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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OLD HOUSE, by GRACE DUFFIE BOYLAN
First Line: Cold and cheerless, bare and bleak
Last Line: For us and all the children.
Subject(s): Children; Houses; Muses; Poverty; Childhood
First Line: Cold and cheerless, bare and bleak
Last Line: For us and all the children.
Subject(s): Children; Houses; Muses; Poverty; Childhood
COLD and cheerless, bare and bleak,
The old house fronts the shabby street;
And the dull windows eastward gaze,
As their cobwebbed brows they raise,
Just as though they looked to see
What had become of you and me
And all the other children.
The dust drifts o'er the garret floor,
The little feet tread there no more;
But o'er the stage, still standing there,
The Muse first stalked with tragic air
And whispered low to you and me
Of golden days that were to be
For us and all the children.
Good-bye, old house! Thy tattered cloak
Is fringed with moss and gray with smoke;
Within thy walls we used to see
A gaunt old wolf named Poverty;
Yet from thy rafters' dingy bars
A ladder stretched up to the stars —
For us and all the children.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL
COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL
THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL
A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE
THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE
WHO GOES THERE? by GRACE DUFFIE BOYLAN