Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CARRYING THE BANNER, by HARRY HIBBARD KEMP


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CARRYING THE BANNER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: (which is tramp-argot for walking the street / all night)
Last Line: And I said 'thank god' with all my heart, for it was day again!
Subject(s): Cities; Night; Solitude; Walking; Urban Life; Bedtime; Loneliness


[Which is tramp-argot for walking the street all night]

I HAD no bed to go to and I had to walk the street.
I passed a lone policeman going up and down his beat.
A solitary cab whirled by and made a hollow sound.
I stamped my feet to keep them warm and tramped around and 'round.
A strangling icy fog dropped down and draped the town in white
As one would shroud a maiden perished ere her wedding night.
I moved as in a land of ghosts. The wind went thro' my hair
Like the fingers of a demon searching for some stigma there.
The moon hung watery and thin. The stars had faded out.
Amid a labyrinth of night I groped and groped about.
I moved along the water-front. I felt so small and lone
As I heard the great ships at the docks strain at their ropes and groan.

I footed it thro' Chatham Square and up along Broadway.
I prayed the Lord to take the night and give me back the day,
The warm kind day, the cheery day that kissed one's eyes with light,
For it seemed to me the world at last had found its endless night ...
But suffice to say I saw the East stir and grow pale apace
As a coward loses color when he looks in Murder's face,
And then the City stirred and stretched and drew a quickened breath
And struggled out of nightmare sleep like Lazarus from death. ...
And then I walked alone no more ... The streets grew thronged with men—
And I said 'Thank God' with all my heart, for it was day again!





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