AUTUMN SONG after Chassignet Little flower, you live in constant danger: Likely to be crushed under foot or torn by wind, Sun-scorched or gobbled by a goat. These October days streaked with regrets and tears Are ...

SOME ANGELS Lying on their backs, looking up at the sky, The boys have made angels in the snow. Eyes to heaven, with heaven looking down, They wave their arms like wings, while seraphs In ...

WHO IS THE STRANGER WHO OVERTAKES ME Who is the stranger who overtakes me On a dark street and taps me on the shoulder? I turn and there is nobody there but me, And ...

FIREFLIES After sundown you see the first Out of the corner of your eye, then another In the middle distance, the gloaming, Where a grove of maples conspires, Darkly thinking night-thoughts While these inklings of light ...

ORPHAN What was I looking for in that room Crowded with old books, shelves so full, It seemed they could not hold another title, Except where in places a weary volume Leaned upon its neighbor’s ...

THE SAGE I was looking for you in the garden. Above pink poppies and white cleome I saw scarlet blossoms, a sweet cluster I could not name without you near. Then A strange voice came ...

THE PORTRAIT Her face hung white and empty as a spoon. She had resisted every breeze and flutter That shuffled dead air through the shutter, Propped up all morning in a pose. To flush the ...

Bobolink You rise from dry meadowgrass           With a laborious flutter, more Wing-action than the shortness of your flight            Would seem to call for And so ...