Ballads
Columbus Did A-Sailing Go
Columbus did a-sailing go
Upon the sea so green and ho!
Old Freddie was the king, you know,
And Isabella queen, and ho!
.
They gave him silver ducats for
To build a ship and buy a store
And get a crew, who did adore
Their leader, ho! And what’s the more,
.
He got a bunch of sextants, oh,
And other instruments, and ho!
A diary he got, and so
He’d record incidents, and ho!
.
And o’er many miles he did sail,
His crew’s companion was a whale,
He met with stills, and many a gale
He weathered in this ocean-tail.
.
The crew was growing restless, so
Columbus told them, “Cheer and ho!
We’ve not much farther left to go
For land is very near!” and ho!”
.
The men were still all malcontent,
Columbus said, “If three days spent,
We have not found the land we went
To seek, we’ll sail to occident.”
.
And two days passed in manner so:
The sailors they were tense and ho!
Columbus hoped not far to go
Was left, but what suspense, and ho!
.
And on the third day cry of “Land!”
Was heard and every single hand
A-went a-deck and it was grand.
Columbus’ coat he did demand
.
The man who had first cried, “Land ho!”
But old Columbus said, and ho!
“I was the first to see land, oh,
But then you were a-bed, and ho!”
.
So all the men they came ashore,
Rejoicing, was the word, and more
Than ever was when they aboard
Had been! It was a time of lore!
.
Columbus said, “We must now go,
India to hunt down,” and ho!
And all he claimed for Spain, and so
America was found, and ho!
Collected Poems
Lines Induced by the Fifth of March
How long
How long
How long
.
No more
The snow—
cover gone,
earth shivers
.
Brown-gray
Mush, air
Still, no
Breeze blows
.
Brown limbs
Dull sky
Sore eyes
.
Not warm
Not cold
Can’t decide
.
Waited
So long
Still there
World bare
Color
Sapped out
Spirit
Weary
.
Remember that
Breeze, the one that
Came to me on
The first of March?
It spoke of things
Beyond this wall,
Barrier of days.
.
Winter
Dying
World
Dead
Head
Aches
Just
Looking
At
It
.
How long
How long
How long
.
How long?
The Palm Tree
The palm tree lifts its crown on high,
Long-leafed branches reach to the sky;
The bark is smooth, the trunk is thin,
The heart of warm lands lies within.
And as the sea-fresh breezes blow,
The palm trees gently sway and grow
And life the land like no’ther tree
That watch these places dear to me.