The Heap of Rags
One night when I went down
Thames’ side, in London Town,
A heap of rags saw I,
And sat me down close by.
That thing could shout and bawl,
But showed no face at all;
When any steamer passed
And blew a loud shrill blast,
That heap of rags would sit
And make a sound like it;
When struck the clock’s deep bell,
It made those peals as well.
When winds did moan around,
It mocked them with that sound;
When all was quiet, it
Fell into a strange fit;
Would sigh, and moan, and roar,
It laughed, and blessed, and swore.
Yet that poor thing, I know,
Had neither friend nor foe;
Its blessin or its curse
Made no one better or worse.
I left it in that place
The thing that showed no face,
Was it a man that had
Suffered till he went mad?
So many showers and not
One rainbow in the lot?
Too many bitter fears
To make a pearl from tears?





Related poetry:
- Give Me Back My Rags #1 Give me back my rags My rags of pure dreaming Of silk smiling of striped foreboding Of my cloth of […]...
- In rags mysterious as these In rags mysterious as these The shining Courtiers go Veiling the purple, and the plumes Veiling the ermine so. Smiling, […]...
- "Heap cassia, sandal-buds and stripes" Heap cassia, sandal-buds and stripes Of labdanum, and aloe-balls, Smeared with dull nard an Indian wipes From out her hair: […]...
- Give Me Back My Rags #11 I’ve wiped your face off my face Ripped your shadow off my shadow Leveled the hills in you Turned your […]...
- 151. Song-Bonie Dundee: A Fragment MY blessin’s upon thy sweet wee lippie! My blessin’s upon thy e’e-brie! Thy smiles are sae like my blythe sodger […]...
- Give Me Back My Rags Just come to my mind My thoughts will scratch out your face Just come into my sight My eyes will […]...
- When de Co'n Pone's Hot Dey is times in life when Nature Seems to slip a cog an’ go, Jes’ a-rattlin’ down creation, Lak an […]...
- Ambition They brought the mighty chief to town; They showed him strange, unwonted sights; Yet as he wandered up and down, […]...
- Week-Night Service The five old bells Are hurrying and eagerly calling, Imploring, protesting They know, but clamorously falling Into gabbling incoherence, never […]...
- Give Me Back My Rags #4 Get out of my walled infinity Of the star circle round my heart Of my mouthful of sun Get out […]...
- Give Me Back My Rags #12 Enough chattering violets enough sweet trash I won’t hear anything know anything Enough enough of all I’ll say the last […]...
- The Dying need but little, Dear The Dying need but little, Dear, A Glass of Water’s all, A Flower’s unobtrusive Face To punctuate the Wall, A […]...
- Dialogue Between a Sovereign and a One-Pound Note Said a Sov’reign to a Note, In the pocket of my coat, Where they met in a neat purse of […]...
- Passing showers Yesterday a passing, transient shower, Slaked my thirst so gently, softly, Showers in March are unheard – In this arid […]...
- The Sum-Up It is not power and fame That make success; It is not rank or name Rate happiness. It is not […]...
- I showed her Heights she never saw I showed her Heights she never saw “Would’st Climb,” I said? She said “Not so” “With me ” I said […]...
- Between the Showers Between the showers I went my way, The glistening street was bright with flowers; It seemed that March had turned […]...
- Instans Tyrannus I. Of the million or two, more or less, I rule and possess, One man, for some cause undefined, Was […]...
- The Telegraph Operator I will not wash my face; I will not brush my hair; I “pig” around the place There’s nobody to […]...
- Sonnet 02 – But only three in all God's universe But only three in all God’s universe Have heard this word thou hast said,-Himself, beside Thee speaking, and me listening! […]...
- When to the sessions of sweet silent thought (Sonnet 30) When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of […]...
- Sonnet XXX When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of […]...
- Henry Tripp The bank broke and I lost my savings. I was sick of the tiresome game in Spoon River And I […]...
- Sonnets XXX: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of […]...
- Sonnet XXX: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of […]...
- Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of […]...
- Sonnets iii WHEN to the Sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of […]...
- Sonnet LXXXIV Who is it that says most? which can say more Than this rich praise, that you alone are you? In […]...
- Sonnet 84: Who is it that says most, which can say more Who is it that says most, which can say more, Than this rich praise that you alone are you, In […]...
- A Sea-Side Walk We walked beside the sea, After a day which perished silently Of its own glory – like the Princess weird […]...
- The Second Oldest Story Go I must along my ways Though my heart be ragged, Dripping bitter through the days, Festering, and jagged. Smile […]...
- A Great Time Sweet Chance, that led my steps abroad, Beyond the town, where wild flowers grow A rainbow and a cuckoo, Lord, […]...
- The Growth of Lorraine I While I stood listening, discreetly dumb, Lorraine was having the last word with me: ВЂњI know, ” she said, […]...
- The Sad Shepherd There was a man whom Sorrow named his Friend, And he, of his high comrade Sorrow dreaming, Went walking with […]...
- Two Husbands Unpenitent, I grieve to state, Two good men stood by heaven’s gate, Saint Peter coming to await. The stopped the […]...
- The Last Decalogue Thou shalt have one God only;-who Would be at the expense of two? No graven images may be Worshipped, except […]...
- Mariana In The South With one black shadow at its feet, The house thro’ all the level shines, Close-latticed to the brooding heat, And […]...
- On Seeing A Piece Of Our Artillery Brought Into Action Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm, Great gun towering towards Heaven, about to curse; Sway steep against them, […]...
- Erin! The Tear and the Smile in Thine Eyes Erin! the tear and the smile in thine eyes Blend like the rainbow that hangs in thy skies, Shining through […]...
- A Way to Love God Here is the shadow of truth, for only the shadow is true. And the line where the incoming swell from […]...