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The University of Virginia Edition of The Works of Stephen Crane

Volume X : Poems and Literary Remains
Crane, Stephen (1871-1900)

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The Black Riders and Other Lines
 1. 
[I. Black riders came from the sea]
 2. 
[II. Three little birds in a row]
 3. 
[III. In the desert]
 4. 
[IV. Yes, I have a thousand tongues]
 5. 
[V. Once there came a man]
 6. 
[VI. God fashioned the ship of the world carefully]
 7. 
[VII. Mystic shadow, bending near me]
 8. 
[VIII. I looked here]
 9. 
[IX. I stood upon a high place]
 10. 
[X. Should the wide world roll away]
 11. 
[XI. In a lonely place]
 12. 
[XII. Well, then, I hate Thee, unrighteous picture]
 13. 
[XIII. If there is a witness to my little life]
 14. 
[XIV. There was crimson clash of war]
 15. 
[XV. “Tell brave deeds of war.”]
 16. 
[XVI. Charity, thou art a lie]
 17. 
[XVII. There were many who went in huddled procession]
 18. 
[XVIII. In Heaven]
 19. 
[XIX. A god in wrath]
 20. 
[XX. A learned man came to me once]
 21. 
[XXI. There was, before me]
 22. 
[XXII. Once I saw mountains angry]
 23. 
[XXIII. Places among the stars]
 24. 
[XXIV. I saw a man pursuing the horizon]
 25. 
[XXV. Behold, the grave of a wicked man]
 26. 
[XXVI. There was set before me a mighty hill]
 27. 
[XXVII. A youth in apparel that glittered]
 28. 
[XXVIII. “Truth,” said a traveller]
 29. 
[XXIX. Behold, from the land of the farther suns]
 30. 
[XXX. Supposing that I should have the courage]
 31. 
[XXXI. Many workmen]
 32. 
[XXXII. Two or three angels]
 33. 
[XXXIII. There was One I met upon the road]
 34. 
[XXXIV. I stood upon a highway]
 35. 
[XXXV. A man saw a ball of gold in the sky]
 36. 
[XXXVI. I met a seer]
 37. 
[XXXVII. On the horizon the peaks assembled]
 38. 
[XXXVIII. The ocean said to me once]
 39. 
[XXXIX. The livid lightnings flashed in the clouds]
 40. 
[XL. And you love me?]
 41. 
[XLI. Love walked alone]
 42. 
[XLII. I walked in a desert]
 43. 
[XLIII. There came whisperings in the winds]
 44. 
[XLIV. I was in the darkness]
 45. 
[XLV. Tradition, thou art for suckling children]
 46. 
[XLVI. Many red devils ran from my heart]
 47. 
[XLVII. “Think as I think,” said a man]
 48. 
[XLVIII. Once there was a man]
 49. 
[XLIX. I stood musing in a black world]
 50. 
[L. You say you are holy]
 51. 
[LI. A man went before a strange god]
 52. 
[LII. Why do you strive for greatness, fool?]
 53. 
[LIII. Blustering god]
 54. 
[LIV. “It was wrong to do this,” said the angel]
 55. 
[LV. A man toiled on a burning road]
 56. 
[LVI. A man feared that he might find an assassin]
 57. 
[LVII. With eye and with gesture]
 58. 
[LVIII. The sage lectured brilliantly]
 59. 
[LIX. Walking in the sky]
 60. 
[LX. Upon the road of my life]
 61. 
[LXI]
 62. 
[LXII. There was a man who lived a life of fire]
 63. 
[LXIII. There was a great cathedral]
 64. 
[LXIV. Friend, your white beard sweeps the ground]
 65. 
[LXV. Once, I knew a fine song]
 66. 
[LXVI. If I should cast off this tattered coat]
 67. 
[LXVII. God lay dead in Heaven]
 68. 
[LXVIII. A spirit sped]
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War is Kind
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Uncollected Poems

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32

[LII. Why do you strive for greatness, fool?]

Why do you strive for greatness, fool?
Go pluck a bough and wear it.
It is as sufficing.
My lord, there are certain barbarians
Who tilt their noses
As if the stars were flowers,
And thy servant is lost among their shoe-buckles.
Fain would I have mine eyes even with their eyes.
Fool, go pluck a bough and wear it.
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