Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A CHILD AT THE WICKET, by PERCY MACKAYE Poet's Biography First Line: A little isle: it is for some Last Line: A thing of love, a slender lute? Alternate Author Name(s): Mackaye, Percy Wallace Subject(s): Ellis Island, New York Harbor; Labor Unions; Strikes; Labor Disputes; Lockouts | ||||||||
A LITTLE isle: it is for some Hell's gate, for some Elysium! Round Ellis Isle the salt waves flow With old-world tears, wept long ago; Round Ellis Isle the warm waves leap With new-world laughter from the deep, And centuries of sadness smile To clasp their arms round Ellis Isle. I watched her pass the crowded piers, A peasant child of maiden years; Her face was toward the evening sky Where fair Manhattan towered high; Her yellow kerchief caught the breeze, Her crimson kirtle flapped her knees, As lithe she swayed to tug the band Of swaddled bundle in her hand. From her right hand the big load swung, But with her left strangely she clung To something light, which seemed a part Of her, and held it 'gainst her heart: A something frail, which tender hands Had touched to song in far-off lands On twilights, when the looms are mute: A thing of love a slender lute. Hardly she seemed to know she held That frail thing fast, but went compelled By wonder of the dream that lay In those bright towers across the bay. A staggering load, a treasure light She bore them both, and passed from sight. From Ellis Isle I watched her pass: Pinned on her breast was Lawrence, Mass. O little isle, you are for some Hell's gate, for some Elysium! Your wicket swings, and some to song Pass on, and some to silent wrong; But who, where hearts of toilers bleed In songless toil, ah, who will heed On twilights, when the looms are mute A thing of love, a slender lute? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THEN AND NOW by CECIL DAY LEWIS HIKING ON THE COAST RANGE by KENNETH REXROTH VIGNETTES OVERSEAS: 10. STRESA by SARA TEASDALE THE HIDING PLACE by JORIE GRAHAM LAURENCE BLOOMFIELD IN IRELAND: 8. THE EVICTION by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM THE STRIKE OF THE SMITHS by FRANCOIS COPPEE MUNDUS MOROSUS (THE WORLD MOROSE) by FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER |
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