#AmericanWriters
A LITTLE bird, with plumage bro… Beside my window flutters down, A moment chirps its little strain, Then taps upon my window—pane, And chirps again, and hops along,
Love hath the wings of the butterf… Oh, clasp him but gently, Pausing and dipping and fluttering… Inconsequently. Stir not his poise with the breath…
As lone I sat one summer’s day, With mien dejected, Love came by; His face distraught, his locks ast… So slow his gait, so sad his eye, I hailed him with a pitying cry:
I AM no priest of crooks nor cree… For human wants and human needs Are more to me than prophets’ deed… And human tears and human cares Affect me more than human prayers.
SWEETEST of the flowers a—bloo… In the fragrant vernal days Is the Lily of the Valley With its soft, retiring ways. Well, you chose this humble blosso…
(Lines on reading ‘Driftwood.’) Driftwood gathered here and there Along the beach of time; Now and then a chip of truth ‘Mid boards and boughs of rhyme;
SWING yo’ lady roun’ an’ roun’, Do de bes’ you know; Mek yo’ bow an’ p’omenade Up an’ down de flo’; Mek dat banjo hump huhse’f,
SEEN you down at chu’ch las’ nig… Nevah min’, Miss Lucy. What I mean? oh, dat 's all right… Nevah min’, Miss Lucy. You was sma’t ez sma’t could be,
Anchored IF thro’ the sea of night which h… I could swim out beyond the farthe… Break every barrier of circumstanc… And greet the Sun of sweeter life…
Lay me down beneaf de willers in d… Whah de branch 'll go a—singin’ as… An’ w’en I’s a—layin’ low, I kin hyeah it as it go Singin’, 'Sleep, my honey, tek yo…
THE air is dark, the sky is gray, The misty shadows come and go, And here within my dusky room Each chair looks ghostly in the gl… Outside the rain falls cold and sl…
The Oriole sings in the greening… As if he were half—way waiting, The rosebuds peep from their hoods… Timid, and hesitating. The rain comes down in a torrent s…
He sang of life, serenely sweet, With, now and then, a deeper note. From some high peak, nigh yet remo… He voiced the world’s absorbing be… He sang of love when earth was you…
A lilt and a swing, And a ditty to sing, Or ever the night grow old; The wine is within, And I’m sure t’were a sin
Ain’t nobody nevah tol’ you not a… 'Bout de time dat all de critters… Some folks tell it in a sto’y, som… ‘Peahs to me you ought to hyeahed… Well, de critters all was p’osp’ou…