The pounding sound of rhythmic drums
shatters stillness this eve.
I know not whether snares are banged
to celebrate or grieve.
The pace isn't slow enough to guide
a somber procession,
nor does it race at the pace of
jocular expression.
It's a well-kept beat, approaching,
that makes the windows shake,
but seems suitable only for
keeping me awake.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The waves are crashing on the shore,
and I am crawling up the beach.
The pounding surf sounds like a roar
as I am fleeing water's reach.
Don't let it take me, I beseech!
Don't give the beast a second chance.
It had a turn, but now 's in breach.
It's met the bounds of its expanse.
And I hear no drums of ghost dance
to summon it up onto land.
I twist my head to take a glance,
and all I see is endless sand.
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at
sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and none else,
The day what belongs to the day -- at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
There once was an evangelical preacher
who made each sermon a double-feature:
first, the evils that tempt;
then, why he was exempt:
"One must know math's pitfalls to be a math teacher..."
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every black'ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.