William Dean Howells Poems

TOSSING his mane of snows in wildest eddies and tangles,
   Lion-like March cometh in, hoarse, with tempestuous breath,
Through all the moaning chimneys, and 'thwart all the hollows and
   angles
...

SOMETHING lies in the room
Over against my own;
The windows are lit with a ghastly bloom
Of candles, burning alone,
...

BITTER the things one’s enemies will say
Against one sometimes when one is away,
But of a bitterness far more intense
...

INNOCENT spirits, bright, immaculate ghosts!
Why throng your heavenly hosts,
As eager for their birth
...

I WAS not asked if I should like to come.
I have not seen my host here since I came,
Or had a word of welcome in his name.
...

Yes, death is at the bottom of the cup,
And every one that lives must drink it up;
And yet between the sparkle at the top
...

We sailed and sailed upon the desert sea
Where for whole days we alone seemed to be.
At last we saw a dim, vague line arise
...

OLD fraud, I know you in that gay disguise,
That air of hope, that promise of surprise:
Beneath your bravery, as you come this way,
...

BEFORE Him weltered like a shoreless sea
The souls of them that had not sought to be,
With all their guilt upon them, and they cried,
...

HOW passionately I will my life away
Which I would give all that I have to stay;
How wildly I hurry, for the change I crave.
...