adelaide crapsey
november night
Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.
amaze
I know
Not these my hands
And yet I think there was
A woman like me once had hands
Like these.
the companions
Three grey women walk with me
Fate and Grief and Misery
My fate brought grief; my grief must be
With me through Eternity.
Such thy power, memory.
Three grey women walk with me.
song
I make my shroud but no one knows,
So shimmering fine it is and fair,
With stitches set in even rows,
I make my shroud but no one knows.
In door-way where the lilac blows,
Humming a little wandering air,
I make my shroud and no one knows,
So shimmering fine it is and fair.
the immortal residue
Wouldst thou find my ashes? Look
In the pages of my book;
And as these thy hand doth turn,
Know here is my funeral urn.
non solo
The stars are up there in the sky,
I cannot tell the reason why,
Nor call a single one by name—
And yet I love them just the same.
The grass is cool and green and sweet,
I like its feel beneath my feet;
But why it's green and how it grows
I don't think anybody knows.
That human beings all should be
Is not a thing that troubles me,
I let the simple facts suffice,
We are—and most of us are nice.
The way a person's mind can change
From day to day is very strange,
Yet, though I only see it's true
I like variety—don't you?
Oh, many things I do not know;
It's rather nice to have it so.
The Universe is heaps of fun
If I can't say how it is run.