Frank Lebby Stanton

Frank Lebby Stanton Poems

Ef you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin'!
Ef it hails, or ef it snows,
Keep a-goin!
...

When times are bad an' folks are sad
An' gloomy day by day,
Jest try your best at lookin' glad
An' whistle 'em away.
...

In the white moonlight, where the willow waves,
He halfway gallops among the graves—
A tiny ghost in the gloom and gleam,
...

Li'l bit er trouble,
Honey, fer terday;
Yander come Termorrer-
...

De fiel's 'll soon be hummin'
Roun' de country high en low;
De harves' is a-comin':
Hoe yo' row!
...

JEST a-wearyin' fer you
All the time a-feelin' blue;
Wishin' fer you wonderin' when
You'll be comin' home again ;
...

The softest whisperings of the scented South,
And rust and roses in the cannon's mouth;

And, where the thunders of the fight were born,
...

This world that we're a-livin' in
Is mighty hard to beat;
You git a thorn with every rose,
But ain't the roses sweet!
...

The old flag is a--doin' her very level best,
She's a rainbow roun' the country from the rosy east to the west;
...

He did n’t know much music
When first he come along;
An’ all the birds went wonderin’
Why he did n’t sing a song.
...

After all,
One country, brethren! We must rise or fall
With the Supreme Republic. We must be
The makers of her immortality,—
...

SO many stars in the infinite space
So many worlds in the light of God's face.

So many storms ere the thunders shall cease
...

DID ever you hear of the Mulligan ball the Mulligan ball so fine
Where we formed in ranks, and danced on planks, and swung 'em along the line ?
...

FELLOW who had done his best
Went one morning to his rest;
Never Hp his forehead pressed
Not one rose on his still breast.
...

Ef you ask him, day or night,
When the worl' warn't runnin' right,
'Anything that's good in sight?'
...

For what are we thankful for? For this:
For the breath and the sunlight of life
For the love of the child, and the kiss
...

A little way to walk with you, my own—
Only a little way,
Then one of us must weep and walk alone
Until God’s day.
...

De gray owl sing fum de chimbly top:
“Who—who—is—you-oo?”
En I say: “Good Lawd, hit’s des po ’me,
...

I

His hoss went dead an' his mule went lame;
He lost six cows in a poker game;
...

Frank Lebby Stanton Biography

Frank Lebby Stanton—born 1857 February 22 in Charleston, South Carolina, died 1927 January 7 in Atlanta, Georgia, and frequently credited as Frank L. Stanton, Frank Stanton or F. L. Stanton—was an American lyricist. He was also the initial columnist for the Atlanta Constitution and became the first poet laureate of the State of Georgia, a post to which he was appointed by Governor Clifford Walker in 1925 and which Stanton held until his death. Stanton has been frequently compared with Indiana's James Whitcomb Riley or called "the James Whitcomb Riley of the South"; Stanton and Riley were close friends who frequently traded poetic ideas. Although Stanton frequently wrote in the dialect of black southerners and poor whites, he was an opponent of the less-admirable aspects (such as lynching) of the culture in which he lived, and he tended to be compatible in philosophy with the southern progressivism of his employer, the Atlanta Constitution, for which he wrote editorials. He collaborated with African American composer Harry Thacker Burleigh in the sheet music for Stanton's poem "Jean" (Burleigh composed and harmonized the tune). These and other characteristics of Stanton are well elaborated in the scholarly essays on him by Francis J. Bosha and Bruce M. Swain. Multi-voice-ranges 1901 cover of Ethelbert Nevin's tune for "Mighty Lak' a Rose" for which Stanton wrote the lyrics. The dialect title means (approximately) "very much like a rose" and is supposedly sung by a mother to her young son. The first line, by which the opus is occasionally known, is "Sweetest li'l feller" (sweetest little fellow). Shortly after his death Stanton was commemorated in the naming of the Frank Lebby Stanton Elementary School, which, after the redesignation of a street name for its eponym still unborn at the time of Stanton's death, is at 1625 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Atlanta.)

The Best Poem Of Frank Lebby Stanton

Keep A-Goin'!

Ef you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin'!
Ef it hails, or ef it snows,
Keep a-goin!
'Taint no use to sit an' whine,
When the fish ain't on yer line;
Bait yer hook an' keep a-tryin'-
Keep a-goin'!

When the weather kills yer crop,
Keep a-goin'!
When you tumble from the top,
Keep a-goin'!
S'pose you're out of every dime,
Bein' so ain't any
crime;

Tell the world you're feelin'
prime
-
Keep a-goin'!

When it looks like all is up,
Keep a-goin'!
Drain the sweetness from the cup,
Keep a-goin'!
See the wild birds on the wing,
Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
When you feel like sighin'
sing-

Keep a-goin'!

Frank Lebby Stanton Comments

Dan Umbarger 12 November 2020

In my retirement I am trying to locate a favorite poem of mine... De Good Lawd Knows My Name by Frank L. Stanton. Can anyone help me locate it?

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