The Castaways
The vivid grass with visible delight
Springing triumphant from the pregnant earth,
The butterflies, and sparrows in brief flight
Chirping and dancing for the season’s birth,
The dandelions and rare daffodils
That touch the deep-stirred heart with hands of gold,
The thrushes sending forth their joyous trills,
Not these, not these did I at first behold!
But seated on the benches daubed with green,
The castaways of life, a few asleep,
Some withered women desolate and mean,
And over all, life’s shadows dark and deep.
Moaning I turned away, for misery
I have the strength to bear but not to see.
Similar poems:
- December, 1919 Last night I heard your voice, mother, The words you sang to me When I, a little barefoot boy, Knelt […]...
- My Mother I Reg wished me to go with him to the field, I paused because I did not want to go; […]...
- Summer Morn in New Hampshire All yesterday it poured, and all night long I could not sleep; the rain unceasing beat Upon the shingled roof […]...
- Futility Oh, I have tried to laugh the pain away, Let new flames brush my love-springs like a feather. But the […]...
- To Winter Stay, season of calm love and soulful snows! There is a subtle sweetness in the sun, The ripples on the […]...
- The Harlem Dancer Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes And watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway; Her voice was like the sound of […]...
- Courage O lonely heart so timid of approach, Like the shy tropic flower that shuts its lips To the faint touch […]...
- Through Agony I All night, through the eternity of night, Pain was my potion though I could not feel. Deep in my […]...
- To a Poet There is a lovely noise about your name, Above the shoutings of the city clear, More than a moment’s merriment, […]...
- Morning Joy At night the wide and level stretch of wold, Which at high noon had basked in quiet gold, Far as […]...
- The Lynching His Spirit in smoke ascended to high heaven. His father, by the cruelest way of pain, Had bidden him to […]...
- Birds of Prey Their shadow dims the sunshine of our day, As they go lumbering across the sky, Squawking in joy of feeling […]...
- Homing Swallows Swift swallows sailing from the Spanish main, O rain-birds racing merrily away From hill-tops parched with heat and sultry plain […]...
- To One Coming North At first you’ll joy to see the playful snow, Like white moths trembling on the tropic air, Or waters of […]...
- Enslaved Oh when I think of my long-suffering race, For weary centuries despised, oppressed, Enslaved and lynched, denied a human place […]...
- The Tired Worker O whisper, O my soul! The afternoon Is waning into evening, whisper soft! Peace, O my rebel heart! for soon […]...
- The Easter Flower Far from this foreign Easter damp and chilly My soul steals to a pear-shaped plot of ground, Where gleamed the […]...
- I Know My Soul I plucked my soul out of its secret place, And held it to the mirror of my eye, To see […]...
- Adolescence There was a time when in late afternoon The four-o’clocks would fold up at day’s close Pink-white in prayer, and […]...
- Home Thoughts Oh something just now must be happening there! That suddenly and quiveringly here, Amid the city’s noises, I must think […]...
- Thirst My spirit wails for water, water now! My tongue is aching dry, my throat is hot For water, fresh rain […]...
- The Spanish Needle Lovely dainty Spanish needle With your yellow flower and white, Dew bedecked and softly sleeping, Do you think of me […]...
- The Night-Fire No engines shrieking rescue storm the night, And hose and hydrant cannot here avail; The flames laugh high and fling […]...
- A Red Flower Your lips are like a southern lily red, Wet with the soft rain-kisses of the night, In which the brown […]...
- Alfonso, Dressing to Wait at Table Alfonso is a handsome bronze-hued lad Of subtly-changing and surprising parts; His moods are storms that frighten and make glad, […]...
- Winter in the Country Sweet life! how lovely to be here And feel the soft sea-laden breeze Strike my flushed face, the spruce’s fair […]...
- On Broadway About me young careless feet Linger along the garish street; Above, a hundred shouting signs Shed down their bright fantastic […]...
- The White City I will not toy with it nor bend an inch. Deep in the secret chambers of my heart I muse […]...
- The Tropics in New York Bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root, Cocoa in pods and alligator pears, And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit, Fit […]...
- Outcast For the dim regions whence my fathers came My spirit, bondaged by the body, longs. Words felt, but never heard, […]...