Best
Friends, my heart is half awearyOf its happiness to-night:Though your songs are gay and cheery,And your spirits feather-light,There's a ghostly music hauntingStill the heart of every guestAnd a voiceless chorus chantingThat the Old Times were the best.CHORUSAll about is bright and pleasantWith the sound of song and jest,Yet a feeling's ever presentThat [...]
The Song of Yesterday
IBut yesterday I looked away O'er happy lands, where sunshine lay In golden blots, Inlaid with spots Of shade and wild forget-me-nots. My head was fair With flaxen hair, And fragrant breezes, faint and rare, And, warm with drouth From out the south, Blew all my curls across my mouth. And, cool and sweet, My naked feet Found dewy pathways through [...]
A Child-World
_The Child-World--long and long since lost to view--A Fairy Paradise!--How always fair it was and fresh and new--How every affluent hour heaped heart and eyesWith treasures of surprise!Enchantments tangible: The under-brinkOf dawns that launched the sightUp seas of gold: The dewdrop on the pink,With all the green earth in it and blue heightOf heavens [...]
Birds Of Passage
Black shadows fallFrom the lindens tall,That lift aloft their massive wallAgainst the southern sky;And from the realmsOf the shadowy elmsA tide-like darkness overwhelmsThe fields that round us lie.But the night is fair,And everywhereA warm, soft vapor fills the air,And distant sounds seem near,And above, in the lightOf the star-lit night,Swift birds [...]
A Psalm Of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,Life is but an empty dream!For the soul is dead that slumbers,And things are not what they seem.Life is real! Life is earnest!And the grave is not its goal;Dust thou art, to dust returnest,Was not spoken of the soul.Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,Is our destined end or way;But to act, that each to-morrowFind us farther [...]
Wind Song
LONG ago I learned how to sleep,In an old apple orchard where the wind swept by counting its money and throwing it away,In a wind-gaunt orchard where the limbs forked out and listened or never listened at all,In a passel of trees where the branches trapped the wind into whistling, 'Who, who are you?'I slept with my head in an elbow on a summer [...]
Work Gangs, poem by Carl Sandburg
BOX cars run by a mile long.And I wonder what they say to each otherWhen they stop a mile long on a sidetrack.Maybe their chatter goes:I came from Fargo with a load of wheat up to the danger line.I came from Omaha with a load of shorthorns and they splintered my boards.I came from Detroit heavy with a load of flivvers.I carried apples from the Hood [...]
Under the Harvest Moon
Under the harvest moon,When the soft silverDrips shimmeringOver the garden nights,Death, the gray mocker,Comes and whispers to youAs a beautiful friendWho remembers.Under the summer rosesWhen the flagrant crimsonLurks in the duskOf the wild red leaves,Love, with little hands,Comes and touches youWith a thousand memories,And asks youBeautiful, unanswerable [...]
White Hands
FOR the second time in a year this lady with the white hands is brought to the west room second floor of a famous sanatorium.Her husband is a cornice manufacturer in an Iowa town and the lady has often read papers on Victorian poets before the local literary club.Yesterday she washed her hands forty seven times during her waking hours and in her [...]
Whitelight
YOUR whitelight flashes the frost to-nightMoon of the purple and silent west.Remember me one of your lovers of dreams [...]
Wilderness
THERE is a wolf in mefangs pointed for tearing gashesa red tongue for raw meatand the hot lapping of bloodI keep this wolf because the wilderness gave itto me and the wilderness will not let it go.There is a fox in mea silver-gray foxI sniff and guessI pick things out of the wind and airI nose in the dark night and take sleepers and eat them and [...]
The Reaper And The Flowers
There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,And, with his sickle keen,He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,And the flowers that grow between."Shall I have naught that is fair?" saith he;"Have naught but the bearded grain?Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me,I will give them all back again."He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes,He kissed [...]
Hymn To The Night, poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I heard the trailing garments of the NightSweep through her marble halls!I saw her sable skirts all fringed with lightFrom the celestial walls!I felt her presence, by its spell of might,Stoop o'er me from above;The calm, majestic presence of the Night,As of the one I love.I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,The manifold, soft chimes,That fill [...]
To a Dead Man
Over the dead line we have called to youTo come across with a word to us,Some beaten whisper of what happensWhere you are over the dead lineDeaf to our calls and voiceless.The flickering shadows have not answeredNor your lips sent a signalWhether love talks and roses growAnd the sun breaks at morningSplattering the sea with crimson [...]
Under a Hat Rim
WHILE the hum and the hurryOf passing footfallsBeat in my ear like the restless surfOf a wind-blown sea,A soul came to meOut of the look on a face.Eyes like a lakeWhere a storm-wind roamsCaught me from underThe rim of a hat.I thought of a midsea wreckand bruised fingers clingingto a broken state-room door [...]
A child said, What is the grass, poem by Walt Whitman
A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with fullhands;How could I answer the child?. . . .I do not know what itis any more than he.I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopefulgreen stuff woven.Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,Bearing the owner's name someway [...]
Adieu to a Soldier
ADIEU, O soldier!You of the rude campaigning, (which we shared,)The rapid march, the life of the camp,The hot contention of opposing fronts 'the long manoeuver,Red battles with their slaughter, 'the stimulus 'the strong, terrific game,Spell of all brave and manly hearts 'the trains of Time through you, and like of you,allfilled,With war, and war's [...]
Why do I love You, Sir?
"Why do I love" You, Sir?Because --The Wind does not require the GrassTo answer -- Wherefore when He passShe cannot keep Her place.Because He knows -- andDo not You --And We know not --Enough for UsThe Wisdom it be so --The Lightning -- never asked an EyeWherefore it shut -- when He was by --Because He knows it cannot speak --And reasons not contained [...]
A Prison gets to be a friend
A Prison gets to be a friend --Between its Ponderous faceAnd Ours -- a Kinsmanship express --And in its narrow Eyes --We come to look with gratitudeFor the appointed BeamIt deal us -- stated as our food --And hungered for -- the same --We learn to know the Planks --That answer to Our feet --So miserable a sound -- at first --Nor ever now -- so sweet [...]
Where I have lost, I softer tread
Where I have lost, I softer tread --I sow sweet flower from garden bed --I pause above that vanished headAnd mourn.Whom I have lost, I pious guardFrom accent harsh, or ruthless word --Feeling as if their pillow heard,Though stone!When I have lost, you'll know by this --A Bonnet black -- A dusk surplice --A little tremor in my voice Like this!Why, [...]
Forever at His side to walk
Forever at His side to walk --The smaller of the two!Brain of His Brain --Blood of His Blood --Two lives -- One Being -- now --Forever of His fate to taste --If grief -- the largest part --If joy -- to put my piece awayFor that beloved Heart --All life -- to know each other --Whom we can never learn --And bye and bye -- a Change --Called Heaven --Rapt [...]
Many a phrase has the English language
Many a phrase has the English language --I have heard but one --Low as the laughter of the Cricket,Loud, as the Thunder's Tongue --Murmuring, like old Caspian Choirs,When the Tide's a' lull --Saying itself in new inflection --Like a Whippoorwill --Breaking in bright OrthographyOn my simple sleep --Thundering its Prospective --Till I stir, and weep [...]
Her -- "last Poems"
Her -- "last Poems" --Poets -- ended --Silver -- perished -- with her Tongue --Not on Record -- bubbled other,Flute -- or Woman --So divine --Not unto its Summer -- MorningRobin -- uttered Half the Tune --Gushed too free for the Adoring --From the Anglo-Florentine --Late -- the Praise --'Tis dull -- conferringOn the Head too High to Crown --Diadem [...]
I know that He exists
I know that He exists.Somewhere -- in Silence --He has hid his rare lifeFrom our gross eyes.'Tis an instant's play.'Tis a fond Ambush --Just to make BlissEarn her own surprise!But -- should the playProve piercing earnest --Should the glee -- glaze --In Death's -- stiff -- stare --Would not the funLook too expensive!Would not the jest --Have crawled [...]
I have a King, who does not speak
I have a King, who does not speak --So -- wondering -- thro' the hours meekI trudge the day away --Half glad when it is night, and sleep,If, haply, thro' a dream, to peepIn parlors, shut by day.And if I do -- when morning comes --It is as if a hundred drumsDid round my pillow roll,And shouts fill all my Childish sky,And Bells keep saying "Victory"From [...]
I'm sorry for the Dead -- Today
I'm sorry for the Dead -- Today --It's such congenial timesOld Neighbors have at fences --It's time o' year for Hay.And Broad -- Sunburned AcquaintanceDiscourse between the Toil --And laugh, a homely speciesThat makes the Fences smile --It seems so straight to lie awayFrom all of the noise of Fields --The Busy Carts -- the fragrant Cocks --The Mower's [...]
No Notice gave She, but a Change
No Notice gave She, but a Change --No Message, but a Sigh --For Whom, the Time did not sufficeThat She should specify.She was not warm, though Summer shoneNor scrupulous of coldThough Rime by Rime, the steady FrostUpon Her Bosom piled --Of shrinking ways -- she did not frightThough all the Village looked --But held Her gravity aloft --And met the [...]
Musicians wrestle everywhere
Musicians wrestle everywhere --All day -- among the crowded airI hear the silver strife --And -- walking -- long before the morn --Such transport breaks upon the townI think it that "New Life"!If is not Bird -- it has no nest --Nor "Band" -- in brass and scarlet -- drest --Nor Tamborin -- nor Man --It is not Hymn from pulpit read --The "Morning Stars" [...]
Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!
Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!When they dislocate my Brain!Amputate my freckled Bosom!Make me bearded like a man!Blush, my spirit, in thy Fastness --Blush, my unacknowledged clay --Seven years of troth have taught theeMore than Wifehood every may!Love that never leaped its socket --Trust entrenched in narrow pain --Constancy thro' fire -- awarded [...]
'Tis One by One -- the Father counts
'Tis One by One -- the Father counts --And then a Tract betweenSet Cypherless -- to teach the EyeThe Value of its Ten --Until the peevish StudentAcquire the Quick of Skill --Then Numerals are dowered back --Adorning all the Rule --'Tis mostly Slate and Pencil --And Darkness on the SchoolDistracts the Children's fingers --Still the Eternal RuleRegards [...]
Twas Love -- not me, poem by Emily Dickinson
'Twas Love -- not me --Oh punish -- pray --The Real one died for Thee --Just Him -- not me --Such Guilt -- to love Thee -- most!Doom it beyond the Rest --Forgive it -- last --'Twas base as Jesus -- most!Let Justice not mistake --We Two -- looked so alike --Which was the Guilty Sake --'Twas Love's -- Now Strike! [...]
A Wife -- at daybreak I shall be
A Wife -- at daybreak I shall be --Sunrise -- Hast thou a Flag for me?At Midnight, I am but a Maid,How short it takes to make a Bride --Then -- Midnight, I have passed from theeUnto the East, and Victory --Midnight -- Good Night! I hear them call,The Angels bustle in the Hall --Softly my Future climbs the Stair,I fumble at my Childhood's prayerSo [...]
Because He loves Her, by Emily Dickinson
Because He loves HerWe will pry and see if she is fairWhat difference is on her FaceFrom Features others wear.It will not harm her magic paceThat we so far behind --Her Distances propitiateAs Forests touch the WindNot hoping for his notice vastBut nearer to adore'Tis Glory's far sufficiencyThat makes our trying poor. [...]
Million Man March Poem
The night has been long,The wound has been deep,The pit has been dark,And the walls have been steep.Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound,You couldn't even call out my name.You were helpless and so was I,But unfortunately throughout historyYou've worn [...]
Television
The most important thing we've learned,So far as children are concerned,Is never, NEVER, NEVER letThem near your television set --Or better still, just don't installThe idiotic thing at all.In almost every house we've been,We've watched them gaping at the screen.They loll and slop and lounge about,And stare until their eyes pop out.(Last week in [...]
Dear friends, we surely all agree
'Dear friends, we surely all agreeThere's almost nothing worse to seeThan some repulsive little bumWho's always chewing chewing gum.(It's very near as bad as thoseWho sit around and pick the nose).So please believe us when we sayThat chewing gum will never pay;This sticky habit's bound to sendThe chewer to a sticky end.Did any of you ever knowA person [...]
One Inch Tall
If you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school.The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.A crumb of cake would be a feastAnd last you seven days at least,A flea would be a frightening beastIf you were one inch tall.If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door,And it would take about a month to get down to [...]
I Crave Your Mouth, Your Voice, Your Hair
DON'T GO FAR OFF, NOT EVEN FOR A DAYDon't go far off, not even for a day, because --because -- I don't know how to say it: a day is longand I will be waiting for you, as in an empty stationwhen the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.Don't leave me, even for an hour, becausethen the little drops of anguish will all run together,the smoke [...]
The Dead Woman
If suddenly you do not exist,if suddenly you are not living,I shall go on living.I do not dare,I do not dare to write it,if you die.I shall go on living.Because where a man has no voice,there, my voiceWhere blacks are beaten,I can not be dead.When my brothers go to jailI shall go with them.When victory,not my victory,but the great victoryarrives,even [...]
I Want It Now
Gooses, geesesI want my geese to lay gold eggs for easterAt least a hundred a dayAnd by the wayI want a feastI want a bean feastCream buns and doughnutsAnd fruitcake with no nutsSo good you could go nutsNo, nowI want a ballI want a partyPink macaroonsAnd a million balloonsAnd performing baboons andGive it to me nowI want the worldI want the whole [...]
Attention please! Attention please!
'Attention please! Attention please!Don't dare to talk! Don't dare to sneeze!Don't doze or daydream! Stay awake!Your health, your very life's at stake!Ho'ho, you say, they can't mean me.Ha'ha, we answer, wait and see.Did any of you ever meetA child called Goldie Pinklesweet?Who on her seventh birthday wentTo stay with Granny down in Kent.At lunchtime [...]
The Telephone
'When I was just as far as I could walk From here today, There was an hour All still When leaning with my head again a flower I heard you talk. Don't say I didn't, for I heard you say-- You spoke from that flower on the window sill- Do you remember what it was you said?' 'First tell me what it was you thought you heard.' 'Having found the flower [...]
Petals
Life is a streamOn which we strewPetal by petal the flower of our heart;The end lost in dream,They float past our view,We only watch their glad, early start.Freighted with hope,Crimsoned with joy,We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;Their widening scope,Their distant employ,We never shall know. And the stream as it flowsSweeps them away,Each [...]
A Fairy Tale, poem by Amy Lowell
On winter nights beside the nursery fireWe read the fairy tale, while glowing coalsBuilded its pictures. There before our eyesWe saw the vaulted hall of traceried stoneUprear itself, the distant ceiling hungWith pendent stalactites like frozen vines;And all along the walls at intervals,Curled upwards into pillars, roses climbed,And ramped and were [...]
And because Love battles, poem by Pablo Neruda
And because love battlesnot only in its burning agriculturesbut also in the mouth of men and women,I will finish off by taking the path awayto those who between my chest and your fragrancewant to interpose their obscure plant.About me, nothing worsethey will tell you, my love,than what I told you.I lived in the prairiesbefore I got to know youand [...]
Me And The Mule
My old mule,He's gota grin on his face.He's been a mule so longHe's forgotten about his race.I'm like that old mule --Black -- and don't give a damn!You got to take meLike I am. [...]
