Life's a jail where men have common lot. Gaunt the one who has, and who has not. All our treasures neither less nor more, Bread alone comes thro' the guarded door. Cards are foolish in this jail, I think,...
Last night at black midnight I woke with a cry, The windows were shaking, there was thunder on high, The floor was a-tremble, the door was a-jar, White fires, crimson fires, shone from afar....
There dwelt a widow learned and devout, Behind our hamlet on the eastern hill. Three sons she had, who went to find the world. They promised to return, but wandered still....
Though I have watched so many mourners weep O'er the real dead, in dull earth laid asleep - Those dead seemed but the shadows of my days That passed and left me in the sun's bright rays....
O you who lose the art of hope, Whose temples seem to shrine a lie, Whose sidewalks are but stones of fear, Who weep that Liberty must die, Turn to the little prairie towns,...
"To the farthest star of all, Go, make a moment's raid. To the west - escape the earth Before your pennons fade! West! west! o'ertake the night That flees the morning sun....
These, the Wings of the Morning, An Indian Maiden wove, Intertwining subtilely Wands from a willow grove Beside the Sangamon - Rude stream of Dreamland Town. She bound them to my shoulders...
A thousand times ten thousand times More swift than the sun's swift light Were the Morning Wings in their flight On - On - West of the Universe, Thro' the West To Chaos-night.
The King of Yellow Butterflies, The King of Yellow Butterflies, The King of Yellow Butterflies, Now orders forth his men. He says "The time is almost here When violets bloom again."...
Let not young souls be smothered out before They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride. It is the world's one crime its babes grow dull, Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed....