Buddha by Vachel Lindsay
Would that by Hindu magic we became Dark monks of jeweled India long ago, Sitting at Prince Siddartha’s feet to know The foolishness of gold and love and station, The gospel of the Great Renunciation, The ragged cloak, the staff, the rain and sun, The beggar’s life, with far Nirvana gleaming: Lord, make us Buddhas, […]
Blanche Sweet by Vachel Lindsay
MOVING-PICTURE ACTRESS (After seeing the reel called “Oil and Water.”) Beauty has a throne-room In our humorous town, Spoiling its hob-goblins, Laughing shadows down. Rank musicians torture Ragtime ballads vile, But we walk serenely Down the odorous aisle. We forgive the squalor And the boom and squeal For the Great Queen flashes From the moving […]
Beyond the Moon by Vachel Lindsay
[Written to the Most Beautiful Woman in the World] M< Sweetheart is the TRUTH BEYOND THE MOON, And never have I been in love with Woman, Always aspiring to be set in tune With one who is invisible, inhuman. O laughing girl, cold TRUTH has stepped between, Spoiling the fevers of your virgin face: Making […]
At Mass by Vachel Lindsay
No doubt to-morrow I will hide My face from you, my King. Let me rejoice this Sunday noon, And kneel while gray priests sing. It is not wisdom to forget. But since it is my fate Fill thou my soul with hidden wine To make this white hour great. My God, my God, this marvelous […]
An Indian Summer Day on the Prarie by Vachel Lindsay
(IN THE BEGINNING) THE sun is a huntress young, The sun is a red, red joy, The sun is an indian girl, Of the tribe of the Illinois. (MID-MORNING) The sun is a smouldering fire, That creeps through the high gray plain, And leaves not a bush of cloud To blossom with flowers of rain. […]
An Argument by Vachel Lindsay
I. THE VOICE OF THE MAN IMPATIENT WITH VISIONS AND UTOPIAS We find your soft Utopias as white As new-cut bread, and dull as life in cells, O, scribes who dare forget how wild we are How human breasts adore alarum bells. You house us in a hive of prigs and saints Communal, frugal, clean […]
An Apology for the Bottle Volcanic by Vachel Lindsay
Sometimes I dip my pen and find the bottle full of fire, The salamanders flying forth I cannot but admire. It’s Etna, or Vesuvius, if those big things were small, And then ’tis but itself again, and does not smoke at all. And so my blood grows cold. I say, “The bottle held but ink, […]
Alone in the Wind, on the Prairie by Vachel Lindsay
I know a seraph who has golden eyes, And hair of gold, and body like the snow. Here in the wind I dream her unbound hair Is blowing round me, that desire’s sweet glow Has touched her pale keen face, and willful mien. And though she steps as one in manner born To tread the […]
Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay
In Springfield, Illinois IT is portentious, and a thing of state That here at midnight, in our little town A mourning figure walks, and will not rest, Near the old court-house, pacing up and down. Or by his homestead, or by shadowed yards He lingers where his children used to play, Or through the market, […]
Above the Battle’s Front by Vachel Lindsay
St. Francis, Buddha, Tolstoi, and St. John — Friends, if you four, as pilgrims, hand in hand, Returned, the hate of earth once more to dare, And walked upon the water and the land, If you, with words celestial, stopped these kings For sober conclave, ere their battle great, Would they for one deep instant […]
A Sense of Humor by Vachel Lindsay
NO man should stand before the moon To make sweet song thereon, With dandified importance, His sense of humor gone. Nay, let us don the motley cap, The jester’s chastened mien, If we would woo that looking-glass And see what should be seen. O mirror on fair Heaven’s wall, We find there what we bring. […]
A Rhyme About an Electrical Advertising Sign by Vachel Lindsay
I LOOK on the specious electrical light Blatant, mechanical, crawling and white, Wickedly red or malignantly green Like the beads of a young Senegambian queen. Showing, while millions of souls hurry on, The virtues of collars, from sunset till dawn, By dart or by tumble of whirl within whirl, Starting new fads for the shame-weary […]
A Prayer to All the Dead among Mine Own People by Vachel Lindsay
Are these your presences, my clan from Heaven? Are these your hands upon my wounded soul? Mine own, mine own, blood of my blood be with me, Fly by my path till you have made me whole! ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. […]
A Net to Snare the Moonlight by Vachel Lindsay
[What the Man of Faith said] The dew, the rain and moonlight All prove our Father’s mind. The dew, the rain and moonlight Descend to bless mankind. Come, let us see that all men Have land to catch the rain, Have grass to snare the spheres of dew, And fields spread for the grain. Yea, […]
A Curse for Kings by Vachel Lindsay
A curse upon each king who leads his state, No matter what his plea, to this foul game, And may it end his wicked dynasty, And may he die in exile and black shame. If there is vengeance in the Heaven of Heavens, What punishment could Heaven devise for these Who fill the rivers of […]
Up The Line by Will McKendree Carleton
Through blinding storm and clouds of night, We swiftly pushed our restless flight; With thundering hoof and warning neigh, We urged our steed upon his way Up the line. Afar the lofty head-light gleamed; Afar the whistle shrieked and screamed; And glistening bright, and rising high, Our flakes of fire bestrewed the sky, Up the […]
Uncle Sammy by Will McKendree Carleton
Some men were born for great things, Some were born for small; Some–it is not recorded Why they were born at all; But Uncle Sammy was certain he had a legitimate call. Some were born with a talent, Some with scrip and land; Some with a spoon of silver, And some with a different brand; […]
The New Church Organ by Will McKendree Carleton
They ‘ve got a brand-new organ, Sue, For all their fuss and search; They’ve done just as they said they’d do, And fetched it into church. They’re bound the critter shall be seen, And on the preacher’s right They’ve hoisted up their new machine, In every body’s sight. They’ve got a chorister and choir, Ag’in’ […]
The Littlle Black-Eyed Rebel by Will McKendree Carleton
A boy drove into the city, his wagon loaded down With food to feed the people of the British-governed town; And the little black-eyed rebel, so innocent and sly, Was watching for his coming from the corner of her eye. His face looked broad and honest, his hands were brown and tough, The clothes he […]
The House Where We Were Wed by Will McKendree Carleton
I’ve been to the old farm-house, good-wife, Where you and I were wed; Where the love was born to our two hearts That now lies cold and dead. Where a long-kept secret to you I told, In the yellow beams of the moon, And we forged our vows out of love’s own gold, To be […]
The Fading Flower by Will McKendree Carleton
There is a chillness in the air– A coldness in the smile of day; And e’en the sunbeam’s crimson glare Seems shaded with a tinge of gray. Weary of journeys to and fro, The sun low creeps adown the sky; And on the shivering earth below, The long, cold shadows grimly lie. But there will […]
The Editor’s Guests by Will McKendree Carleton
The Editor sat in his sanctum, his countenance furrowed with care, His mind at the bottom of business, his feet at the top of a chair, His chair-arm an elbow supporting, his right hand upholding his head, His eyes on his dusty old table, with different documents spread: There were thirty long pages from Howler, […]
The Country Doctor by Will McKendree Carleton
There’s a gathering in the village, that has never been outdone Since the soldiers took their muskets to the war of ’61, And a lot of lumber wagons near the church upon the hill, And a crowd of country people, Sunday dressed and very still. Now each window is preempted by a dozen heads or […]
Thanksgiving Day by Will McKendree Carleton
‘Tis in the thriftful Autumn days, When earth is overdone, And forest trees have caught the blaze Thrown at them by the sun, When up the gray smoke puffs and curls From cottage chimney-lips, And oft the driving storm unfurls The black sails of his ships, Or Indian Summer, dimly fair, May walk the valleys […]
Over The Hill From The Poor-House by Will McKendree Carleton
I, who was always counted, they say, Rather a bad stick any way, Splintered all over with dodges and tricks, Known as “the worst of the Deacon’s six;” I, the truant, saucy and bold, The one black sheep in my father’s fold, “Once on a time,” as the stories say, Went over the hill on […]
Our Army Of The Dead by Will McKendree Carleton
By the edge of the Atlantic, where the waves of Freedom roar, And the breezes of the ocean chant a requiem to the shore, On the Nation’s eastern hill-tops, where its corner-stone was laid, On the mountains of New England, where our fathers toiled and prayed, Mid old Key-stone’s rugged riches, which the miner’s hand […]
One And Two by Will McKendree Carleton
I. If you to me be cold, Or I be false to you, The world will go on, I think, Just as it used to do; The clouds will flirt with the moon, The sun will kiss the sea, The wind to the trees will whisper, And laugh at you and me; But the sun […]
Johnny Rich by Will McKendree Carleton
Raise the light a little, Jim, For it’s getting rather dim, And, with such a storm a-howlin’, ’twill not do to douse the glim. Hustle down the curtains, Lu; Poke the fire a little, Su; This is somethin’ of a flurry, mother, somethin’ of a–whew! Goodness gracious, how it pours! How it beats ag’in the […]
Autumn Days by Will McKendree Carleton
Yellow, mellow, ripened days, Sheltered in a golden coating; O’er the dreamy, listless haze, White and dainty cloudlets floating; Winking at the blushing trees, And the sombre, furrowed fallow; Smiling at the airy ease Of the southward-flying swallow. Sweet and smiling are thy ways, Beauteous, golden, Autumn days! Shivering, quivering, tearful days, Fretfully and sadly […]
Apple-Blossoms by Will McKendree Carleton
Underneath an apple-tree Sat a maiden and her lover; And the thoughts within her he Yearned, in silence, to discover. Round them danced the sunbeams bright, Green the grass-lawn stretched before them; While the apple-blossoms white Hung in rich profusion o’er them. Naught within her eyes he read That would tell her mind unto him; […]
To the Fringed Gentian by William Cullen Bryant
To the Fringed Gentian by William Cullen Bryant Thou blossom bright with autumn dew, And colored with the heaven’s own blue, That openest when the quiet light Succeeds the keen and frosty night. Thou comest not when violets lean O’er wandering brooks and springs unseen, Or columbines, in purple dressed, Nod o’er the ground-bird’s hidden […]
To a Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant
To a Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant Whither, midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way? Vainly the fowler’s eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong As, darkly seen against the crimson sky, Thy figure floats […]
To A Cloud by William Cullen Bryant
To A Cloud by William Cullen Bryant Beautiful cloud! with folds so soft and fair, Swimming in the pure quiet air! Thy fleeces bathed in sunlight, while below Thy shadow o’er the vale moves slow; Where, midst their labour, pause the reaper train As cool it comes along the grain. Beautiful cloud! I would I […]
The Yellow Violet by William Cullen Bryant
The Yellow Violet by William Cullen Bryant When beechen buds begin to swell, And woods the blue-bird’s warble know, The yellow violet’s modest bell Peeps from last-year’s leaves below. Ere russet fields their green resume, Sweet flower, I love, in forest bare, To meet thee, when thy faint perfume Alone is in the virgin air. […]
The West Wind by William Cullen Bryant
The West Wind by William Cullen Bryant Beneath the forest’s skirts I rest, Whose branching pines rise dark and high, And hear the breezes of the West Among the threaded foliage sigh. Sweet Zephyr! why that sound of wo? Is not thy Home among the flowers? Do not the bright June roses blow, To meet […]
The Strange Lady by William Cullen Bryant
The Strange Lady by William Cullen Bryant The summer morn is bright and fresh, the birds are darting by, As if they loved to breast the breeze that sweeps the cool dear sky; Young Albert, in the forest’s edge, has heard a rustling sound An arrow slightly strikes his hand and falls upon the ground. […]
The Skies by William Cullen Bryant
The Skies by William Cullen Bryant Ay! gloriously thou standest there, Beautiful, boundless firmament! That swelling wide o’er earth and air, And round the horizon bent, With thy bright vault, and sapphire wall, Dost overhang and circle all. Far, far below thee, tall old trees Arise, and piles built up of old, And hills, whose […]
The Living Lost by William Cullen Bryant
The Living Lost by William Cullen Bryant Matron! the Children of whose love, Each to his grave, in youth have passed, And now the mould is heaped above The dearest and the last! Bride! who dost wear the widow’s veil Before the Wedding flowers are pale! Ye deem the human heart endures No deeper, bitterer […]
The Gladness of Nature by William Cullen Bryant
The Gladness of Nature by William Cullen Bryant Is this a time to be cloudy and sad, When our mother Nature laughs around; When even the deep blue heavens look glad, And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground? There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren, And the gossip of swallows through all […]
The Death of the Flowers by William Cullen Bryant
The Death of the Flowers by William Cullen Bryant The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year, Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere. Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead; They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit’s tread; The robin […]