Stephen Crane

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Stephen Crane (1 November 1871 – 5 June 1900) American writer and poet

The Black Riders and Other Lines (1895)

• In the desert
  

I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter -- bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."

• • III
• If there is a witness to my little life,
  To my tiny throes and struggles,
  He sees a fool;
  And it is not fine for gods to menace fools.
  • XIII

• I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
  Round and round they sped.
  I was disturbed at this;
  I accosted the man.
  "It is futile," I said,
  "You can never — "
  
  "You lie," he cried,
  And ran on.
  • XXIV

War Is Kind and Other Lines (1899)

• A man said to the universe:
  "Sir I exist!"
  "However," replied the universe,
  "The fact has not created in me
  A sense of obligation."
  • XXI

External links

• The Black Riders and Other Lines (1895)
• War is Kind and Other Lines (1899)
• Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania)

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