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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students
Poetry Library

— Stephen Crane

I stood upon a high place,

And saw, below, many devils

Running, leaping,

And carousing in sin.

…

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adjective

Engaged in or ready for action; characterized by energetic work, thought, or speech.

“The students were very active in class discussions, asking many thoughtful questions.”

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IX.

47 lines
Elizabeth Barrett Browning·1806–1861
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solemn thing it is to meTo look upon a babe that sleepsWearing in its spirit-deepsThe undeveloped mysteryOf our Adam's taint and woe,Which, when they developed be,Will not let it slumber so;Lying new in life beneathThe shadow of the coming death,With that soft, low, quiet breath,As if it felt the sun;Knowing all things by their blooms,Not their roots, yea, sun and skyOnly by the warmth that comesOut of each, earth only byThe pleasant hues that o'er it run,And human love by drops of sweetWhite nourishment still hanging roundThe little mouth so slumber-bound:All which broken sentiencyAnd conclusion incomplete,Will gather and unite and climbTo an immortalityGood or evil, each sublime,Through life and death to life again.O little lids, now folded fast,Must ye learn to drop at lastOur large and burning tears?O warm quick body, must thou lie,When the time comes round to die,Still from all the whirl of years,Bare of all the joy and pain?O small frail being, wilt thou standAt God's right hand,Lifting up those sleeping eyesDilated by great destinies,To an endless waking? thrones and seraphim.Through the long ranks of their solemnities,Sunning thee with calm looks of Heaven's surprise,But thine alone on Him?Or else, self-willed, to tread the Godless place,(God keep thy will!) feel thine own energiesCold, strong, objectless, like a dead man's clasp,The sleepless deathless life within thee grasp,--While myriad faces, like one changeless face,With woe _not love's_, shall glass thee everywhereAnd overcome thee with thine own despair?
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