[ { "title": "Places among the stars", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "Places among the stars,", "Soft gardens near the sun,", "Keep your distant beauty;", "Shed no beams upon my weak heart.", "Since she is here", "In a place of blackness,", "Not your golden days", "Nor your silver nights", "Can call me to you.", "Since she is here", "In a place of blackness,", "Here I stay and wait" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Two or three angels", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "Two or three angels", "Came near to the earth.", "They saw a fat church.", "Little black streams of people", "Came and went in continually.", "And the angels were puzzled", "To know why the people went thus,", "And why they stayed so long within." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "A man went before a strange God", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "A man went before a strange God --", "The God of many men, sadly wise.", "And the deity thundered loudly,", "Fat with rage, and puffing.", "\"Kneel, mortal, and cringe", "And grovel and do homage", "To My Particularly Sublime Majesty.\"", "", "The man fled.", "", "Then the man went to another God --", "The God of his inner thoughts.", "And this one looked at him", "With soft eyes", "Lit with infinite comprehension,", "And said, \"My poor child!\"" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "\"And the sins of the fathers shall be\"", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "\"And the sins of the fathers shall be", "visited upon the heads of the children,", "even unto the third and fourth", "generation of them that hate me.\"", "", "Well, then I hate thee, unrighteous picture;", "Wicked image, I hate thee;", "So, strike with thy vengeance", "The heads of those little men", "Who come blindly.", "It will be a brave thing." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "In a lonely place,", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "In a lonely place,", "I encountered a sage", "Who sat, all still,", "Regarding a newspaper.", "He accosted me:", "\"Sir, what is this?\"", "Then I saw that I was greater,", "Aye, greater than this sage.", "I answered him at once,", "\"Old, old man, it is the wisdom of the age.\"", "The sage looked upon me with admiration." ], "linecount": "11" }, { "title": "Supposing that I should have the courage", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "Supposing that I should have the courage", "To let a red sword of virtue", "Plunge into my heart,", "Letting to the weeds of the ground", "My sinful blood,", "What can you offer me?", "A gardened castle?", "A flowery kingdom?", "", "What? A hope?", "Then hence with your red sword of virtue." ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top", "", "Blood -- blood and torn grass --", "Had marked the rise of his agony --", "This lone hunter.", "The grey-green woods impassive", "Had watched the threshing of his limbs.", "", "A canoe with flashing paddle,", "A girl with soft searching eyes,", "A call: \"John!\"", ". . . . .", "Come, arise, hunter!", "Can you not hear?", "", "The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top." ], "linecount": "13" }, { "title": "There was a man who lived a life of fire", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "There was a man who lived a life of fire.", "Even upon the fabric of time,", "Where purple becomes orange", "And orange purple,", "This life glowed,", "A dire red stain, indelible;", "Yet when he was dead,", "He saw that he had not lived." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Once I saw mountains angry", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "Once I saw mountains angry,", "And ranged in battle-front.", "Against them stood a little man;", "Aye, he was no bigger than my finger.", "I laughed, and spoke to one near me,", "\"Will he prevail?\"", "\"Surely,\" replied this other;", "\"His grandfathers beat them many times.\"", "Then did I see much virtue in grandfathers --", "At least, for the little man", "Who stood against the mountains." ], "linecount": "11" }, { "title": "In heaven", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "In heaven,", "Some little blades of grass", "Stood before God.", "\"What did you do?\"", "Then all save one of the little blades", "Began eagerly to relate", "The merits of their lives.", "This one stayed a small way behind,", "Ashamed.", "Presently, God said,", "\"And what did you do?\"", "The little blade answered, \"Oh my Lord,", "Memory is bitter to me,", "For, if I did good deeds,", "I know not of them.\"", "Then God, in all His splendor,", "Arose from His throne.", "\"Oh, best little blade of grass!\" He said." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "A spirit sped", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "A spirit sped", "Through spaces of night;", "And as he sped, he called,", "\"God! God!\"", "He went through valleys", "Of black death-slime,", "Ever calling,", "\"God! God!\"", "Their echoes", "From crevice and cavern", "Mocked him:", "\"God! God! God!\"", "Fleetly into the plains of space", "He went, ever calling,", "\"God! God!\"", "Eventually, then, he screamed,", "Mad in denial,", "\"Ah, there is no God!\"", "A swift hand,", "A sword from the sky,", "Smote him,", "And he was dead." ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "There was a man and a woman", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "i", "", "There was a man and a woman", "Who sinned.", "Then did the man heap the punishment", "All upon the head of her,", "And went away gaily.", "", "ii", "", "There was a man and a woman", "Who sinned.", "And the man stood with her.", "As upon her head, so upon his,", "Fell blow and blow,", "And all people screaming, \"Fool!\"", "He was a brave heart.", "", "iii", "", "He was a brave heart.", "Would you speak with him, friend?", "Well, he is dead,", "And there went your opportunity.", "Let it be your grief", "That he is dead", "And your opportunity gone;", "For, in that, you were a coward." ], "linecount": "23" }, { "title": "Tradition, thou art for suckling children", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "Tradition, thou art for suckling children,", "Thou art the enlivening milk for babes;", "But no meat for men is in thee.", "Then --", "But, alas, we all are babes." ], "linecount": "5" }, { "title": "The successful man has thrust himself", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "The successful man has thrust himself", "Through the water of the years,", "Reeking wet with mistakes --", "Bloody mistakes;", "Slimed with victories over the lesser,", "A figure thankful on the shore of money.", "Then, with the bones of fools", "He buys silken banners", "Limned with his triumphant face;", "With the skins of wise men", "He buys the trivial bows of all.", "Flesh painted with marrow", "Contributes a coverlet,", "A coverlet for his contented slumber.", "In guiltless ignorance, in ignorant guilt,", "He delivered his secrets to the riven multitude.", "\"Thus I defended: Thus I wrought.\"", "Complacent, smiling,", "He stands heavily on the dead.", "Erect on a pillar of skulls", "He declaims his trampling of babes;", "Smirking, fat, dripping,", "He makes speech in guiltless ignorance,", "Innocence." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.", "Because the lover threw wild hands toward the sky", "And the affrighted steed ran on alone,", "Do not weep.", "War is kind.", "", "Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,", "Little souls who thirst for fight,", "These men were born to drill and die.", "The unexplained glory flies above them,", "Great is the Battle-God, great, and his Kingdom -", "A field wher a thousand corpses lie.", "", "Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.", "Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,", "Raged at his breast, gulped and died,", "Do not weep.", "War is kind.", "", "Swift blazing flag of the regiment,", "Eagle with crest of red and gold,", "These men were born to drill and die.", "Point for them the virtue of slaughter,", "Make plain to them the excellence of killing", "And a field where a thousand corpses lie.", "", "Mother whose heart hung humble as a button", "On the bright splendid shroud of your son,", "Do not weep.", "War is kind." ], "linecount": "26" }, { "title": "God lay dead in heaven", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "God lay dead in heaven;", "Angels sang the hymn of the end;", "Purple winds went moaning,", "Their wings drip-dripping", "With blood", "That fell upon the earth.", "It, groaning thing,", "Turned black and sank.", "Then from the far caverns", "Of dead sins", "Came monsters, livid with desire.", "They fought,", "Wrangled over the world,", "A morsel.", "But of all sadness this was sad --", "A woman's arms tried to shield", "The head of a sleeping man", "From the jaws of the final beast." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "I was in the darkness", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "I was in the darkness;", "I could not see my words", "Nor the wishes of my heart.", "Then suddenly there was a great light --", "", "\"Let me into the darkness again.\"" ], "linecount": "5" }, { "title": "The ocean said to me once", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "The ocean said to me once,", "\"Look!", "Yonder on the shore", "Is a woman, weeping.", "I have watched her.", "Go you and tell her this --", "Her lover I have laid", "In cool green hall.", "There is wealth of golden sand", "And pillars, coral-red;", "Two white fish stand guard at his bier.", "", "\"Tell her this", "And more --", "That the king of the seas", "Weeps too, old, helpless man.", "The bustling fates", "Heap his hands with corpses", "Until he stands like a child", "With a surplus of toys.\"" ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "\"It was wrong to do this,\" said the angel", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "\"It was wrong to do this,\" said the angel.", "\"You should live like a flower,", "Holding malice like a puppy,", "Waging war like a lambkin.\"", "", "\"Not so,\" quoth the man", "Who had no fear of spirits;", "\"It is only wrong for angels", "Who can live like the flowers,", "Holding malice like the puppies,", "Waging war like the lambkins.\"" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Ay, workman, make me a dream,", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "Ay, workman, make me a dream,", "A dream for my love.", "Cunningly weave sunlight,", "Breezes, and flowers.", "Let it be of the cloth of meadows.", "And -- good workman --", "And let there be a man walking thereon." ], "linecount": "7" }, { "title": "\"I have heard the sunset song of the birches,\"", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "\"I have heard the sunset song of the birches,", "A white melody in the silence,", "I have seen a quarrel of the pines.", "At nightfall", "The little grasses have rushed by me", "With the wind men.", "These things have I lived,\" quoth the maniac,", "\"Possessing only eyes and ears.", "But you --", "You don green spectacles before you look at roses.\"" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Upon the road of my life", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "Upon the road of my life,", "Passed me many fair creatures,", "Clothed all in white, and radiant.", "To one, finally, I made speech:", "\"Who art thou?\"", "But she, like the others,", "Kept cowled her face,", "And answered in haste, anxiously,", "\"I am good deed, forsooth;", "You have often seen me.\"", "\"Not uncowled,\" I made reply.", "And with rash and strong hand,", "Though she resisted,", "I drew away the veil", "And gazed at the features of vanity.", "She, shamefaced, went on;", "And after I had mused a time,", "I said of myself,", "\"Fool!\"" ], "linecount": "19" }, { "title": "When a people reach the top of a hill,", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "When a people reach the top of a hill,", "Then does God lean toward them,", "Shortens tongues and lengthens arms.", "A vision of their dead comes to the weak.", "The moon shall not be too old", "Before the new battalions rise,", "Blue battalions.", "The moon shall not be too old", "When the children of change shall fall", "Before the new battalions,", "The blue battalions.", "", "Mistakes and virtues will be trampled deep.", "A church and a thief shall fall together.", "A sword will come at the bidding of the eyeless,", "The God-led, turning only to beckon,", "Swinging a creed like a censer", "At the head of the new battalions,", "Blue battalions.", "March the tools of nature's impulse,", "Men born of wrong, men born of right,", "Men of the new battalions,", "The blue battalions.", "", "The clang of swords is Thy wisdom,", "The wounded make gestures like Thy Son's;", "The feet of mad horses is one part --", "Ay, another is the hand of a mother on the brow of a youth.", "Then, swift as they charge through a shadow,", "The men of the new battalions,", "Blue battalions --", "God lead them high, God lead them far,", "God lead them far, God lead them high,", "These new battalions,", "The blue battalions.", "", "THE END" ], "linecount": "34" }, { "title": "The trees in the garden rained flowers.", "author": "Stephen Crane", "lines": [ "The trees in the garden rained flowers.", "Children ran there joyously.", "They gathered the flowers", "Each to himself.", "Now there were some", "Who gathered great heaps --", "Having opportunity and skill --", "Until, behold, only chance blossoms", "Remained for the feeble.", "Then a little spindling tutor", "Ran importantly to the father, crying:", "\"Pray, come hither!", "See this unjust thing in your garden!\"", "But when the father had surveyed,", "He admonished the tutor:", "\"Not so, small sage!", "This thing is just.", "For, look you,", "Are not they who possess the flowers", "Stronger, bolder, shrewder", "Than they who have none?", "Why should the strong --", "The beautiful strong --", "Why should they not have the flowers?\"", "Upon reflection, the tutor bowed to the ground,", "\"My lord,\" he said,", "\"The stars are displaced", "By this towering wisdom.\"" ], "linecount": "28" } ]