Dictionary Poems

Folk ask if I’m alive, Most think I’m not;Yet gaily I contrive To till my plot.The world its way can go, I little heed,So long as I can grow The grub I need. For though long overdue, The years to me,Have taught a lesson true, –Humility.Such better men than I I’ve seen pass on;Their pay-off … Continued

Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,And sings the tune without the words,And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard;And sore must be the stormThat could abash the little birdThat kept so many warm. I ‘ve heard it in the chillest land,And on the strangest sea;Yet, never, in … Continued

I ASKED the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell me what is happiness.And I went to famous executives who boss the work of thousands of men.They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though I was trying to fool with themAnd then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out along … Continued

I started early, took my dog,And visited the sea;The mermaids in the basementCame out to look at me, And frigates in the upper floorExtended hempen hands,Presuming me to be a mouseAground, upon the sands. But no man moved me till the tideWent past my simple shoe,And past my apron and my belt,And past my bodice … Continued

How often do I wish I wereWhat people call a character;A ripe and cherubic old chappieWho lives to make his fellows happy;With in his eyes a merry twinkle,And round his lips a laughing wrinkle;Who radiating hope and cheerGrows kindlier with every year.For this ideal let me strive,And keep the lad in me alive;Nor argument nor … Continued

Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask … Continued

‘T was a long parting, but the timeFor interview had come;Before the judgment-seat of God,The last and second time These fleshless lovers met,A heaven in a gaze,A heaven of heavens, the privilegeOf one another’s eyes. No lifetime set on them,Apparelled as the newUnborn, except they had beheld,Born everlasting now. Was bridal e’er like this?A paradise, … Continued

COME you, cartoonists, Hang on a strap with me here At seven o’clock in the morning On a Halsted street car. Take your pencils And draw these faces. Try with your pencils for these crooked faces,That pig-sticker in one corner–his mouth–That overall factory girl–her loose cheeks. Find for your pencils A way to mark your … Continued

To fling my arms wideIn some place of the sun,To whirl and to danceTill the white day is done.Then rest at cool eveningBeneath a tall treeWhile night comes on gently, Dark like me-That is my dream! To fling my arms wideIn the face of the sun,Dance! Whirl! Whirl!Till the quick day is done.Rest at pale … Continued

A thousand books my library Contains;And all are primed, it seems to me With brains.Mine are so few I scratch in thought My head;For just a hundred of the lot I’ve read. A hundred books, but of the best, I canWith wisdom savour and digest And scan.Yet when afar from kin and kith In nooksOf … Continued