Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
Futility
Oh, I have tried to laugh the pain away,Let new flames brush my love-springs like a feather.But the old fever seizes me to-day,As sickness grips a..
© Claude McKay
When Dawn Comes To The City
The tired cars go grumbling by,The moaning, groaning cars,And the old milk carts go rumbling byUnder the same dull stars.Out of the tenements, cold..
© Claude McKay
The White House
Your door is shut against my tightened face,And I am sharp as steel with discontent;But I possess the courage and the graceTo bear my anger proudly..
© Claude McKay
Thirst
My spirit wails for water, water now!My tongue is aching dry, my throat is hotFor water, fresh rain shaken from a bough,Or dawn dews heavy in some..
© Claude McKay
To A Poet
There is a lovely noise about your name,Above the shoutings of the city clear,More than a moment's merriment, whose claimWill greater grow with every..
© Claude McKay
On The Road
Roar of the rushing train fearfully rocking,Impatient people jammed in line for food,The rasping noise of cars together knocking,And worried waiters..
© Claude McKay
Spring In New Hampshire
Too green the springing April grass,Too blue the silver-speckled sky,For me to linger here, alas,While happy winds go laughing by,Wasting the golden..
© Claude McKay
Rest In Peace
No more for you the city's thorny ways,The ugly corners of the Negro belt;The miseries and pains of these harsh daysBy you will never, never again be..
© Claude McKay
Home Thoughts
Oh something just now must be happening there!That suddenly and quiveringly here,Amid the city's noises, I must thinkOf mangoes leaning o'er the..
© Claude McKay
In Bondage
I would be wandering in distant fieldsWhere man, and bird, and beast, lives leisurely,And the old earth is kind, and ever yieldsHer goodly gifts to..
© Claude McKay
I Know My Soul
I plucked my soul out of its secret place,And held it to the mirror of my eye,To see it like a star against the sky,A twitching body quivering in..
© Claude McKay
White Houses
Your door is shut against my tightened face,And I am sharp as steel with discontent;But I possess the courage and the graceTo bear my anger proudly..
© Claude McKay
The White City
I will not toy with it nor bend an inch.Deep in the secret chambers of my heartI muse my life-long hate, and without flinchI bear it nobly as I live..
© Claude McKay
Commemoration
When first your glory shone upon my faceMy body kindled to a mighty flame,And burnt you yielding in my hot embraceUntil you swooned to love..
© Claude McKay
Heritage
Now the dead past seems vividly alive,And in this shining moment I can trace,Down through the vista of the vanished years,Your faun-like form, your..
© Claude McKay
The Tired Worker
O whisper, O my soul! The afternoonIs waning into evening, whisper soft!Peace, O my rebel heart! for soon the moonFrom out its misty veil will swing..
© Claude McKay
Adolescence
There was a time when in late afternoonThe four-o'clocks would fold up at day's closePink-white in prayer, and 'neath the floating moonI lay with..
© Claude McKay
When I Have Passed Away
When I have passed away and am forgotten,And no one living can recall my face,When under alien sod my bones lie rottenWith not a tree or stone to..
© Claude McKay
The Tropics In New York
Bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root,Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,Fit for the highest prize at..
© Claude McKay
Alfonso, Dressing To Wait At Table
Alfonso is a handsome bronze-hued ladOf subtly-changing and surprising parts;His moods are storms that frighten and make glad,His eyes were made to..
© Claude McKay
French Leave
No servile little fear shall daunt my willThis morning. I have courage steeled to sayI will be lazy, conqueringly still,I will not lose the hours in..
© Claude McKay
Outcast
For the dim regions whence my fathers cameMy spirit, bondaged by the body, longs.Words felt, but never heard, my lips would frame;My soul would sing..
© Claude McKay
Flirtation
UPON thy purple mat thy body bareIs fine and limber like a tender tree.The motion of thy supple form is rare,Like a lithe panther lolling..
© Claude McKay
Baptism
Into the furnace let me go alone;Stay you without in terror of the heat.I will go naked in--for thus ''tis sweet--Into the weird depths of the..
© Claude McKay
A Prayer
'Mid the discordant noises of the day I hear thee calling;I stumble as I fare along Earth's way; keep me from falling.Mine eyes are open but they..
© Claude McKay