Henry wadsworth longfellow

The Rainy Day*

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains, and the wind is never weary;

The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,

But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains, and the wind is never weary;

My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,

But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;.

Behind the clouds in the sun still shining;

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

*Anthology of English and American Verse. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1972, p. 451-452.

A.E.HOUSMAN

When I Was One-And-Twenty**

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard a wise man say,

«Give crowns and pounds and guineas,

But not your heart away,

Give pearls away and rubies

But keep your fancy free.»

But I was one-and-twenty,

No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard him say again,

«The heart out of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

‘This paid with sighs a plenty

And sold for endless rue.»

And I am two-and-twenty,

And oh, ‘tis true, 'tis true.

** Prokhorova, V.I., Soshalskaya, E.G. Oral Practice through Stylistic Analysis. Moscow: Higher School, 1979, p. 46.

CARL SANDBURG

Grass*

Pile the bodies, high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.

Shovel them under and let me work –

I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun,

Shovel them under and let me work

Two years, ten years, and passengers

ask the conductor

«What place is this?

Where are we now?»

I am the grass,

Let me work.

* Prokhorova, V.I., Soslavskaya, E.G. Oral Practice through Stylistic Analysis. Moscow: Higher School, 1979, p. 47.