Classic Poem

1. Streets And Carpets

December snow is here again
And still my memory wears
White aprons my small mother wore
Through my first twenty years.

December snow is swept away,
Manhattan streets are clean,
And on a silent floor I see
One carpet clear and green.

2. My Mother's Life

When people jar and jangle again
And true friends knife each other,
Blindness, pride, intolerance
Brother to bloody brother,

I dream of one round human who
Loved everything that moved
Because in her simplicity
There were none she disapproved.

3. My Father's Life

When Father let our store decline
And turned to nocturnal chess
And I stood hating his cautious chums
Who stole each small success

By starting French Defences
Against his bold king pawn
And luring his impetuous hand
To lose what he might have drawn,

Mother would call through the smoky gloom,
Komm, Herrmann, es ist spät,
And he'd resign to her as well:
Jetzt geht, Herrschaften, geht.

4. A Sunday In Central Park, 1900

When Central Park begins to bloom
My father takes his cane
And walks about each flower bed
And talks aloud again.

And if he find some dark blue buds
Have turned to pansies, then
He sinks upon a bench content
With these Stiefmütterchen .

But I who toss beside him there
Would rather be with men
Who feel a century unfold
That waits for me and then.

Du Bengel du, nu sieh mal da
Wie blau die bunten Blumen blühn!
I hate to disappoint him
so I quickly answer, Ja .

Hast du schon einiges gesehn
So hold und schon und rein?
I mustn't disillusion him
And so I answer, Nein only have to hearken to
The speeches meant for me:
My two small words suffice for him
So long as we agree.