(A home is all the poet’s words and more)
A Pretty Little Fairy, 4th Grade
Ali-be-dared and the Lady–from-Spain
(And I dream of a bright and beautiful place)
(And this sister, as you know)
Ballad of the Night Wind, April 26, 1959
(Blessed nation on still water lies)
Christmas Night, 12/12/1954, 6th grade
(Death is standing there on the path before me.)
(Do you care that a secret tear is shed)
(Hold my hand oh Father, Lord, and lead me)
(I was dreaming when I saw us walking slowly through the summer)
(I’m past sixteen and I’ve never been kissed)
(If He stood on the mountain there)
(If I were God I’d die of grief.)
(In night images against the wall that children see)
(It’s raining now cold and wet and wonderful)
(Morning, open grey-blue eyes,)
My Wilderness is Dark and Frightening
(Nefertiti from the dust you cry to me,)
Nymph to the Retreating Narcissus
(Palo Alto restaurant Sunny California)
Prayer of a Negro Girl Dying of Cancer
(“Son of the Morning. Child of the Dawn!”)
(That there should be bright stars is yet a wonder.)[2]
The Child Still Lives, 8/15/55, blank verse
The Fourth Aunt, April 15, 1959
(The miracle of the warm wrung morning where the)
(The softness of an April shower)
(The sound of grating chains shatters through space)
(The sun is dappled through leaves on the lawn.)
(The towel! I said the towel, you scamp!)
(The whispering is what counts)
(To huddle here and watch, without a place to go,)
(Tonight as I stand alone on the prairie)
(Two or three have gone just, lately)
(Under the roll of the undersea)
(We shall walk in a sacred manner)
(What was that thing ‘tween you and me)
(When a man cries across the valley span)
(When it is midnight on the sea)
(Whispers through the leaves on a summer night)
(Willow bend and brush the leaves that lie)
(Yeah father when can I touch the life within)