THE MADONNA OF THE CURB
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On the curb of a city pavement, By the ash and garbage cans, In the stench and rolling thunder Of motor trucks and vans, There sits my little lady, With brave but troubled eyes, And in her arms a baby That cries and cries and cries. She cannot be more than seven; But years go fast in the slums, And hard on the pains of winter The pitiless summer comes. The wail of sickly children She knows; she understands The pangs of puny bodies, The clutch of small hot hands. In the deadly blaze of August, That turns men faint and mad, She quiets the peevish urchins By telling a dream she had— A heaven with marble counters, And ice, and a singing fan; And a God in white, so friendly, Just like the drug-store man. Her ragged dress is dearer Than the perfect robe of a queen! Poor little lass, who knows not The blessing of being clean. And when you are giving millions To Belgian, Pole and Serb, Remember my pitiful lady— Madonna of the Curb! |
MY PIPE
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My pipe is old And caked with soot; My wife remarks: "How can you put That horrid relic, So unclean, Inside your mouth? The nicotine Is strong enough To stupefy A Swedish plumber." I reply: "This is the kind Of pipe I like: I fill it full Of Happy Strike, Or Barking Cat Or Cabman's Puff, Or Brooklyn Bridge (That potent stuff) Or Chaste Embraces, Knacker's Twist, Old Honeycomb Or Niggerfist. I clamp my teeth Upon its stem— It is my bliss, My diadem. Whatever Fate May do to me, This is my favourite BBB. For this dear pipe You feign to scorn I smoked the night The boy was born." |
TO A GRANDMOTHER
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At six o'clock in the evening, The time for lullabies, My son lay on my mother's lap With sleepy, sleepy eyes! (O drowsy little manny boy, With sleepy, sleepy eyes!) I heard her sing, and rock him, And the creak of the swaying chair, And the old dear cadence of the words Came softly down the stair. And all the years had vanished, All folly, greed, and stain— The old, old song, the creaking chair, The dearest arms again! (O lucky little manny boy, To feel those arms again!) |