“There are no ghosts in America.” There are no ghosts, you say, To haunt her blaze of light; No shadows in her day, No phantoms in her night. Columbus’ tattered sail Has passed beyond our hail. What? On that magic coast, Where Raleigh fought with fate, Or where that Devon ghost Unbarred the Golden Gate, […]

(New Jersey, 1918) Its quiet graves were made for peace till Gabriel blows his horn. Those wise old elms could hear no cry Of all that distant agony– Only the red-winged blackbird, and the rustle of thick ripe corn. The blue jay, perched upon that bronze, with bright unweeting eyes, Could never read the names […]

(1917) The first four lines of this poem were written for inscription on the first joint memorial to the American and British soldiers who fell in the Revolutionary War. This memorial was recently dedicated at Princeton. I. Here Freedom stood, by slaughtered friend and foe, And ere the wrath paled or that sunset died, Looked […]

(After a glimpse of a certain monument in New York, during the Victory Celebration) The thousand-windowed towers were all alight. Throngs of all nations filled that glittering way; And, rich with dreams of the approaching day, Flags of all nations trampled down the night. No clouds, at sunset, die in airs as bright. No clouds, […]

Out of her darkened fishing-ports they go, A fleet of little ships, whose every name– Daffodil, Sea-lark, Rose and Surf and Snow, Burns in this blackness like an altar-flame; Out of her past they sail, three thousand strong, The people’s fleet that never knew its worth, And every name is a broken phrase of song […]

They are buffeting out in the bitter grey weather, Blow the man down, bullies, blow the man down! Sea-lark singing to Golden Feather, And burly blue waters all swelling aroun’. There’s Thunderstone butting ahead as they wallow, With death in the mesh of their deep-sea trawl; There’s Night-Hawk swooping by wild Sea-swallow; And old Cap’n […]

Dark, dark lay the drifters against the red West, As they shot their long meshes of steel overside; And the oily green waters were rocking to rest When Kilmeny went out, at the turn of the tide; And nobody knew where that lassie would roam, For the magic that called her was tapping unseen. It […]

The very best ship that ever I knew, —Ah-way O, to me O— Was a big black trawler with a deep-sea crew– Sing, my bullies, let the bullgine run. There was one old devil with a broken nose —Ah-way O, to me O— He was four score years, as I suppose– But, sing, my bullies, […]

But where’s the brown drifter that went out alone? —Roll and go, and fare you well— Was her name Peggy Nutten? That name is my own. Fare you well, my sailor. They sang in the dark, “Let her go! Let her go!” And she sailed to the West, where the broad waters flow; And the […]

Long, long ago He said, He who could wake the dead, And walk upon the sea– “Come, follow Me. “Leave your brown nets and bring Only your hearts to sing, Only your souls to pray, Rise, come away. “Shake out your spirit-sails, And brave those wilder gales, And I will make you then Fishers of […]

Now to those who search the deep, Gleam of Hope and Kindly Light, Once, before you turn to sleep, Breathe a message through the night. Never doubt that they’ll receive it. Send it, once, and you’ll believe it. Wrecks that burn against the stars, Decks where death is wallowing green, Snare the breath among their […]

O what is that whimpering there in the darkness? “Let him lie in my arms. He is breathing, I know. Look. I’ll wrap all my hair round his neck.”–“The sea’s rising, The boat must be lightened. He’s dead. He must go.” See–quick–by that flash, where the bitter foam tosses, The cloud of white faces, in […]

“You were weeping in the night,” said the Emperor, “Weeping in your sleep, I am told.” “It was nothing but a dream,” said the Empress; But her face grew gray and old. “You thought you saw our German God defeated?” “Oh, no!” she said. “I saw no lightnings fall. I dreamed of a whirlpool of […]

How should we praise those lads of the old Vindictive Who looked Death straight in the eyes, Till his gaze fell, In those red gates of hell? England, in her proud history, proudly enrolls them, And the deep night in her remembering skies With purer glory Shall blazon their grim story. There were no throngs […]

When hawthorn buds are creaming white, And the red foolscap all stuck with may, Then lasses walk with eyes alight, And it’s chimney-sweepers’ dancing day. For the chimney-sweeps of Cheltenham town, Sooty of face as a swallow of wing, Come whistling, singing, dancing down With white teeth flashing as they sing. And Jack-in-the green, by […]

(What the Ghosts Said) And after all the labour and the pains, After the heaping up of gold on gold, After success that locked your feet in chains, And left you with a heart so tired and old, Strange–is it not?–to find your chief desire Is what you might have had for nothing then– The […]

The old gentleman, tapping his amber snuff-box (A heart-shaped snuff-box with a golden clasp) Stared at the dying fire. “I’d like them all To understand, when I am gone,” he muttered. “But how to do it delicately! I can’t Apologize. I’ll hint at it … in verse; And, to be sure that Rosalind reads it […]

(An epistle from a narrow-minded old gentleman to a young artist of superior intellect and intense realism.) Your thoughts are for the poor and weak? Ah, no, the picturesque’s your passion! Your tongue is always in your cheek At poverty that’s not in fashion. You like a ploughman’s rugged face, Or painted eyes in Piccadilly; […]

I know a land, I, too, Where warm keen incense on the sea-wind blows, And all the winter long the skies are blue, And the brown deserts blossom with the rose. Deserts of all delight, Cactus and palm and earth of thirsty gold, Dark purple blooms round eaves of sun-washed white, And that Hesperian fruit […]

Last night, I dreamed of Nippon…. I saw a cloud of white Drifting before the sunset On seas of opal light. Beyond the wide Pacific I saw its mounded snow Miraculously changing In that deep evening glow, To rosy rifts and hillocks, To orchards that I knew, To snows of peach and cherry, And feathers […]