Poems by Harriet Monroe | Poetree

All Poems Original Poems Translations

1 2 3 4 5 › »

March

March

I See the snow-drops flutter

Their white wings in the gale.

I hear the robin utter

On high his gallant tale.

Look where the rash wind chases

With clouds the climbing sun!

The day makes merry faces—

Gaily her gray steeds run.

2

0

Lake Louise

Lake Louise

Bluer than Helen's eyes she lies

Under the blue cloud-drifting skies;

A daughter fair of light and air

Dropped among warrior mountains there.

White glaciers kiss her feet so fleet—

Oh fugitive, too rare and sweet!

Will she not fling them off that cling,

And rise, a bluebird on the wing?

2

0

New-Born

New-Born

She is so wee,

So wise and dear

Her eyes can see,

Her ears can hear,

The flowers that grow

Below the snow,

The birds that peep

In their eggs asleep,

2

0

Mountain Song

Mountain Song

I have not where to lay my head:

Upon my breast no child shall lie;

For me no marriage feast is spread:

I walk alone under the sky.

2

0

A Power-Plant

A Power-Plant

The Fisk Street turbine power station in Chicago

The invisible wheels go softly round and round—

Light is the tread of brazen-footed Power.

Spirits of air, caged in the iron tower,

Sing as they labor with a purring sound.

The abysmal fires, grated and chained and bound,

Burn white and still, in swift obedience cower;

While far and wide the myriad lamps, aflower,

2

0

At Twilight

At Twilight

You are a painter—listen—

I'll paint you a picture too!

Of the long white lights that glisten

Through Michigan Avenue;

With the red lights down the middle

Where the street shines mirror-wet,

While the rain-strung sky is a fiddle

For the wind to feel and fret.

2

0

Nancy Hanks

Nancy Hanks

Prairie child,

Brief as dew,

What winds of wonder

Nourished you?

Rolling plains

Of billowy green,

Far horizons,

Blue, serene;

2

0

A Little Old Maid

A Little Old Maid

She grew, like other girls and flowers,

Sheltered and tended daintily;

And told her dolls, through sunny hours,

A prince would come her love to be.

And none denied her as she grew

The kingdom where her prince was lord.

For him she bloomed, and drank the dew

Of youth, and wore the virgin's sword.

2

0

The Shadow-Child

The Shadow-Child

Why do the wheels go whirring round,

Mother, mother?

Oh, mother, are they giants bound,

And will they growl forever?

Yes, fiery giants underground,

Daughter, little daughter,

Forever turn the wheels around,

And rumble-grumble ever.

2

0

In Tuolumne Meadows

In Tuolumne Meadows

I Love to sit in the sun

And watch the foaming Lyell

Leap over its granite bed.

I love these days that run

On a burnished golden dial

With the blue sky overhead.

I love to waken at night

2

0

Love Songs

Love Songs

I

I LOVE my life, but not too well

To give it to thee like a flower,

So it may pleasure thee to dwell

Deep in its perfume but an hour.

I love my life, but not too well.

I love my life, but not too well

To sing it note by note away,

2

0

A Letter From Peking

A Letter From Peking

October I5th, 1910.

My friend, dear friend, why should I hear your voice

Over the Babel of voices, suddenly

Calling as from the new world to the old?

Hush!—are you weary? would you follow me?

Would you make dark the house, and shut the door,

Summon steam-pacing trains, wave-racing ships,

To bear you past the high assembled nations—

0

0