Sandbox Studios: 52@40: Selected Poems

Day 1

by Yeats

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Day 2
A Light Left On

by May Sarton

In the evening we came back

Into our yellow room,

For a moment taken aback

To find the light left on,

Falling on silent flowers,

Table, book, empty chair

While we had gone elsewhere,

Had been away for hours.

When we came home together

We found the inside weather.

All of our love unended

The quiet light demanded,

And we gave, in a look

At yellow walls and open book.

The deepest world we share

and do not talk about

But have to have, was there,

And by that light found out.

Day 3

Hope

by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

Day 4

Charge of the Light Brigade,

by Alfred Tennyson

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!" he said.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Some one had blunder'd.

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd.

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Cossack and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre-stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not,

Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wonder'd.

Honor the charge they made!

Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred!

Day 5

The King"s Breakfast

by A. A. Milne

The King asked the Queen, and the Queen asked the Dairymaid

"Could we have some butter for the royal slice of bread?"

The Queen asked the Dairymaid,

The Dairymaid said "Certainly, I"ll go and tell the cow

now before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid she curtsied, and went and told the Alderney:

"Don"t forget the butter for the royal slice of bread."

The Alderney said sleepily: "You"d better tell his Majesty

that many people nowadays like marmalade instead."

The Dairymaid said, "Fancy!" and went to her Majesty.

She curtsied to the Queen and she turned a little red.

"Excuse me, your Majesty, for taking of the liberty,

But marmalade is tasty, if its very thickly spread."

The Queen said, "Oh!" and went to his Majesty:

"Talking of the butter for the royal slice of bread,

Many people think that marmalade is nicer.

Would you like to try a little marmalade instead?"

The King said "Bother!" And then he said, "Oh dear me!"

The King sobbed, "Oh deary me!" and went back to bed.

"Nobody," he whimpered, "could call me a fussy man;

I only want a little bit of butter for my bread."

The Queen said, "There, there!" and went to the Dairymaid.

The Dairymaid said, "There, there!" and went to the shed.

The cow said "There, there! I didn"t really mean it;

here"s milk for his porringer and butter for his bread."

The Queen took the butter and brought it to his Majesty.

The King said, "Better, eh?" and bounced out of bed.

"Nobody," he said, as he kissed her tenderly,

"Nobody," he said as he slid down the banisters,

"Nobody, my darling, could call me a fussy man " but

I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

Day 6

An Ancient Gesture

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:

Penelope did this too.

And more than once: you can’t keep weaving all day

And undoing it all through the night;

Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight;

And along towards morning, when you think it will never be light,

And your husband has been gone, and you don’t know where, for years,

Suddenly you burst into tears;

There is simply nothing else to do.

And I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:

This is an ancient gesture, authentic, antique,

In the very best tradition, classic, Greek;

Ulysses did this too.

But only as a gesture – a gesture which implied

To the assembled throng that he was much to moved to speak.

He learned it from Penelope . . .

Penelope, who really cried.

Day 7

From Before the Flowers of Friendship Faded Friendship Faded

by Gertrude Stein

XVIII

When I sleep I sleep and do not dream because it is as well that I am what I seem when I am in my bed and dream.

XXII

He likes to be with her so he says does he like to be with her so he says.

XXIX

I love my love with a v

Because it is like that

I love myself with a b

Because I am beside that

A king.

I love my love with an a

Because she is a queen

I love my love and a a is the best of then

Think well and be a king

Think more and think again

I love my love with a dress and a hat

I love my love and with this or with that

I love my love with an a y because she is my bride

I love her with a d because she is my love beside

Thank you for being there

Nobody has to care

Because you are not there.

And with and without me which is and without she she can be

late and then and how and all around we think and found that it it

time to cry she and I.