Snail by Langston Hughes
![Langston Hughes](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_6dbu3UUe1wJunuRqdGZfh6DrH7o2l5D0tmRQlMsh.jpeg)
Little snail,
Dreaming you go.
Weather and rose
Is all you know.
Weather and rose
Is all you see,
Drinking
The dewdrop’s
Read Poem Dreaming you go.
Weather and rose
Is all you know.
Weather and rose
Is all you see,
Drinking
The dewdrop’s
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The Runaway by Robert Frost
![Robert Frost](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_htc3wjaKrdEKxzF0w7Zh5E3uNgyqeBW7IkLxi7Do.jpeg)
Once when the snow of the year was beginning to fall,
We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, ‘Whose colt?’
A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall,
The other curled at his breast. He dipped his head
And snorted at us. And then he had to bolt.
We heard the miniature thunder where he fled,
And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and grey,
Like a shadow against the curtain of falling flakes.
Read Poem We stopped by a mountain pasture to say, ‘Whose colt?’
A little Morgan had one forefoot on the wall,
The other curled at his breast. He dipped his head
And snorted at us. And then he had to bolt.
We heard the miniature thunder where he fled,
And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and grey,
Like a shadow against the curtain of falling flakes.
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An Old-Fashioned Song by John Hollander
![John Hollander](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_bbHCXEjkwo436mSl0O8oLTlPyJHqmM3yNiazdUQK.jpeg)
(Nous n'irons plus au bois) No more walks in the wood:
The trees have all been cut
Read Poem The trees have all been cut
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Good King Wenceslas by John Mason Neale
![John Mason Neale](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_5oB8wTC3FAJ758OlLVxYAt12KWvxe0GmqYLP8ftt.jpeg)
Good King Wenceslas look’d out,
On the Feast of Stephen;
When the snow lay round about,
Deep, and crisp, and even:
Brightly shone the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gath’ring winter fuel.
“Hither page and stand by me,
If thou know’st it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence.
Underneath the mountain;
Read Poem On the Feast of Stephen;
When the snow lay round about,
Deep, and crisp, and even:
Brightly shone the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gath’ring winter fuel.
“Hither page and stand by me,
If thou know’st it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence.
Underneath the mountain;
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Aspens by Edward Thomas
![Edward Thomas](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_rWaJjxq46Z7DXOmN6nYTVRdqSvDne350lrRSwRG0.jpeg)
All day and night, save winter, every weather,
Above the inn, the smithy, and the shop,
The aspens at the cross-roads talk together
Of rain, until their last leaves fall from the top.
Out of the blacksmith's cavern comes the ringing
Of hammer, shoe, and anvil; out of the inn
The clink, the hum, the roar, the random singing—
The sounds that for these fifty years have been.
The whisper of the aspens is not drowned,
And over lightless pane and footless road,
Empty as sky, with every other sound
Not ceasing, calls their ghosts from their abode,
Read Poem Above the inn, the smithy, and the shop,
The aspens at the cross-roads talk together
Of rain, until their last leaves fall from the top.
Out of the blacksmith's cavern comes the ringing
Of hammer, shoe, and anvil; out of the inn
The clink, the hum, the roar, the random singing—
The sounds that for these fifty years have been.
The whisper of the aspens is not drowned,
And over lightless pane and footless road,
Empty as sky, with every other sound
Not ceasing, calls their ghosts from their abode,
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As the Team's Head Brass by Edward Thomas
![Edward Thomas](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_rWaJjxq46Z7DXOmN6nYTVRdqSvDne350lrRSwRG0.jpeg)
As the team’s head-brass flashed out on the turn
The lovers disappeared into the wood.
I sat among the boughs of the fallen elm
That strewed an angle of the fallow, and
Watched the plough narrowing a yellow square
Of charlock. Every time the horses turned
Instead of treading me down, the ploughman leaned
Upon the handles to say or ask a word,
About the weather, next about the war.
Scraping the share he faced towards the wood,
And screwed along the furrow till the brass flashed
Once more.
The blizzard felled the elm whose crest
I sat in, by a woodpecker’s round hole,
The ploughman said. “When will they take it away?”
Read Poem The lovers disappeared into the wood.
I sat among the boughs of the fallen elm
That strewed an angle of the fallow, and
Watched the plough narrowing a yellow square
Of charlock. Every time the horses turned
Instead of treading me down, the ploughman leaned
Upon the handles to say or ask a word,
About the weather, next about the war.
Scraping the share he faced towards the wood,
And screwed along the furrow till the brass flashed
Once more.
The blizzard felled the elm whose crest
I sat in, by a woodpecker’s round hole,
The ploughman said. “When will they take it away?”
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This is No Case of Petty Right or Wrong by Edward Thomas
![Edward Thomas](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_rWaJjxq46Z7DXOmN6nYTVRdqSvDne350lrRSwRG0.jpeg)
This is no case of petty right or wrong
That politicians or philosophers
Can judge. I hate not Germans, nor grow hot
With love of Englishmen, to please newspapers.
Beside my hate for one fat patriot
My hatred of the Kaiser is love true:—
A kind of god he is, banging a gong.
But I have not to choose between the two,
Or between justice and injustice. Dinned
With war and argument I read no more
Than in the storm smoking along the wind
Athwart the wood. Two witches' cauldrons roar.
From one the weather shall rise clear and gay;
Out of the other an England beautiful
And like her mother that died yesterday.
Read Poem That politicians or philosophers
Can judge. I hate not Germans, nor grow hot
With love of Englishmen, to please newspapers.
Beside my hate for one fat patriot
My hatred of the Kaiser is love true:—
A kind of god he is, banging a gong.
But I have not to choose between the two,
Or between justice and injustice. Dinned
With war and argument I read no more
Than in the storm smoking along the wind
Athwart the wood. Two witches' cauldrons roar.
From one the weather shall rise clear and gay;
Out of the other an England beautiful
And like her mother that died yesterday.
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Sonnet 13 by John Berryman
![John Berryman](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_0tkG9Bghp0RrC5H3dWdDgTDBw2uCP6TNeltoDV7t.png)
I lift—lift you five States away your glass,
Wide of this bar you never graced, where none
Ever I know came, where what work is done
Even by these men I know not, where a brass
Police-car sign peers in, wet strange cars pass,
Soiled hangs the rag of day out over this town,
A juke-box brains air where I drink alone,
The spruce barkeep sports a toupee alas—
Read Poem Wide of this bar you never graced, where none
Ever I know came, where what work is done
Even by these men I know not, where a brass
Police-car sign peers in, wet strange cars pass,
Soiled hangs the rag of day out over this town,
A juke-box brains air where I drink alone,
The spruce barkeep sports a toupee alas—
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Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney
![Seamus Heaney](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_pcJyCsU76ZRMaIKwrTsjO2rjbWbBH9OXDpZN7Js0.jpeg)
All year the flax-dam festered in the heart
Of the townland; green and heavy headed
Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods.
Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun.
Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles
Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell.
There were dragonflies, spotted butterflies,
But best of all was the warm thick slobber
Read Poem Of the townland; green and heavy headed
Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods.
Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun.
Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles
Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell.
There were dragonflies, spotted butterflies,
But best of all was the warm thick slobber
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from from Sir Proteus by Thomas Love Peacock
![Thomas Love Peacock](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
I.
Ille Ego
Oh! list to me: for I’m about
To catch the fire of Chaucer,
And spin in doleful measure out
The tale of Johnny Raw, sir;
Who, bent upon a desperate plan
To make the people stare,
Set off full speed for Hindoostan
Upon Old Poulter’s mare.
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A Prayer for Rain by Lisel Mueller
![Lisel Mueller](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_9kaR5YU54ZYQjhHId2di2htHhMKbCZWKkInL0z1I.jpeg)
Let it come down: these thicknesses of air
have long enough walled love away from love;
stillness has hardened until words despair
of their high leaps and kisses shut themselves
back into wishing. Crippled lovers lie
against a weather which holds out on them,
waiting, awaiting some shrill sign, some cry,
some screaming cat that smells a sacrifice
and spells them thunder. Start the mumbling lips,
syllable by monotonous syllable,
that wash away the sullen griefs of love
and drown out knowledge of an ancient war—
o, ill-willed dark, give with the sound of rain,
let love be brought to ignorance again.
Read Poem have long enough walled love away from love;
stillness has hardened until words despair
of their high leaps and kisses shut themselves
back into wishing. Crippled lovers lie
against a weather which holds out on them,
waiting, awaiting some shrill sign, some cry,
some screaming cat that smells a sacrifice
and spells them thunder. Start the mumbling lips,
syllable by monotonous syllable,
that wash away the sullen griefs of love
and drown out knowledge of an ancient war—
o, ill-willed dark, give with the sound of rain,
let love be brought to ignorance again.
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April Midnight by Arthur Symons
![Arthur Symons](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_qG5oYwgIUrqayqei2GRIX2B732k1GwO8fUkKS2MO.jpeg)
Side by side through the streets at midnight,
Roaming together,
Through the tumultuous night of London,
In the miraculous April weather.
Roaming together under the gaslight,
Day’s work over,
How the Spring calls to us, here in the city,
Calls to the heart from the heart of a lover!
Read Poem Roaming together,
Through the tumultuous night of London,
In the miraculous April weather.
Roaming together under the gaslight,
Day’s work over,
How the Spring calls to us, here in the city,
Calls to the heart from the heart of a lover!
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Samuel Beckett's Dublin by Donald Davie
![Donald Davie](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
When it is cold it stinks, and not till then. The seasonable or more rabid heats
Of love and summer in some other cities
Unseal the all too human: not in his.
When it is cold it stinks, but not before;
Read Poem Of love and summer in some other cities
Unseal the all too human: not in his.
When it is cold it stinks, but not before;
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Song at Drumholm by John Unterecker
![John Unterecker](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
My liveliest self, I give you fair leave
in these windblown weathers,
heather-hearted and human and strange,
to turn every blackberry corner
of yesterday’s summer.
The robin, singing her love-me-forever,
kiss-catch-clutch-in the heather
blues, sings tide flow
Read Poem in these windblown weathers,
heather-hearted and human and strange,
to turn every blackberry corner
of yesterday’s summer.
The robin, singing her love-me-forever,
kiss-catch-clutch-in the heather
blues, sings tide flow
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No Words Can Describe It by Mark Strand
![Mark Strand](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_FjuahjozLMXh18JEAxEcXsuGIaSrfAdmwdPzqppr.jpeg)
How those fires burned that are no longer, how the weather worsened, how the shadow of the seagull vanished without a trace. Was it the end of a season, the end of a life? Was it so long ago it seems it might never have been? What is it in us that lives in the past and longs for the future, or lives in the future and longs for the past? And what does it matter when light enters the room where a child sleeps and the waking mother, opening her eyes, wishes more than anything to be unwakened by what she cannot name?
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The Sign-Post by Edward Thomas
![Edward Thomas](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_rWaJjxq46Z7DXOmN6nYTVRdqSvDne350lrRSwRG0.jpeg)
The dim sea glints chill. The white sun is shy,
And the skeleton weeds and the never-dry,
Rough, long grasses keep white with frost
At the hilltop by the finger-post;
The smoke of the traveller’s-joy is puffed
Over hawthorn berry and hazel tuft.
I read the sign. Which way shall I go?
A voice says: You would not have doubted so
At twenty. Another voice gentle with scorn
Says: At twenty you wished you had never been born.
One hazel lost a leaf of gold
From a tuft at the tip, when the first voice told
The other he wished to know what ’twould be
To be sixty by this same post. “You shall see,”
Read Poem And the skeleton weeds and the never-dry,
Rough, long grasses keep white with frost
At the hilltop by the finger-post;
The smoke of the traveller’s-joy is puffed
Over hawthorn berry and hazel tuft.
I read the sign. Which way shall I go?
A voice says: You would not have doubted so
At twenty. Another voice gentle with scorn
Says: At twenty you wished you had never been born.
One hazel lost a leaf of gold
From a tuft at the tip, when the first voice told
The other he wished to know what ’twould be
To be sixty by this same post. “You shall see,”
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How Much? by Carl Sandburg
![Carl Sandburg](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_xk3VAgf240a1ZC3vaMTDQNmxv9MRCZnvfqZbsmyE.jpeg)
How much do you love me, a million bushels?
Oh, a lot more than that, Oh, a lot more.
And tomorrow maybe only half a bushel?
Tomorrow maybe not even a half a bushel.
And is this your heart arithmetic?
This is the way the wind measures the weather.
Read Poem Oh, a lot more than that, Oh, a lot more.
And tomorrow maybe only half a bushel?
Tomorrow maybe not even a half a bushel.
And is this your heart arithmetic?
This is the way the wind measures the weather.
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A Tribute to Chief Joseph (1840?-1904) by Duane Niatum
![Duane Niatum](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_eMHdnvCY8g0ecSD87Bm0KdLrwejiNlKxFkViT1FV.jpeg)
"God made me an Indian, but not a reservation Indian."—Sitting Bull Hin-Mah-Too-Yah-Lat-Ket: Thunder-rolling in-the-mountains,
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The Snow Fairy by Claude McKay
![Claude McKay](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_0KA4AF6wkS9S4zHMB08ZVn2JrVNUYlZ6sXUNIFFf.jpeg)
I
Throughout the afternoon I watched them there,
Snow-fairies falling, falling from the sky,
Whirling fantastic in the misty air,
Contending fierce for space supremacy.
And they flew down a mightier force at night,
As though in heaven there was revolt and riot,
And they, frail things had taken panic flight
Down to the calm earth seeking peace and quiet.
I went to bed and rose at early dawn
To see them huddled together in a heap,
Each merged into the other upon the lawn,
Worn out by the sharp struggle, fast asleep.
The sun shone brightly on them half the day,
Read Poem Throughout the afternoon I watched them there,
Snow-fairies falling, falling from the sky,
Whirling fantastic in the misty air,
Contending fierce for space supremacy.
And they flew down a mightier force at night,
As though in heaven there was revolt and riot,
And they, frail things had taken panic flight
Down to the calm earth seeking peace and quiet.
I went to bed and rose at early dawn
To see them huddled together in a heap,
Each merged into the other upon the lawn,
Worn out by the sharp struggle, fast asleep.
The sun shone brightly on them half the day,
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Amor Mundi by Christina Rossetti
![Christina Rossetti](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_rCIGbd5dYNgOCuj2OqH7pLxBRR7fZ3gzxgYfJ25D.jpeg)
“Oh where are you going with your love-locks flowing
On the west wind blowing along this valley track?”
“The downhill path is easy, come with me an it please ye,
We shall escape the uphill by never turning back.”
So they two went together in glowing August weather,
The honey-breathing heather lay to their left and right;
And dear she was to dote on, her swift feet seemed to float on
The air like soft twin pigeons too sportive to alight.
“Oh what is that in heaven where gray cloud-flakes are seven,
Where blackest clouds hang riven just at the rainy skirt?”
“Oh that’s a meteor sent us, a message dumb, portentous,
An undeciphered solemn signal of help or hurt.”
Read Poem On the west wind blowing along this valley track?”
“The downhill path is easy, come with me an it please ye,
We shall escape the uphill by never turning back.”
So they two went together in glowing August weather,
The honey-breathing heather lay to their left and right;
And dear she was to dote on, her swift feet seemed to float on
The air like soft twin pigeons too sportive to alight.
“Oh what is that in heaven where gray cloud-flakes are seven,
Where blackest clouds hang riven just at the rainy skirt?”
“Oh that’s a meteor sent us, a message dumb, portentous,
An undeciphered solemn signal of help or hurt.”
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La Figlia che Piange by T. S. Eliot
![T. S. Eliot](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_Y20FYqqSE8Ux1DotWYhIf86H2sigujR4izVIyFdl.jpeg)
O quam te memorem virgo ... Stand on the highest pavement of the stair—
Lean on a garden urn—
Read Poem Lean on a garden urn—
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Cups: 1 by Robin Blaser
![Robin Blaser](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_ZK8j1nM4Yv66BN8YeKVVVsGl3qJYXiSOuHRMUiwb.jpeg)
Inside I brought
willows, the tips
bursting,
blue
iris (I forget
the legend of long life
they represent)
and the branch of pepper tree
Read Poem willows, the tips
bursting,
blue
iris (I forget
the legend of long life
they represent)
and the branch of pepper tree
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Wall and Pine: The Rain by Anne Winters
![Anne Winters](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
Now the god of rainy August hangs his mask
among the city’s spires and balustrades
and stone clocktowers half-effaced in clouds.
On Park the first reflecting pool dims
with a thousand smelted-silver circle-rims,
while west on Fifth a modiste scatters leaves
in fall vitrines, and felt-browed mannequins
resign the world with gestures of disdain.
Read Poem among the city’s spires and balustrades
and stone clocktowers half-effaced in clouds.
On Park the first reflecting pool dims
with a thousand smelted-silver circle-rims,
while west on Fifth a modiste scatters leaves
in fall vitrines, and felt-browed mannequins
resign the world with gestures of disdain.
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On An Unsociable Family by Elizabeth Hands
![Elizabeth Hands](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
O what a strange parcel of creatures are we,
Scarce ever to quarrel, or even agree;
We all are alone, though at home altogether,
Except to the fire constrained by the weather;
Then one says, ‘’Tis cold’, which we all of us know,
And with unanimity answer, ‘’Tis so’:
With shrugs and with shivers all look at the fire,
And shuffle ourselves and our chairs a bit nigher;
Then quickly, preceded by silence profound,
A yawn epidemical catches around:
Like social companions we never fall out,
Nor ever care what one another’s about;
To comfort each other is never our plan,
For to please ourselves, truly, is more than we can.
Read Poem Scarce ever to quarrel, or even agree;
We all are alone, though at home altogether,
Except to the fire constrained by the weather;
Then one says, ‘’Tis cold’, which we all of us know,
And with unanimity answer, ‘’Tis so’:
With shrugs and with shivers all look at the fire,
And shuffle ourselves and our chairs a bit nigher;
Then quickly, preceded by silence profound,
A yawn epidemical catches around:
Like social companions we never fall out,
Nor ever care what one another’s about;
To comfort each other is never our plan,
For to please ourselves, truly, is more than we can.
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Zun-zet by William Barnes
![William Barnes](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_4bIgBAlPLk6fO5edIWSS5Vd0lz5Qz14QDNNcETDq.jpeg)
Where the western zun, unclouded,
Up above the grey hill-tops,
Did sheen drough ashes, lofty sh’ouded,
On the turf beside the copse,
In zummer weather,
We together,
Sorrow-slightèn, work-vorgettèn,
Gambol’d wi’ the zun a-zettèn.
Read Poem Up above the grey hill-tops,
Did sheen drough ashes, lofty sh’ouded,
On the turf beside the copse,
In zummer weather,
We together,
Sorrow-slightèn, work-vorgettèn,
Gambol’d wi’ the zun a-zettèn.
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Navy Field by William Meredith
![William Meredith](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
Limped out of the hot sky a hurt plane,
Held off, held off, whirring pretty pigeon,
Hit then and scuttled to a crooked stop.
The stranger pilot who emerged—this was the seashore,
War came suddenly here—talked to the still mechanics
Who nodded gravely. Flak had done it, he said,
From an enemy ship attacked.
They wheeled it with love
Read Poem Held off, held off, whirring pretty pigeon,
Hit then and scuttled to a crooked stop.
The stranger pilot who emerged—this was the seashore,
War came suddenly here—talked to the still mechanics
Who nodded gravely. Flak had done it, he said,
From an enemy ship attacked.
They wheeled it with love
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Open, Time by Louise Imogen Guiney
![Louise Imogen Guiney](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_ATHnfe9znERMKFp3JIXZuPnTgcoJEnS0xI5ELBDQ.jpeg)
Open, Time, and let him pass
Shortly where his feet would be!
Like a leaf at Michaelmas
Swooning from the tree,
Ere its hour the manly mind
Trembles in a sure decrease,
Nor the body now can find
Any hold on peace.
Take him, weak and overworn;
Fold about his dying dream
Boyhood, and the April morn,
And the rolling stream:
Read Poem Shortly where his feet would be!
Like a leaf at Michaelmas
Swooning from the tree,
Ere its hour the manly mind
Trembles in a sure decrease,
Nor the body now can find
Any hold on peace.
Take him, weak and overworn;
Fold about his dying dream
Boyhood, and the April morn,
And the rolling stream:
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The Sermon on the Warpland by Gwendolyn Brooks
![Gwendolyn Brooks](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_dHhsyhscbv2ODa00W3z2Fev0pMbRh0uYIe3oXYc4.jpeg)
“The fact that we are black
is our ultimate reality.”
—Ron Karenga
Read Poem is our ultimate reality.”
—Ron Karenga
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Adam's Curse by William Butler Yeats
![William Butler Yeats](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_yq03twK9AL5dKsmtbueTuvlC3oG4VJxlE4YyMyqQ.jpeg)
We sat together at one summer’s end,
That beautiful mild woman, your close friend,
And you and I, and talked of poetry.
I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe;
Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
Better go down upon your marrow-bones
And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones
Read Poem That beautiful mild woman, your close friend,
And you and I, and talked of poetry.
I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe;
Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
Better go down upon your marrow-bones
And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones
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Amoretti LXII: "The weary yeare his race now having run" by Edmund Spenser
![Edmund Spenser](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_64DgNz7sLAp5Z7kSy0jOFf43I7QFVTFwanFm5Ndu.jpeg)
The weary yeare his race now having run,
The new begins his compast course anew:
With shew of morning mylde he hath begun,
Betokening peace and plenty to ensew.
So let us, which this chaunge of weather vew,
Chaunge eeke our mynds and former lives amend,
The old yeares sinnes forepast let us eschew,
And fly the faults with which we did offend.
Read Poem The new begins his compast course anew:
With shew of morning mylde he hath begun,
Betokening peace and plenty to ensew.
So let us, which this chaunge of weather vew,
Chaunge eeke our mynds and former lives amend,
The old yeares sinnes forepast let us eschew,
And fly the faults with which we did offend.
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The Caveman on the Train by John Frederick Nims
![John Frederick Nims](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_trfaHseiSjoHXotSpg7F2AU0wDzOmNkSDA2qkjjC.jpeg)
When first the apprizing eye and tongue that muttered
(Banished from Eden’s air? Or pride of apes?)
Sat clinking flint on flint, as they shattered
Snatched with a grin what fell in craftier shapes,
The law was move or die. Lively from tigers;
Dainty on deer. As weather called the tune.
Oxen, we learned, would bear us. So would rivers.
And that was science. On the whole a boon.
Read Poem (Banished from Eden’s air? Or pride of apes?)
Sat clinking flint on flint, as they shattered
Snatched with a grin what fell in craftier shapes,
The law was move or die. Lively from tigers;
Dainty on deer. As weather called the tune.
Oxen, we learned, would bear us. So would rivers.
And that was science. On the whole a boon.
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Country Burial by Janet Loxley Lewis
![Janet Loxley Lewis](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_Cskv9DKjgwxtIefOQoiee6lR8GlHf0lPgP53H1Lq.jpeg)
After the words of the magnificence and doom,
After the vision of the splendor and the fear,
They go out slowly into the flowery meadow,
Carrying the casket, and lay it in the earth
By the grave’s edge. The daisies bend and straighten
Under the trailing skirts, and serious faces
Look with faint relief, and briefly smile.
Into this earth the flesh and wood shall melt
Read Poem After the vision of the splendor and the fear,
They go out slowly into the flowery meadow,
Carrying the casket, and lay it in the earth
By the grave’s edge. The daisies bend and straighten
Under the trailing skirts, and serious faces
Look with faint relief, and briefly smile.
Into this earth the flesh and wood shall melt
0
Depression by Henry Carlile
![Henry Carlile](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_mxf3F2ua8frqtvjv9CxrJP3LvtnCKUUlyVnv9mGY.jpeg)
He is pushing a black Ford
through an empty street -
a car like his father's
that beat the flat roads like wind
in summer and brought him here.
He never forgave his father.
That was the year he left home.
Then there was talk of weather
Read Poem through an empty street -
a car like his father's
that beat the flat roads like wind
in summer and brought him here.
He never forgave his father.
That was the year he left home.
Then there was talk of weather
0
Dirge at the Edge of Woods by Léonie Adams
![Léonie Adams](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_hm5IFzgW9h9gMuFG3Agmwo91qC3qVn6SbsFyeLtr.jpeg)
Gold shed upon suckling gold,
The time of the bole blackens,
Of the dark mounted through dapple,
While in the sealed apple
The seed cradled toward cold.
A gold on gold spent,
Put by from an elm in its years
Now its gilded of days,
Read Poem The time of the bole blackens,
Of the dark mounted through dapple,
While in the sealed apple
The seed cradled toward cold.
A gold on gold spent,
Put by from an elm in its years
Now its gilded of days,
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Here Where Coltrane Is by Michael S. Harper
![Michael S. Harper](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_BKHLU4udG9PvowNPXPrDCiyhzxQeUPYi1ER5qunx.jpeg)
Soul and race
are private dominions,
memories and modal
songs, a tenor blossoming,
which would paint suffering
a clear color but is not in
this Victorian house
without oil in zero degree
Read Poem are private dominions,
memories and modal
songs, a tenor blossoming,
which would paint suffering
a clear color but is not in
this Victorian house
without oil in zero degree
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Junk by Richard Wilbur
![Richard Wilbur](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_5dpO6OJOk9Evuz4h9kQqf22O1DmVuqvCNrVyIqyw.jpeg)
Huru Welandes
worc ne geswiceσ?
monna ænigum
σara σe Mimming can
heardne gehealdan.
—Waldere
Read Poem worc ne geswiceσ?
monna ænigum
σara σe Mimming can
heardne gehealdan.
—Waldere
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Life by Anna Lætitia Barbauld
![Anna Lætitia Barbauld](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_Ue7QRfgf8qBnMAk72NGVtaNyB7R2p81zcFoQdjZ4.jpeg)
Animula, vagula, blandula. Life! I know not what thou art,
But know that thou and I must part;
And when, or how, or where we met,
I own to me’s a secret yet.
Read Poem But know that thou and I must part;
And when, or how, or where we met,
I own to me’s a secret yet.
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Maximus, to himself by Charles Olson
![Charles Olson](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_6sVa59cEGI7Iqx0FCCHuYKKCRqG8G3qskuJ1kHzH.jpeg)
I have had to learn the simplest things
last. Which made for difficulties.
Even at sea I was slow, to get the hand out, or to cross
a wet deck.
The sea was not, finally, my trade.
But even my trade, at it, I stood estranged
from that which was most familiar. Was delayed,
and not content with the man’s argument
Read Poem last. Which made for difficulties.
Even at sea I was slow, to get the hand out, or to cross
a wet deck.
The sea was not, finally, my trade.
But even my trade, at it, I stood estranged
from that which was most familiar. Was delayed,
and not content with the man’s argument
0
Myth of the Blaze by George Oppen
![George Oppen](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_o2i579M7aKQewcymr8FkmAuOVWU5F5WXw0O1mkZg.jpeg)
night – skybird’sworld
to knowto knowin my life to know
what I have said to myself
the dark to escape in brilliant highways
of the night sky, finally
why had they not
killed me why did they fire that warning
wounding cannon only the one round I hold a
Read Poem to knowto knowin my life to know
what I have said to myself
the dark to escape in brilliant highways
of the night sky, finally
why had they not
killed me why did they fire that warning
wounding cannon only the one round I hold a
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Narrative Without People by Hilda Raz
![Hilda Raz](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
The soaked books lip open in piles.
The shelves stoop, slough paint.
The doors, their locks sprung, hinge air
open to weather, gulp rain.
Something here enters the trees.
If we believe in ghosts, white pearl
shadows the batten and boards. Rust
runs on the shelves. The sounds on air
Read Poem The shelves stoop, slough paint.
The doors, their locks sprung, hinge air
open to weather, gulp rain.
Something here enters the trees.
If we believe in ghosts, white pearl
shadows the batten and boards. Rust
runs on the shelves. The sounds on air
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Passages from Virgil’s First Georgic by Robert Fitzgerald
![Robert Fitzgerald](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_JBQ06CjZXLlIK2kVFXEalACH6dW2g3hXdXt64FDX.jpeg)
I. Until Jove let it be, no colonist
Mastered the wild earth; no land was marked,
None parceled out or shared; but everyone
Looked for his living in the common world.
And Jove gave poison to the blacksnakes, and
Made the wolves ravage, made the ocean roll,
Knocked honey from the leaves, took fire away—
So man might beat out various inventions
Read Poem Mastered the wild earth; no land was marked,
None parceled out or shared; but everyone
Looked for his living in the common world.
And Jove gave poison to the blacksnakes, and
Made the wolves ravage, made the ocean roll,
Knocked honey from the leaves, took fire away—
So man might beat out various inventions
0
Some Questions about the Storm by Hilda Raz
![Hilda Raz](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
What's the bird ratio overhead?
Zero: zero. Maybe it's El Niño?
The storm, was it bad?
Here the worst ever. Every tree hurt.
Do you love trees?
Only the gingko, the fir, the birch.
Yours? Do you name your trees?
Who owns the trees? Who's talking
Read Poem Zero: zero. Maybe it's El Niño?
The storm, was it bad?
Here the worst ever. Every tree hurt.
Do you love trees?
Only the gingko, the fir, the birch.
Yours? Do you name your trees?
Who owns the trees? Who's talking
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Song of the Galley-Slaves by Rudyard Kipling
![Rudyard Kipling](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_fIjk0t4fdlZ74m8DHyM0H63XeHIlEhdprJ039MUL.jpeg)
(‘“The Finest Story in the World”’—Many Inventions) We pulled for you when the wind was against us and the sails were low.
Will you never let us go?
Read Poem Will you never let us go?
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Sonnets for Five Seasons by Anne Stevenson
![Anne Stevenson](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_tmMDOL1JP4cEc3r5UXE0xCmaToKiLIYzna1AC3Qt.jpeg)
(i.m. Charles Leslie Stevenson, 1909-79)
This House
Which represents you, as my bones do, waits,
all pores open, for the stun of snow. Which will come,
as it always does, between breaths, between nights
of no wind and days of the nulled sun.
And has to be welcome. All instinct wants to anticipate
faceless fields, a white road drawn
Read Poem This House
Which represents you, as my bones do, waits,
all pores open, for the stun of snow. Which will come,
as it always does, between breaths, between nights
of no wind and days of the nulled sun.
And has to be welcome. All instinct wants to anticipate
faceless fields, a white road drawn
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Then and Now by Babette Deutsch
![Babette Deutsch](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_wAXzUqccza0bq4NhaB2kMGlJOhYJBgy0A6Qj6LYV.jpeg)
Then was the grown-up world of tall decision,
Its beauty of late nights denied a child;
World of bewildering gifts, and strange derision,
Alien alike whether it frowned or smiled,
Yet your least wish was governed by its laws.
The landscape and the weather both were odd,
Exploding with effects that hid a cause
Serene and lonely as the Will of God.
Read Poem Its beauty of late nights denied a child;
World of bewildering gifts, and strange derision,
Alien alike whether it frowned or smiled,
Yet your least wish was governed by its laws.
The landscape and the weather both were odd,
Exploding with effects that hid a cause
Serene and lonely as the Will of God.
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the weather is hot on the back of my watch by Charles Bukowski
![Charles Bukowski](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_qJmw9WnRMUI8tHJP91dutf2jsF6nOx6PtQ1gHpId.jpeg)
the weather is hot on the back of my watch
which is down at Finkelstein’s
who is gifted with 3 balls
but no heart, but you’ve got to understand
when the bull goes down
on the whore, the heart is laid aside for something else,
and let’s not over-rate the obvious decency
for in a crap game you may be cutting down
Read Poem which is down at Finkelstein’s
who is gifted with 3 balls
but no heart, but you’ve got to understand
when the bull goes down
on the whore, the heart is laid aside for something else,
and let’s not over-rate the obvious decency
for in a crap game you may be cutting down
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Winter Remembered by John Crowe Ransom
![John Crowe Ransom](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_HKlQrDKggHQE535ZQ26A3rzRECfOp6QNsy82uGoc.jpeg)
Two evils, monstrous either one apart,
Possessed me, and were long and loath at going:
A cry of Absence, Absence, in the heart,
And in the wood the furious winter blowing.
Think not, when fire was bright upon my bricks,
And past the tight boards hardly a wind could enter,
I glowed like them, the simple burning sticks,
Far from my cause, my proper heat and center.
Read Poem Possessed me, and were long and loath at going:
A cry of Absence, Absence, in the heart,
And in the wood the furious winter blowing.
Think not, when fire was bright upon my bricks,
And past the tight boards hardly a wind could enter,
I glowed like them, the simple burning sticks,
Far from my cause, my proper heat and center.
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'Be Music, Night' by Kenneth Patchen
![Kenneth Patchen](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_9Nw5VteW03HRV9FkflUci3YJcpcw4GcuctYwWYhG.jpeg)
Be music, night,
That her sleep may go
Where angels have their pale tall choirs
Be a hand, sea,
That her dreams may watch
Thy guidesman touching the green flesh of the world
Be a voice, sky,
That her beauties may be counted
Read Poem That her sleep may go
Where angels have their pale tall choirs
Be a hand, sea,
That her dreams may watch
Thy guidesman touching the green flesh of the world
Be a voice, sky,
That her beauties may be counted
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Bess by William E. Stafford
![William E. Stafford](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_ejZVcpFGAf28V89zASX8JBl2U4e2b8Ogoyww9gbB.jpeg)
Ours are the streets where Bess first met her
cancer. She went to work every day past the
secure houses. At her job in the library
she arranged better and better flowers, and when
students asked for books her hand went out
to help. In the last year of her life
she had to keep her friends from knowing
how happy they were. She listened while they
Read Poem cancer. She went to work every day past the
secure houses. At her job in the library
she arranged better and better flowers, and when
students asked for books her hand went out
to help. In the last year of her life
she had to keep her friends from knowing
how happy they were. She listened while they
0
Boy Breaking Glass by Gwendolyn Brooks
![Gwendolyn Brooks](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_dHhsyhscbv2ODa00W3z2Fev0pMbRh0uYIe3oXYc4.jpeg)
To Marc Crawford
from whom the commission Whose broken window is a cry of art
(success, that winks aware
Read Poem from whom the commission Whose broken window is a cry of art
(success, that winks aware
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Confessions by Robert Browning
![Robert Browning](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_RL60zOOT3svEOXC8XYagFHoFJSMoKaV3RjtzTl36.jpeg)
What is he buzzing in my ears?
"Now that I come to die,
Do I view the world as a vale of tears?"
Ah, reverend sir, not I!
What I viewed there once, what I view again
Where the physic bottles stand
On the table's edge,—is a suburb lane,
Read Poem "Now that I come to die,
Do I view the world as a vale of tears?"
Ah, reverend sir, not I!
What I viewed there once, what I view again
Where the physic bottles stand
On the table's edge,—is a suburb lane,
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Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock by Wallace Stevens
![Wallace Stevens](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_tu2O8WYSpbyhbVKKBpUeN1XXCx9mM84Am5LIatPu.jpeg)
The houses are haunted
By white night-gowns.
None are green,
Or purple with green rings,
Or green with yellow rings,
Or yellow with blue rings.
None of them are strange,
With socks of lace
Read Poem By white night-gowns.
None are green,
Or purple with green rings,
Or green with yellow rings,
Or yellow with blue rings.
None of them are strange,
With socks of lace
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Gnomic Verses by Robert Creeley
![Robert Creeley](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_AINQ7WRT3NZx6zyyWypCqUSifxHPBAm9wOM6lT2M.jpeg)
loop
Down the road Up the hill Into the house
Over the wall Under the bed After the fact
By the way Out of the woods Behind the times
In front of the door Between the lines Along the path
echo
In the way it was in the street
it was in the back it was
Read Poem Down the road Up the hill Into the house
Over the wall Under the bed After the fact
By the way Out of the woods Behind the times
In front of the door Between the lines Along the path
echo
In the way it was in the street
it was in the back it was
0
Is it Possible by Sir Thomas Wyatt
![Sir Thomas Wyatt](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_u7yBliiEQfbJpC1plthI0eYjP0nV93KlfQScO3Gb.jpeg)
Is it possible
That so high debate,
So sharp, so sore, and of such rate,
Should end so soon and was begun so late?
Is it possible?
Is it possible
So cruel intent,
Read Poem That so high debate,
So sharp, so sore, and of such rate,
Should end so soon and was begun so late?
Is it possible?
Is it possible
So cruel intent,
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A Man May Change by Marvin Bell
![Marvin Bell](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_OikeCU3Lqi7lkWCeeupMrem1zyNEMuPJ8Tt3vVK2.jpeg)
As simply as a self-effacing bar of soap
escaping by indiscernible degrees in the wash water
is how a man may change
and still hour by hour continue in his job.
There in the mirror he appears to be on fire
but here at the office he is dust.
So long as there remains a little moisture in the stains,
he stands easily on the pavement
Read Poem escaping by indiscernible degrees in the wash water
is how a man may change
and still hour by hour continue in his job.
There in the mirror he appears to be on fire
but here at the office he is dust.
So long as there remains a little moisture in the stains,
he stands easily on the pavement
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Misreading Housman by Linda Pastan
![Linda Pastan](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_0qcgluU42GokPQOtwkhj1JVixU0uUKZrfxFqa4M4.jpeg)
On this first day of spring, snow
covers the fruit trees, mingling improbably
with the new blossoms like identical twins
brought up in different hemispheres.
It is not what Housman meant
when he wrote of the cherry
hung with snow, though he also knew
how death can mistake the seasons,
Read Poem covers the fruit trees, mingling improbably
with the new blossoms like identical twins
brought up in different hemispheres.
It is not what Housman meant
when he wrote of the cherry
hung with snow, though he also knew
how death can mistake the seasons,
0
An Old Road by Edwin Markham
![Edwin Markham](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_eEAuv68IFGEFaEj7rrQhhDt6sA85TYaG2T0s1Zvb.jpeg)
A host of poppies, a flight of swallows;
A flurry of rain, and a wind that follows
Shepherds the leaves in the sheltered hollows
For the forest is shaken and thinned.
Over my head are the firs for rafter;
The crows blow south, and my heart goes after;
I kiss my hands to the world with laughter—
Is it Aidenn or mystical Ind?
Read Poem A flurry of rain, and a wind that follows
Shepherds the leaves in the sheltered hollows
For the forest is shaken and thinned.
Over my head are the firs for rafter;
The crows blow south, and my heart goes after;
I kiss my hands to the world with laughter—
Is it Aidenn or mystical Ind?
0
The Pilgrim by John Bunyan
![John Bunyan](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_YjX8F0ejnM1lYuXsc42E5OXqJ9dGESvKdXQwtXj9.jpeg)
Who would true Valour see
Let him come hither;
One here will Constant be,
Come Wind, come Weather.
There's no Discouragement,
Shall make him once Relent,
His first avow'd Intent,
To be a Pilgrim.
Who so beset him round,
With dismal Storys,
Do but themselves Confound;
His Strength the more is.
No Lyon can him fright,
He'l with a Gyant Fight,
Read Poem Let him come hither;
One here will Constant be,
Come Wind, come Weather.
There's no Discouragement,
Shall make him once Relent,
His first avow'd Intent,
To be a Pilgrim.
Who so beset him round,
With dismal Storys,
Do but themselves Confound;
His Strength the more is.
No Lyon can him fright,
He'l with a Gyant Fight,
0
Song by Sophie Jewett
![Sophie Jewett](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
“O Love, thou art winged and swift,
Yet stay with me evermore!”
And I guarded my house with bolt and bar
Lest Love fly forth at the door.
Without, in the world, ’t was cold,
While Love and I together
Laughed and sang by my red hearth-fire,
Nor knew it was winter weather.
Read Poem Yet stay with me evermore!”
And I guarded my house with bolt and bar
Lest Love fly forth at the door.
Without, in the world, ’t was cold,
While Love and I together
Laughed and sang by my red hearth-fire,
Nor knew it was winter weather.
0
Song of Three Smiles by W. S. Merwin
![W. S. Merwin](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_BbeWKMxLGsW4JmxNPi7TDOlw19kUVrOrzWO0UsxK.jpeg)
Let me call a ghost,
Love, so it be little:
In December we took
No thought for the weather.
Whom now shall I thank
For this wealth of water?
Your heart loves harbors
Where I am a stranger.
Read Poem Love, so it be little:
In December we took
No thought for the weather.
Whom now shall I thank
For this wealth of water?
Your heart loves harbors
Where I am a stranger.
0
Song: “Under the greenwood tree” by William Shakespeare
![William Shakespeare](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_LIshk0OYoGQiQRlFsX56zUPHjrJnY4whjKyDurmB.jpeg)
(fromAs You Like It) Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Read Poem Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
0
University by Karl Shapiro
![Karl Shapiro](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_IA2UKP4YHA0OviFjowYTEORNqZjO3b5RrqdqjdnS.jpeg)
To hurt the Negro and avoid the Jew
Is the curriculum. In mid-September
The entering boys, identified by hats,
Wander in a maze of mannered brick
Where boxwood and magnolia brood
And columns with imperious stance
Like rows of ante-bellum girls
Eye them, outlanders.
Read Poem Is the curriculum. In mid-September
The entering boys, identified by hats,
Wander in a maze of mannered brick
Where boxwood and magnolia brood
And columns with imperious stance
Like rows of ante-bellum girls
Eye them, outlanders.
0
Wet-weather Talk by James Whitcomb Riley
![James Whitcomb Riley](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_ynzly5VHEhKUitX1hBmf3enVUkkgd7xIvLyPfQ37.jpeg)
It hain't no use to grumble and complane;
It's jest as cheap and easy to rejoice.—
When God sorts out the weather and sends rain,
W'y rain's my choice.
Men ginerly, to all intents—
Although they're apt to grumble some—
Puts most theyr trust in Providence,
Read Poem It's jest as cheap and easy to rejoice.—
When God sorts out the weather and sends rain,
W'y rain's my choice.
Men ginerly, to all intents—
Although they're apt to grumble some—
Puts most theyr trust in Providence,
0
Why They Turned Back/Why They Went On by Constance Urdang
![Constance Urdang](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_poet-image.jpeg)
Because a black bird flew across the road;
Because the attendant at the pump turned surly;
Because the uncertain weather
Made Mother nervous,
And, back home, the telephone kept ringing
In an empty house;
Because a white bird flew across the road.
How far had they come?
Read Poem Because the attendant at the pump turned surly;
Because the uncertain weather
Made Mother nervous,
And, back home, the telephone kept ringing
In an empty house;
Because a white bird flew across the road.
How far had they come?
0
Your Shakespeare by Marvin Bell
![Marvin Bell](/storage/poets/resize/500x500_OikeCU3Lqi7lkWCeeupMrem1zyNEMuPJ8Tt3vVK2.jpeg)
If I am sentenced not to talk to you,
and you are sentenced not to talk to me,
then we wear the clothes of the desert
serving that sentence, we are the leaves
trampled underfoot, not even fit to be
ground in for food, then we are the snow.
If you are not what I take you to be,
and I am not what you take me to be,
Read Poem and you are sentenced not to talk to me,
then we wear the clothes of the desert
serving that sentence, we are the leaves
trampled underfoot, not even fit to be
ground in for food, then we are the snow.
If you are not what I take you to be,
and I am not what you take me to be,
0