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").
Summer Morn In New Hampshire
All yesterday it poured, and all night longI could not sleep; the rain unceasing beatUpon the shingled roof like a weird song,Upon the grass like..
© Claude McKay
The Castaways
The vivid grass with visible delightSpringing triumphant from the pregnant earth,The butterflies, and sparrows in brief flightChirping and dancing..
© Claude McKay
North And South
O sweet are tropic lands for waking dreams!There time and life move lazily along.There by the banks of blue-and-silver streamsGrass-sheltered..
© Claude McKay
Through Agony
IAll night, through the eternity of night,Pain was my potion though I could not feel.Deep in my humbled heart you ground your heel,Till I was reft of..
© Claude McKay
The Night-Fire
No engines shrieking rescue storm the night,And hose and hydrant cannot here avail;The flames laugh high and fling their challenging light,And clouds..
© Claude McKay
The Wild Goat
O you would clothe me in silken frocksAnd house me from the cold,And bind with bright bands my glossy locks,And buy me chains of gold;And give..
© Claude McKay
The Barrier
I must not gaze at them althoughYour eyes are dawning day;I must not watch you as you goYour sun-illumined way;I hear but I must never heedThe..
© Claude McKay
The Easter Flower
Far from this foreign Easter damp and chillyMy soul steals to a pear-shaped plot of ground,Where gleamed the lilac-tinted Easter lilySoft-scented in..
© Claude McKay
Poetry
Sometimes I tremble like a storm-swept flower,And seek to hide my tortured soul from thee.Bowing my head in deep humilityBefore the silent thunder of..
© Claude McKay
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