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Best Famous Vachel Lindsay Poems


Here is a collection of the all-time best famous Vachel Lindsay poems. This is a select list of the best famous Vachel Lindsay poetry by classical and contemporary poets. Reading, writing, and enjoying famous Vachel Lindsay poetry is a great pasttime. These top poems are the best examples of Vachel Lindsay poems written by famous poets

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The Flower-Fed Buffaloes

 THE flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
In the days of long ago,
Ranged where the locomotives sing
And the prarie flowers lie low:
The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass
Is swept away by wheat,
Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by
In the spring that still is sweet.
But the flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
Left us long ago,
They gore no more, they bellow no more
They trundle around the hills no more: --
With the Blackfeet lying low,
With the Pawnee lying low,
Lying low.


With a Bouquet of Twelve Roses

 I saw Lord Buddha towering by my gate 
Saying: "Once more, good youth, I stand and wait." 
Saying: "I bring you my fair Law of Peace 
And from your withering passion full release; 
Release from that white hand that stabbed you so. 
The road is calling. With the wind you go, 
Forgetting her imperious disdain — 
Quenching all memory in the sun and rain." 

"Excellent Lord, I come. But first," I said, 
"Grant that I bring her these twelve roses red. 
Yea, twelve flower kisses for her rose-leaf mouth, 
And then indeed I go in bitter drouth 
To that far valley where your river flows 
In Peace, that once I found in every rose."


Honor Among Scamps

 We are the smirched. Queen Honor is the spotless. 
We slept thro' wars where Honor could not sleep. 
We were faint-hearted. Honor was full-valiant. 
We kept a silence Honor could not keep. 

Yet this late day we make a song to praise her. 
We, codeless, will yet vindicate her code. 
She who was mighty, walks with us, the beggars. 
The merchants drive her out upon the road. 

She makes a throne of sod beside our campfire. 
We give the maiden-queen our rags and tears. 
A battered, rascal guard have rallied round her, 
To keep her safe until the better years.


The Empty Boats

 Why do I see these empty boats, sailing on airy seas? 
One haunted me the whole night long, swaying with every breeze, 
Returning always near the eaves, or by the skylight glass: 
There it will wait me many weeks, and then, at last, will pass. 
Each soul is haunted by a ship in which that soul might ride 
And climb the glorious mysteries of Heaven's silent tide 
In voyages that change the very metes and bounds of Fate — 
O empty boats, we all refuse, that by our windows wait!


The Moon's the North Wind's Cooky

 The Moon's the North Wind's cooky.
He bites it, day by day,
Until there's but a rim of scraps
That crumble all away.

The South Wind is a baker.
He kneads clouds in his den,
And bakes a crisp new moon that . . . greedy 
North . . . Wind . . . eats . . . again!


By the Spring, at Sunset

 Sometimes we remember kisses,
Remember the dear heart-leap when they came:
Not always, but sometimes we remember
The kindness, the dumbness, the good flame
Of laughter and farewell.
Beside the road
Afar from those who said "Good-by" I write,
Far from my city task, my lawful load.

Sun in my face, wind beside my shoulder,
Streaming clouds, banners of new-born night
Enchant me now. The splendors growing bolder
Make bold my soul for some new wise delight.

I write the day's event, and quench my drouth,
Pausing beside the spring with happy mind.
And now I feel those kisses on my mouth,
Hers most of all, one little friend most kind.


St. Francis of Assisi

 Would I might wake St. Francis in you all, 
Brother of birds and trees, God's Troubadour, 
Blinded with weeping for the sad and poor; 
Our wealth undone, all strict Franciscan men, 
Come, let us chant the canticle again 
Of mother earth and the enduring sun. 
God make each soul the lonely leper's slave; 
God make us saints, and brave.


Mark Twain and Joan of Arc

 When Yankee soldiers reach the barricade
Then Joan of Arc gives each the accolade.

For she is there in armor clad, today,
All the young poets of the wide world say.

Which of our freemen did she greet the first,
Seeing him come against the fires accurst?

Mark Twain, our Chief, with neither smile nor jest,
Leading to war our youngest and our best.

The Yankee to King Arthur's court returns.
The sacred flag of Joan above him burns.

For she has called his soul from out the tomb.
And where she stands, there he will stand till doom.

But I, I can but mourn, and mourn again
At bloodshed caused by angels, saints, and men.


To Gloriana

 GIRL with the burning golden eyes, 
And red-bird song, and snowy throat: 
I bring you gold and silver moons, 
And diamond stars, and mists that float. 
I bring you moons and snowy clouds, 
I bring you prarie skies to-night 
To feebly praise your golden eyes 
And red-bird song, and throat so white.


An Indian Summer Day on the Prarie

 (IN THE BEGINNING)

THE sun is a huntress young, 
The sun is a red, red joy, 
The sun is an indian girl, 
Of the tribe of the Illinois.

(MID-MORNING)

The sun is a smouldering fire, 
That creeps through the high gray plain, 
And leaves not a bush of cloud 
To blossom with flowers of rain.

(NOON)

The sun is a wounded deer, 
That treads pale grass in the skies, 
Shaking his golden horns, 
Flashing his baleful eyes.

(SUNSET)

The sun is an eagle old, 
There in the windless west. 
Atop of the spirit-cliffs 
He builds him a crimson nest.