Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth Poems

Swift things are beautiful:
Swallows and deer,
And lightening that falls
Bright-veined and clear,
...

Cat, if you go outdoors, you must walk in the snow.
You will come back with little white shoes on your feet,
little white shoes of snow that have heels of sleet.
Stay by the fire, my Cat. Lie still, do not go.
...

I like to see a thunder storm,
A dunder storm,
A blunder storm,
I like to see it, black and slow,
...

The rain was like a little mouse,
Quiet, small, and gray,
It pattered all around the house
...

What could be lovelier than to hear the summer rain
Cutting across the heat, as scythes cutting across grain?
Falling upon the steaming roof with sweet uproar,
...

You may call, you may call
But the little black cats won't hear you.
The little black cats are maddened
By the bright green light of the moon;
...

He stood before her tall and very strong.
The swine and tigers crouched about her feet
And licked them.
...

"Is there anything,"
asked the goblin,
"you would like for yourself?
Should you like a little pony
...

Fly low, vermilion dragon,
With the moon horns.
Fly down to the top of the mountains
That I may climb into your saddle
...

In the whole graveyard there is not a nymph
To rustle through the yellow fall of leaves,
Upon a tomb a pitying angel grieves,
...