In Memoriam: Adelaide Crapsey (September 9, 1878–October 8, 1914)

In memory of Adelaide Crapsey, I present four of her poems below from her book entitled Verse. I have also included a poem (which is a tribute to Adelaide) written by Carl Sandburg from his book Cornhuskers . Finally, there is a tribute poem by myself.

Paul

~~~

Moon Shadows

Still as
On windless nights
The moon-cast shadows are,
So still will be my heart when I
Am dead.

~ Adelaide Crapsey

~~

Dirge

Never the nightingale,
Oh, my dear,
Never again the lark
Thou wilt hear;
Though dusk and the morning still
Tap at thy window-sill,
Though ever love call and call
Thou wilt not hear at all,
My dear, my dear.

~ Adelaide Crapsey

~~

On Seeing Weather Beaten Trees

Is it as plainly in our living shown,
By slant and twist, which way the wind has blown?

~ Adelaide Crapsey

~~

The Immortal Residue
Inscription for my verse

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.

~ Adelaide Crapsey

~~~

Adelaide Crapsey

AMONG the bumble-bees in red-top hay, a freckled field of brown-eyed Susans dripping yellow leaves in July,
I read your heart in a book.

And your mouth of blue pansy—I know somewhere I have seen it rain-shattered.

And I have seen a woman with her head flung between her naked knees, and her head held there listening to the sea, the great naked sea shouldering a load of salt.

And the blue pansy mouth sang to the sea:
Mother of God, I’m so little a thing,
Let me sing longer,
Only a little longer.

And the sea shouldered its salt in long gray combers hauling new shapes on the beach sand.

~ Carl Sandburg

~~

Adelaide Crapsey

Whisper
of flame at dusk
twinkles on the lake's edge,
shadow-shrouded, frail - eternal
echoes.

~ Paul Ingrassia

(First Published in Amaze: The Cinquain Journal, Spring 2006 Issue. Awarded 4th place in first annual Adelaide Award, nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2006. I was inspired by the photo at the top of this post.)