History Poems
The River's Tale
by Rudyard Kipling
Prehistoric
Twenty bridges from Tower to Kew--
(Twenty bridges or twenty-two)--
Wanted to know what the River knew,
For they were young, and the Thames was old
And this is the tale that River told:--
"I walk my beat before London Town,
Five hours up and seven down.
Up I go till I end my run
......
Let It Enfold You
by Charles Bukowski
Either peace or happiness,
let it enfold you
when I was a young man
I felt these things were
dumb, unsophisticated.
I had bad blood, a twisted
mind, a precarious
upbringing.
......
The Municipal Gallery Revisited
by William Butler Yeats
AROUND me the images of thirty years:
An ambush; pilgrims at the water-side;
Casement upon trial, half hidden by the bars,
Guarded; Griffith staring in hysterical pride;
Kevin O'Higgins' countenance that wears
A gentle questioning look that cannot hide
A soul incapable of remorse or rest;
A revolutionary soldier kneeling to be blessed;
An Abbot or Archbishop with an upraised hand
Blessing the Tricolour. 'This is not,' I say,
......
The Fairy Pendant
by William Butler Yeats
Scene: A circle of Druidic stones
First Fairy: Afar from our lawn and our levee,
O sister of sorrowful gaze!
Where the roses in scarlet are heavy
And dream of the end of their days,
You move in another dominion
And hang o'er the historied stone:
Unpruned in your beautiful pinion
Who wander and whisper alone.
......
Historic New Orleans Streetcars
by Jeffrey Pipes Guice
The Historic New Orleans Streetcars
First drawn by horses in 1832...
Connected Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River
Along beautiful Elysian Fields Avenue...
This was soon followed
By the Poydras-Magazine Line...
And then Lafayette (Jackson) and Nayades (St. Charles),
Totally by design...
......
On the Streets of Old London
by Mario Odekerken
Cobblestones remember
the weight of centuries-
boots,hooves,bare feet
all pressing stories
into the cracks.
Smoke curls from chimneys
like the ghosts of industry,
and the fog-
thick,yellow,and watching-
......
The Seven Wonders
by Mario Odekerken
The seven wonders stand,
silent witnesses to time,
stones and stories carved by hands long gone.
The Great Pyramid rises,
a triangle touching the sky,
enduring through desert,winds and sun.
The Hanging Gardens breathe,
lust with forgotten green,
......
D'Artagnan
by Mario Odekerken
Niet in Parijs,
niet in een duel bij dageraad,
maar hier,
aan de rand van Maastricht,
vond him zijn einde.
Tussen rook en kruit,
tussen bevelen en stilte
viel hij
zoals hij had geleefd-
......
Polsko,ziemio ojców naszych
by Mario Odekerken
"Ballade o duszy narodu"
Próbowali nas wymazać-
traktatami,czołgami,
ciszą,co miała zagłuszyć
nasze imię.
Ale my pamiętaliśmy.
W szeleście śniegu,
w krokach po brukowanych ruinach
szeptaliśmy:Polsko,ziemio ojców naszych,
......
I KNOW MY PEOPLE
by Eric Washington
I know my people.
I've seen their suffering and their tears,
Their anger and their fears.
I've seen them work amongst the mills,
In cotton and sugar fields.
Working with bleeding hands,
And refusing to give up then.
While tortured with whips and ropes,
And they still believe in hope.
I know my people.
......
