The Lights at Carney’s Point by Alice Dunbar-Nelson

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend February 27, 2016   The Lights at Carney’s Point   Alice Dunbar-Nelson

O white little lights at Carney’s Point,       You shine so clear o’er the Delaware; When the moon rides high in the silver sky,       Then you gleam, white gems on the Delaware. Diamond circlet on a full white throat,       You laugh your rays on a questioning boat; Is it peace you dream in your flashing gleam,       O’er the quiet flow of the Delaware?   And the lights grew dim at the water’s brim,       For the smoke of the mills shredded slow between; And the smoke was red, as is new bloodshed,       And the lights went lurid ’neath the livid screen.   O red little lights at Carney’s Point,       You glower so grim o’er the Delaware; When the moon hides low sombrous clouds below,       Then you glow like coals o’er the Delaware. Blood red rubies on a throat of fire,       You flash through the dusk of a funeral pyre; Are there hearth fires red whom you fear and dread       O’er the turgid flow of the Delaware?   And the lights gleamed gold o’er the river cold,       For the murk of the furnace shed a copper veil; And the veil was grim at the great cloud’s brim,       And the lights went molten, now hot, now pale.   O gold little lights at Carney’s Point,      You gleam so proud o’er the Delaware; When the moon grows wan in the eastering dawn,       Then you sparkle gold points o’er the Delaware. Aureate filagree on a Croesus’ brow,       You hasten the dawn on a gray ship’s prow. Light you streams of gold in the grim ship’s hold       O’er the sullen flow of the Delaware?   And the lights went gray in the ash of day,       For a quiet Aurora brought a halcyon balm; And the sun laughed high in the infinite sky,       And the lights were forgot in the sweet, sane calm.            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   “The Lights at Carney’s Point” was published in Dunbar-Nelson’s book Violets and Other Tales (Monthly Review Press, 1895).   Alice Dunbar-Nelson was born on July 19, 1875, in New Orleans. She published a book of poetry and short stories, Violets and Other Tales (Monthly Review Press, 1895), and many other poems in The Crisis, the journal for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She died on September 18, 1935. Poetry by Dunbar-Nelson   Violets and Other Tales  (BiblioLife, 2008) "Ships That Pass in the Night" by Paul Laurence Dunbar "The Wound-Dresser" by Walt Whitman "Prayer at Sunrise" by James Weldon Johnson Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038