The American Spirit speaks: If the Led Striker call it a strike,Or the papers call it a war,They know not much what I am like,Nor what he is, my Avatar. Through many roads, by me possessed,He shambles forth in cosmic guise;He is the Jester and the Jest,And he the Text himself applies. The Celt is … Continue reading Poem – “An American”
Poem
Poem – “Lift Not the Painted Veil”
Lift not the painted veil which those who liveCall Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,And it but mimic all we would believeWith colours idly spread,—behind, lurk FearAnd Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weaveTheir shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.I knew one who had lifted it—he sought,For his lost heart was tender, things to … Continue reading Poem – “Lift Not the Painted Veil”
Poem – “Concord Hymn”
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,Here once the embattled farmers stood,And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept;Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;And Time the ruined bridge has sweptDown the dark stream which seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft … Continue reading Poem – “Concord Hymn”
Poem – “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be”
When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,Before high-piled books, in charact'ry, Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face, Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;And … Continue reading Poem – “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be”
Poem – “Batter My Heart, Three-Person’d God”
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for youAs yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bendYour force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.I, like an usurp'd town to another due,Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;Reason, your viceroy in me, me should … Continue reading Poem – “Batter My Heart, Three-Person’d God”
Poem – “The Destruction of Sennacherib”
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,That host with their banners at sunset were seen:Like … Continue reading Poem – “The Destruction of Sennacherib”
Poem – “Background” (repost)
(Because yesterday was my birthday, and this one seems fitting) I never can be tied to raw, new things,For I first saw the light in an old town,Where from my window huddled roofs sloped downTo a quaint harbour rich with visionings.Streets with carved doorways where the sunset beamsFlooded old fanlights and small window-panes,And Georgian steeples … Continue reading Poem – “Background” (repost)
Poetry – “In the Neolithic Age”
In the Neolithic Age savage warfare did I wageFor food and fame and woolly horses' pelt.I was singer to my clan in that dim, red Dawn of Man,And I sang of all we fought and feared and felt. Yea, I sang as now I sing, when the Prehistoric springMade the piled Biscayan ice-pack split and … Continue reading Poetry – “In the Neolithic Age”
Poem – “To One Who has Been Long in City Pent”
To one who has been long in city pent'Tis very sweet to look into the fairAnd open face of heaven, - to breathe a prayerFull in the smile of the blue firmament.Who is more happy, when, with heart's content,Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lairOf wavy grass, and reads a debonairAnd gentle tale of love … Continue reading Poem – “To One Who has Been Long in City Pent”
Serpent's Den 