Stephen Crane Poems

LITTLE birds of the night
Aye, they have much to tell
Perching there in rows
Blinking at me with their serious eyes
...

"Have you ever made a just man?"
"Oh, I have made three," answered God,
"But two of them are dead,
And the third --
...

If I should cast off this tattered coat,
And go free into the mighty sky;
If I should find nothing there
But a vast blue,
...

"What says the sea, little shell?
What says the sea?
Long has our brother been silent to us,
Kept his message for the ships,
...

The trees in the garden rained flowers.
Children ran there joyously.
They gathered the flowers
Each to himself.
...

Supposing that I should have the courage
To let a red sword of virtue
Plunge into my heart,
Letting to the weeds of the ground
...

"Tell brave deeds of war."

Then they recounted tales, --
"There were stern stands
...

God fashioned the ship of the world carefully.
With the infinite skill of an All-Master
Made He the hull and the sails,
Held He the rudder
...

On the desert
A silence from the moon's deepest valley.
Fire rays fall athwart the robes
Of hooded men, squat and dumb.
...

There was crimson clash of war.
Lands turned black and bare;
Women wept;
Babes ran, wondering.
...