Poem of the Day

Now Touch the Air Softly

William Jay Smith

Now touch the air softly, 

Step gently. One, two...

I'll love you till roses

Are robin's-egg blue;

I'll love you till gravel

Is eaten for bread,

And lemons are orange,

And Lavender's red.

Now touch the air softly,

Swing gently the broom.

I'll love you till windows

Are all of a room;

And the table is lad,

And the table is bare,

and the ceiling reposes

On bottomless air.

I'll love you till Heaven

Rips the starts from his coat,

And the moon rows away in

A glass-bottom boat;

And Orion steps down

Like a diver below,

And Earth is ablaze,

And Ocean aglow.

So touch the air softly,

And swing the broom high.

We will dust the gray mountains,

And sweep the blue sky;

And I'll love you as long

As the furrow the plow,

As However is Ever,

And Ever is Now.

A Poem for the Day

The Crazy Woman

               Gwendolyn Brooks

I shall not sing a May song.
A May song should be gay.
I'll wait until November
And sing a song of gray.

I'll wait until November.
That is the time for me. 
I'll go out in the frosty dark
And sing more terribly.

And all the little people
Will stare at me and say, 
"That is the Crazy Woman
Who would not sing in May."