William Stanley Braithwaite Poems

I

OFF our New England coast the sea to-night
Is moaning the full sorrow of its heart:
...

Sandy Star and Willie Gee,
Count 'em two, you make 'em three:
Pluck the man and boy apart
And you'll see into my heart.
...

Turn me to my yellow leaves,
I am better satisfied;
There is something in me grieves--
That was never born, and died.
...

Heart free, hand free,
   Blue above, brown under,
All the world to me
   Is a place of wonder.
...

Del Cascar, Del Cascar,
Stood upon a flaming star,
Stood, and let his feet hang down
Till in China the toes turned brown.
...

A white road between sea and land,
Night and silence on either hand
Pointing to some unknown gate
...

MY heart gives thanks for many things;
For strength to labor day by day,
For sleep that comes when darkness wings
...

I am glad daylong for the gift of song,
For time and change and sorrow;
For the sunset wings and the world-end things
...

Dear little child, whose very speech
Gives me joy beyond my heart's measure,
However far my years may reach,
...

When your eyes gaze seaward
Piercing through the dim
Slow descending nightfall,
On the outer rim
...