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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MANHATTAN MELODY, by HAZEL NICHOLSON
First Line: Sleep in my arms; the night is black
Last Line: Work!
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers
First Line: Sleep in my arms; the night is black
Last Line: Work!
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers
Sleep in my arms; the night is black
With silver flashes from star to star,
And the ferries ride on a gilded track
From the shadowed docks where the freight cars are.
Women, with eyes that are blinded by stitches,
Old men, tired of easy riches,
Laborers, wearied from digging ditches,
Sleep.
Wake, for the tattered scarf of gray
That flutters its folds from the Empire State
Shall spread and become another day,
And nothing can cause it to stop or wait.
Wake in your penthouse or flat in the slums,
If you've feasted on pound cake or fasted on crumbs,
Whether you're cobblers or bankers or bums,
Wake!
Work! I'm a driver with little pity
For the back that is weak and the shoulder that sags,
And you who would live in the skyscraper city
Must pay for your velvet or sweat for your rags.
Newsboys with glamour and scandal for sale,
Cow-punchers fresh from the Oregon Trail,
Show girls and bridge hounds and robbers on bail,
Work!
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