Poetry Books

PART THE FIRST. I     IN the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas,  Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pré  Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward,  Giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks without number.  Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor incessant,  Shut out the turbulent tides; but at... more...

THE COD-FISHER Where leap the long Atlantic swellsIn foam-streaked stretch of hill and dale,Where shrill the north-wind demon yells,And flings the spindrift down the gale;Where, beaten 'gainst the bending mast,The frozen raindrop clings and cleaves,With steadfast front for calm or blastHis battered schooner rocks and heaves. To same the gain, to some the loss,To each the chance, the risk, the... more...

I.  KING VALDEMAR’S WOOING. Valdemar King and Sir Strange bold   At table sat one day,So many a word ’twixt them there passed   In amicable way. “Hear Strange, hear! thou for a time   Thy native land must leave;Thou shalt away to Bohemia far   My young bride to receive.” Then answered Strange Ebbesen,   To answer he was not slow:“Who shall attend me of thy liegemen,   If I to... more...

I Because I believe that many do not understand the verse ofLichtenstein, do not correctly understand, do not clearly understand— II The first eighty poems are lyric. In the usual sense. They are not much different from poetry that praises gardens. The content is the distress of love, death, universal longing. The impulse to formulate them in the "cynical" vein (like cabaret songs) may, for... more...

Second Fig   Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:  Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand! Recuerdo   We were very tired, we were very merry—  We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.  It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable—  But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,  We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;  And the whistles... more...

PAR AVIUM. Two little birds were sitting on a stone, One flew away and then there was one, T’ other flew away and then there was none, So the poor stone was left all alone. One of the little birds back again flew, In came t’ other and then there were two; Says one bird to t’ other, “How do you do?” “Very well, I thank you; pray how do you?” Fama est par avium venisse insistere saxo,... more...

THE KING’S WAKE To-night is the night that the wake they hold,To the wake repair both young and old. Proud Signelil she her mother address’d:“May I go watch along with the rest?” “O what at the wake wouldst do my dear?Thou’st neither sister nor brother there. “Nor brother-in-law to protect thy youth,To the wake thou must not go forsooth. “There be the King and his warriors gay,If me... more...

VERSE: A LEGEND OF PROVENCE The lights extinguished, by the hearth I leant,Half weary with a listless discontent.The flickering giant-shadows, gathering near,Closed round me with a dim and silent fear.All dull, all dark; save when the leaping flame,Glancing, lit up a Picture’s ancient frame.Above the hearth it hung.  Perhaps the night,My foolish tremors, or the gleaming light,Lent power to that... more...

TEXAS VOICE OF NEW ENGLAND. The five poems immediately following indicate the intense feeling of the friends of freedom in view of the annexation of Texas, with its vast territory sufficient, as was boasted, for six new slave States. Up the hillside, down the glen,Rouse the sleeping citizen;Summon out the might of men! Like a lion growling low,Like a night-storm rising slow,Like the tread of unseen... more...

GOOD-BY BILL Dollar Bill, that I've held so tightEver since payday, a week ago,Shall I purchase with you tonightA pair of seats at the vaudeville show?(Hark! A voice from the easy chair:"Look at his shoes! We must buy a pair.") Dollar Bill, from the wreckage saved,Tell me, how shall I squander you?Shall I be shined, shampooed and shaved,Singed and trimmed 'round the edges, too?(Hark!... more...