Anne Spencer – At the Carnival

Gay little Girl-of-the-Diving-Tank,I desire a name for you,Nice, as a right glove fits;For you—who amid the malodorousMechanics of this unlovely thing,Are darling of spirit and form.I know you—a glance, and what you areSits-by-the-fire in my heart.My Limousine-Lady knows you, orWhy...

Rabindranath Tagore – The Gardener 55

It was mid-day when you wentaway .The sun was strong in the sky.I had done my work and sat aloneon my balcony when you went away.Fitful gusts came winnowingthrough the smells of may distantfields.The doves cooed tireless in the shade,and a bee strayed in my room hum-ming the news...

Wilfred Owen – Dulce et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All...

W. H. Auden – In Memory of W. B. Yeats

IHe disappeared in the dead of winter:The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,And snow disfigured the public statues;The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.What instruments we have agreeThe day of his death was a dark cold day.Far from his illnessThe wolves ran...

Anne Spencer – Dunbar

Ah, how poets sing and die!Make one song and Heaven takes it;Have one heart and Beauty breaks it;Chatterton, Shelley, Keats and I—Ah, how poets sing and d...