Queen Of The Ocean.

BY ANNA W. SPENCER, OF RHODE ISLAND.
Library of Congress
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN
Air--"When Stars are in the Quiet Skies."

As late upon the deep blue sea,
Dark clouds were seen to lower;
With thunder storm and battle cry,
And lightnings flashing o' er,

I saw the noblest ship of state,
The ocean ever bore;
Her stars so bright, her compass right,
And the stripes she gaily wore.

Queen of the ocean she had been,
For many a happy year;
But now a storm was coming on,
And a pirate bark drew near.

The captain spake: "My God!" he cried,
"All hearts are in Thy view;
On Thy right arm we have relied,
To bear us safely through.

Once more, all hands! on deck again!
All brave hearts--and all true;
That traitor band shall now be slain,
God's trumpet loudly blew!

The ocean's storm, the thunder's roar,
And the lightnings dashing on;
That rebel bark was seen no more,
All hailed the victory won!

 

The North and the South.

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)

Rome, May 1861 I ‘NOW give us lands where the olives grow,’     Cried the North to the South, ‘Where the sun with a golden mouth can blow Blue bubbles of grapes down a vineyard-row!’     Cried the North to the South.         5   ‘Now give us men from the sunless plain,’     Cried the South to the North, ‘By need of work in the snow and the rain, Made strong, and brave by familiar pain!’     Cried the South to the North.         10   II ‘Give lucider hills and intenser seas,’     Said the North to the South, ‘Since ever by symbols and bright degrees Art, childlike, climbs to the dear Lord’s knees,’     Said the North to the South.         15   ‘Give strenuous souls for belief and prayer,’     Said the South to the North, ‘That stand in the dark on the lowest stair, While affirming of God, “He is certainly there,”’     Said the South to the North.         20   III ‘Yet O, for the skies that are softer and higher!’     Sigh’d the North to the South; ‘For the flowers that blaze, and the trees that aspire, And the insects made of a song or a fire!’     Sigh’d the North to the South.         25   ‘And O, for a seer to discern the same!’     Sigh’d the South to the North; ‘For a poet’s tongue of baptismal flame, To call the tree or the flower by its name!’     Sigh’d the South to the North.         30   IV The North sent therefore a man of men     As a grace to the South; And thus to Rome came Andersen. —‘Alas, but must you take him again?’     Said the South to the North.         35

Conflict.

By Caroline Clive (1801–1873)

AS one whose country is distraught with war,   Where each must guard his own with watchful hand, Roams at the evening hour along the shore   And fain would seek beyond a calmer land;   So I, perplex’d on life’s tumultuous way,         5   Where evil pow’rs too oft my soul enslave, Along thy ocean, Death, all pensive stray,   And think of shores thy pensive billows lave.   And glad were I to hear the boatman’s cry,   Which to his shadowy bark my steps should call,         10 To woe and weakness heave my latest sigh,   And cease to combat where so oft I fall:   Or, happier, where some victory cheer’d my breast,   That hour to quit the anxious field would choose, And seek th’ eternal seal on virtue’s rest,         15   Oft won, oft lost, and O! too dear to lose!

Words by Florence PERCY.
Library of Congress

Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight!
Make me a child again, just for to-night!
Mother, come back from the echoless shore,
Take me again to your heart, as of yore.
Kiss from my forehead tho furrows of care,
Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair..
Over my slumbers your loving watch keep..
Rock me to sleep, Mother, rock me to sleep!

CHORUS.
Clasped to your heart, in a loving embrace,
With your light lashes just sweeping my face,
Never here-after to wake or to weep..
Rock me to sleep, Mother, rock me to sleep!
Over my heart, in the days that are flown,
No love, like mother-love, ever has shone;
No other worship abides and endures,
Faithful, unselfish and patient, like yours.
None, like a mother, can charm away pain
From the sick soul and the world-weary brain;
Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep..
Rock me to sleep, Mother, rock me to sleep!

Chorus: Clasped to your heart, &c.

Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,
Fall on your shoulders again, as of old;
Let it drop over my forehead to-night,
Shading my faint eyes away from the light..
For, with its sunny edged shadows, once more,
Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore,
Lovingly, softly, its bright billows seep..
Rock me to sleep, Mother, rock me to sleep!

Chorus: Clasped to your heart, &c.

The Other Woman

 Poem by: Aisha K. Moore

  www.discoverkai.com

 

You wonder whether I am serious
doubting my intent
this ruthless inclination
the revengeful desire to destroy
what I cannot have

Sleeping on me would
be your fatal flaw
underestimating the seething rage
that swept through my being
erasing all rationale and calm
eradicating logic and reason

You think I won't shatter that thin shell
shaping and forming your world
expose your flawed spirit and selfish self

Yeah, I'll let her know that
every taste of you has a
lingering residue of me and
every technique you ever taught was
learned in my secret sanctuary

You want to back me into a corner with
ultimatums of loyalty and silence
coupled with monogamy or else
in exchange for lifestyle maintenance and
random rendezvous, offering up bits of you
cause I can't have the whole

My refusal sparks your goodbye after
my morals have been compromised
self esteem demolished and self worth measured
price tag attached, bartered and sold

Trust me, if you walk through that door
I have no problem
                        Making that call

>.

A POOR torn heart, a tattered heart.

 

 

Part One: Life

XLIX

Emily Dickinson (1830–86).
 

A POOR torn heart, a tattered heart,
That sat it down to rest,
Nor noticed that the ebbing day
Flowed silver to the west,
Nor noticed night did soft descend	5
Nor constellation burn,
Intent upon the vision
Of latitudes unknown.
The angels, happening that way,
This dusty heart espied;	10
Tenderly took it up from toil
And carried it to God.
There,—sandals for the barefoot;
There,—gathered from the gales,
Do the blue havens by the hand	15
Lead the wandering sails.

Natasha Trethewey To Second Term as U.S. Poet Laureate

From The Library of Congress

Library of Congress Appoints Natasha Trethewey To Second Term as U.S. Poet Laureate

Trethewey Will Launch Project as Part of the PBS NewsHour Poetry Series

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed Natasha Trethewey to serve a second term as U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.
"The Library and the country are fortunate Natasha Trethewey will continue her work as Poet Laureate," said Billington. "Natasha’s first term was a resounding success, and we could not be more thrilled with her plans for the coming year."
Trethewey’s second term will begin in September. She will follow previous multiyear laureates—such as Kay Ryan, Ted Kooser, and Billy Collins—and undertake a signature project: a regular feature on the PBS NewsHour Poetry Series. Trethewey will join NewsHour Senior Correspondent Jeffrey Brown for a series of on-location reports in various cities across the United States to explore several large societal issues, through a focused lens offered by poetry and her own coming-to-the-art.
The Poetry Series, featured on the PBS NewsHour, engages a broad audience through thoughtful, in-depth reports on contemporary poets and poetry. Online, the NewsHour features weekly poems on its Art Beat blog as well as on a special page dedicated to poetry.
Ms. Trethewey’s first term as the 19th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry was noteworthy for her "Office Hours," during which she met with the general public in the Library’s Poetry Room—harkening back to a tradition established by her predecessors in the post from 1937 to 1986. For her second year, Trethewey will move beyond the capital to seek out the many ways poetry lives in communities across the country and addresses issues and concerns of Americans.
In that pursuit, she will draw on her own life experiences as a guide—visiting places she feels a personal connection to, such as a domestic violence center, an inner-city school, a prison or juvenile detention center, a nursing home, or places that have suffered natural or man-made disasters. The specific locations will be determined closer to the start of the Poet Laureate’s second term. In her travels to cities and towns for the series, Trethewey also intends to hold "Office Hours on the Road"—meeting with members of the general public as she did in the Library.
Trethewey is the author of four poetry collections, including her newest, "Thrall" (2012). Her other collections are "Native Guard" (2006), winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry; "Bellocq’s Ophelia" (2002); and "Domestic Work" (2000). She is also the author the nonfiction book "Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast" (2010).
Trethewey is also serving as the Poet Laureate of Mississippi, which holds a four-year term, and will continue in both positions next year. Her other honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Study Center, and the Bunting Fellowship Program of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She is the four-time recipient of the Book Prize from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters and has twice received the Lillian Smith Award for Poetry. She is also the recipient of the 2008 Mississippi Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts and was named the 2008 Georgia Woman of the Year.
Born in Gulfport, Miss., in 1966, Trethewey earned a bachelor’s in English from the University of Georgia, a master’s in poetry from Hollins University, and a master of fine arts from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 2005-2006, she was named the Lehman Brady Joint Chair Professor of Documentary and American Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina. In 2009-2010, she was the James Weldon Johnson Fellow in African American Studies at the Beinecke Library at Yale University. At Emory University, Trethewey is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing and director of the Creative Writing Program.
The Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center fosters and enhances the public's appreciation of literature. To this end, the center administers the endowed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry position, coordinates an annual season of readings, performances, lectures, conferences, and symposia, and sponsors high-profile prizes and fellowships for literary writers. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/poetry/.
PBS NewsHour is seen by more than one million viewers nightly on more than 300 public television stations. It is also available online, via public radio in select markets and via podcast. The program is produced in association with WETA Washington, D.C. Major funding for the PBS NewsHour is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers; funding for the NewsHour Poetry Series is provided by the Poetry Foundation, the publisher of Poetry magazine and an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. For more information, visit www.pbs.org/newshour/(external link) and www.poetryfoundation.org(external link).