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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb80b34 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69969 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69969) diff --git a/old/69969-0.txt b/old/69969-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 07fb1a2..0000000 --- a/old/69969-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4655 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The golden whales of California and -other rhymes in the American language, by Vachel Lindsay - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The golden whales of California and other rhymes in the American - language - -Author: Vachel Lindsay - -Release Date: February 7, 2023 [eBook #69969] - -Language: English - -Produced by: D A Alexander, Krista Zaleski and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN WHALES OF -CALIFORNIA AND OTHER RHYMES IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE *** - - - - - - - THE GOLDEN WHALES - OF CALIFORNIA - - AND OTHER RHYMES IN THE - AMERICAN LANGUAGE - - - - -LIST OF THE BOOKS OF VACHEL LINDSAY - - -_Prose_: - - A Handy Guide for Beggars - - Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty - - The Art of the Moving Picture - - -_Verse_: - - General William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems - - The Congo and Other Poems - - The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems - - The Golden Whales of California and Other Rhymes in the - American Language - -It is suggested that those who are interested in a complete view of -these works should take them in the above order. They are all published -by The Macmillan Company. - - - - - THE GOLDEN WHALES - OF CALIFORNIA - - AND OTHER RHYMES IN THE - AMERICAN LANGUAGE - - BY - VACHEL LINDSAY - - - New York - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - 1920 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1920, - BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - - Set up and electrotyped. Published January, 1920. - - - - - THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED - - TO - - ISADORA BENNETT, - CITIZEN OF SPRINGFIELD, - - because she helped me to write many of - the pieces, from the Golden Whales - of California to Alexander Campbell, - and because she danced - the Daniel Jazz. - - - - -For permission to reprint some of the verses in this volume the author -is indebted to the courtesy of the editors and publishers of _The -Chicago Daily News_, _Poetry_ (Chicago), _Contemporary Verse_, _The New -Republic_, _The Forum_, Books and the Book World of the _New York Sun_, -_Others_, _The Red Cross Magazine_, _Youth_, _The Independent_, and -William Stanley Braithwaite’s anthology entitled “Victory.” - - - - -TABLE OF CONTENTS - - PAGE - - A WORD ON CALIFORNIA, PHOTOPLAYS, AND SAINT - FRANCIS xiii - - - FIRST SECTION - - THE LONGER PIECES, WITH INTERLUDES - - THE GOLDEN WHALES OF CALIFORNIA 3 - - KALAMAZOO 11 - - JOHN L. SULLIVAN, THE STRONG BOY OF BOSTON 14 - - BRYAN, BRYAN, BRYAN, BRYAN 18 - - RAMESES II 31 - - MOSES 32 - - A RHYME FOR ALL ZIONISTS 33 - - A MEDITATION ON THE SUN 38 - - DANTE 42 - - THE COMET OF PROPHECY 43 - - SHANTUNG, OR THE EMPIRE OF CHINA IS CRUMBLING - DOWN 46 - - THE LAST SONG OF LUCIFER 59 - - - SECOND SECTION - - A RHYMED SCENARIO, SOME POEM GAMES, AND - THE LIKE - - A DOLL’S “ARABIAN NIGHTS” 71 - - THE LAME BOY AND THE FAIRY 77 - - THE BLACKSMITH’S SERENADE 83 - - THE APPLE BLOSSOM SNOW BLUES 87 - - THE DANIEL JAZZ 91 - - WHEN PETER JACKSON PREACHED IN THE OLD - CHURCH 95 - - THE CONSCIENTIOUS DEACON 97 - - DAVY JONES’ DOOR-BELL 99 - - THE SEA SERPENT CHANTEY 101 - - THE LITTLE TURTLE 104 - - - THIRD SECTION - - COBWEBS AND CABLES - - THE SCIENTIFIC ASPIRATION 107 - - THE VISIT TO MAB 108 - - THE SONG OF THE STURDY SNAILS 110 - - ANOTHER WORD ON THE SCIENTIFIC ASPIRATION 113 - - DANCING FOR A PRIZE 114 - - COLD SUNBEAMS 116 - - FOR ALL WHO EVER SENT LACE VALENTINES 117 - - MY LADY IS COMPARED TO A YOUNG TREE 120 - - TO EVE, MAN’S DREAM OF WIFEHOOD, AS DESCRIBED - BY MILTON 121 - - A KIND OF SCORN 123 - - HARPS IN HEAVEN 125 - - THE CELESTIAL CIRCUS 126 - - THE FIRE-LADDIE, LOVE 128 - - - FOURTH SECTION - - RHYMES CONCERNING THE LATE WORLD WAR, AND THE - NEXT WAR - - IN MEMORY OF MY FRIEND JOYCE KILMER, POET AND - SOLDIER 133 - - THE TIGER ON PARADE 136 - - THE FEVER CALLED WAR 137 - - STANZAS IN JUST THE RIGHT TONE FOR THE SPIRITED - GENTLEMAN WHO WOULD CONQUER MEXICO 138 - - THE MODEST JAZZ-BIRD 140 - - THE STATUE OF OLD ANDREW JACKSON 144 - - SEW THE FLAGS TOGETHER 146 - - JUSTINIAN 149 - - THE VOICE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 150 - - IN WHICH ROOSEVELT IS COMPARED TO SAUL 151 - - HAIL TO THE SONS OF ROOSEVELT 153 - - THE SPACIOUS DAYS OF ROOSEVELT 155 - - - FIFTH SECTION - - RHYMES OF THE MIDDLE WEST AND SPRINGFIELD, - ILLINOIS - - WHEN THE MISSISSIPPI FLOWED IN INDIANA 159 - - THE FAIRY FROM THE APPLE-SEED 161 - - A HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN 163 - - THE DREAM OF ALL OF THE SPRINGFIELD WRITERS 166 - - THE SPRINGFIELD OF THE FAR FUTURE 168 - - AFTER READING THE SAD STORY OF THE FALL OF - BABYLON 170 - - ALEXANDER CAMPBELL 172 - - - - -A WORD ON CALIFORNIA, PHOTOPLAYS, AND SAINT FRANCIS - - -In _The Art of the Moving Picture_, in the chapter on California and -America, I said, in part: - -“The moving picture captains of industry, like the California gold -finders of 1849, making colossal fortunes in two or three years, have -the same glorious irresponsibility and occasional need of the sheriff. -They are Californians more literally than this. Around Los Angeles -the greatest and most characteristic moving picture colonies are -built. Each photoplay magazine has its California letter, telling of -the putting up of new studios, and the transfer of actors with much -slap-you-on-the-back personal gossip. - -“... Every type of the photoplay but the intimate is founded on some -phase of the out-of doors. Being thus dependent, the plant can best be -set up where there is no winter. Besides this, the Los Angeles region -has the sea, the mountains, the desert, and many kinds of grove and -field.... - -“If the photoplay is the consistent utterance of its scenes, if the -actors are incarnations of the land they walk upon, as they should -be, California indeed stands a chance to achieve through the films an -utterance of her own. Will this land, furthest west, be the first to -capture the inner spirit of this newest and most curious of the arts?... - -“People who revere the Pilgrim Fathers of 1620 have often wished those -gentlemen had moored their bark in the region of Los Angeles, rather -than Plymouth Rock, that Boston had been founded there. At last that -landing is achieved. - -“Patriotic art students have discussed with mingled irony and -admiration the Boston domination of the only American culture of the -nineteenth century, namely, literature. Indianapolis has had her day -since then. Chicago is lifting her head. Nevertheless Boston still -controls the text book in English, and dominates our high schools. -Ironic feelings in this matter, on the part of western men, are based -somewhat on envy and illegitimate cussedness, but are also grounded in -the honest hope of a healthful rivalry. They want new romanticists and -artists as indigenous to their soil as was Hawthorne to witch-haunted -Salem, or Longfellow to the chestnuts of his native heath. Whatever may -be said of the patriarchs, from Oliver Wendell Holmes to Amos Bronson -Alcott, they were true sons of the New England stone fences and -meeting houses. They could not have been born or nurtured anywhere else -on the face of the earth. - -“Some of us view with a peculiar thrill the prospect that Los Angeles -may become the Boston of the photoplay. Perhaps it would be better to -say the Florence, because California reminds one of colorful Italy, -more than of any part of the United States. Yet there is a difference. - -“The present day man-in-the-street, man-about-town Californian has an -obvious magnificence about him that is allied to the eucalyptus tree, -the pomegranate.... - -“The enemy of California says the state is magnificent, but thin. He -declares it is as though it were painted on a Brobdingnagian piece of -gilt paper, and he who dampens his finger and thrusts it through finds -an alkali valley on the other side, the lonely prickly pear, and a heap -of ashes from a deserted camp-fire. He says the citizens of this state -lack the richness of an æsthetic and religious tradition. He says there -is no substitute for time. But even these things make for coincidence. -This apparent thinness California has in common with the routine -photoplay, which is at times as shallow in its thought as the shadow -it throws upon the screen. This newness California has in common with -all photoplays. It is thrillingly possible for the state and the art to -acquire spiritual tradition and depth together. - -“Part of the thinness of California is not only its youth, but the -result of the physical fact that the human race is there spread over so -many acres of land. “Good” Californians count their mines and enumerate -their palm trees. They count the miles of their sea-coast, and the -acres under cultivation and the height of the peaks, and revel in large -statistics and the bigness generally, and forget how a few men rattle -around in a great deal of scenery. They shout the statistics across -the Rockies and the deserts to New York. The Mississippi valley is -non-existent to the Californian. His fellow-feeling is for the opposite -coast line. Through the geographical accident of separation by mountain -and desert from the rest of the country, he becomes a mere shouter, -hurrahing so assiduously that all variety in the voice is lost. Then he -tries gestures, and becomes flamboyant, rococo. - -“These are the defects of the motion picture qualities. Also its -panoramic tendency runs wild. As an institution it advertises itself -with a sweeping gesture. It has the same passion for coast-line. These -are not the sins of New England. When, in the hands of masters, they -become sources of strength, they will be a different set of virtues -from those of New England.... - -“When the Californian relegates the dramatic to secondary scenes, both -in his life and his photoplay, and turns to the genuinely epic and -lyric, he and this instrument may find their immortality together as -New England found its soul in the essays of Emerson. Tide upon tide of -Spring comes into California, through all four seasons. Fairy beauty -overwhelms the lumbering grand-stand players. The tiniest garden is a -jewelled pathway of wonder. But the Californian cannot shout ‘orange -blossoms, orange blossoms; heliotrope, heliotrope.’ He cannot boom -forth ‘roseleaves, roseleaves’ so that he does their beauties justice. -Here is where the photoplay can begin to give him a more delicate -utterance. And he can go on into stranger things, and evolve all the -_Splendor Films_ into higher types, for the very name of California -is splendor.... The California photoplaywright can base his _Crowd -Picture_ upon the city-worshipping mobs of San Francisco. He can derive -his _Patriotic_ and _Religious Splendors_ from something older and more -magnificent than the aisles of the Romanesque, namely: the groves of -the giant redwoods. - -“The campaigns for a beautiful nation could very well emanate from the -west coast, where, with the slightest care, grow up models for all the -world of plant arrangement and tree-luxury. Our mechanical east is -reproved, our tension is relaxed, our ugliness is challenged, every -time we look upon those garden-paths and forests. - -“It is possible for Los Angeles to lay hold of the motion picture as -our national text book in art, as Boston appropriated to herself the -guardianship of the national text book of literature. If California -has a shining soul, and not merely a golden body, let her forget her -seventeen year old melodramatics, and turn to her poets who understand -the heart underneath the glory. Edwin Markham, the dean of American -singers, Clark Ashton Smith, the young star-treader, George Sterling -... have, in their songs, seeds of better scenarios than California has -sent us.... - -“California can tell us stories that are grim children of the tales of -the wild Ambrose Bierce. Then there is the lovely unforgotten Nora May -French, and the austere Edward Rowland Sill....” - -All this from _The Art of the Moving Picture_ may serve to answer many -questions I have been asked as to my general ideas in the realms of -art and verse, and it may more particularly elucidate my _personal -attitude toward California_. - -One item that should perhaps chasten the native son, is that these -motion picture people, so truly the hope of California, are not native -sons or daughters. - -When I was in Los Angeles, visiting my cousin Ruby Vachel Lindsay, we -discussed many of these items at great length, as we walked about the -Los Angeles region together. I owe much of my conception of the more -idealistic moods of the state to those conversations. Others who have -shown me what might be called the Franciscan soul, of the Franciscan -minority, are Professor and Mrs. E. Olan James, my host and hostess at -Mills College. Another discriminating interpreter of the coast is that -follower of Alexander Campbell, Peter Clark Macfarlane, to whom I owe -much of my hope for a state that will some day gleam with spiritual and -Franciscan, and not earthly gold. - -When I think of California, I think so emphatically of these people -and the things they have to say to the native sons, and the rest, -that if the discussion in this volume is not considered conclusive, I -refer the reader to these, and to the California poets, and to motion -picture people like Anita Loos and John Emerson, people who still dream -of things that are not gilded, and know the difference for instance, -between St. Francis and Mammon. For a general view of those poets of -California who make clear its spiritual gold, turn to “Golden Songs of -the Golden State,” an anthology collected by Marguerite Wilkinson. - - - - -FIRST SECTION - -THE LONGER PIECES, WITH INTERLUDES - - - - -THE GOLDEN WHALES OF CALIFORNIA - - -_Part I. A Short Walk Along the Coast_ - - Yes, I have walked in California, - And the rivers there are blue and white. - Thunderclouds of grapes hang on the mountains. - Bears in the meadows pitch and fight. - (_Limber, double-jointed lords of fate, - Proud native sons of the Golden Gate._) - And flowers burst like bombs in California, - Exploding on tomb and tower. - And the panther-cats chase the red rabbits, - Scatter their young blood every hour. - And the cattle on the hills of California - And the very swine in the holes - Have ears of silk and velvet - And tusks like long white poles. - And the very swine, big hearted, - Walk with pride to their doom - For they feed on the sacred raisins - Where the great black agates loom. - Goshawfuls are Burbanked with the grizzly bears. - At midnight their children come clanking up the stairs. - They wriggle up the canyons, - Nose into the caves, - And swallow the papooses and the Indian braves. - The trees climb so high the crows are dizzy - Flying to their nests at the top. - While the jazz-birds screech, and storm the brazen beach - And the sea-stars turn flip flop. - The solid Golden Gate soars up to Heaven. - Perfumed cataracts are hurled - From the zones of silver snow - To the ripening rye below, - To the land of the lemon and the nut - And the biggest ocean in the world. - While the Native Sons, like lords tremendous - Lift up their heads with chants sublime, - And the band-stands sound the trombone, the saxophone and xylophone - And the whales roar in perfect tune and time. - And the chanting of the whales of California - I have set my heart upon. - It is sometimes a play by Belasco, - Sometimes a tale of Prester John. - - -_Part II. The Chanting of the Whales_ - - North to the Pole, south to the Pole - The whales of California wallow and roll. - They dive and breed and snort and play - And the sun struck feed them every day - Boatloads of citrons, quinces, cherries, - Of bloody strawberries, plums and beets, - Hogsheads of pomegranates, vats of sweets, - And the he-whales’ chant like a cyclone blares, - Proclaiming the California noons - So gloriously hot some days - The snake is fried in the desert - And the flea no longer plays. - There are ten gold suns in California - When all other lands have one, - For the Golden Gate must have due light - And persimmons be well-done. - And the hot whales slosh and cool in the wash - And the fume of the hollow sea. - Rally and roam in the loblolly foam - And whoop that their souls are free. - (_Limber, double-jointed lords of fate, - Proud native sons of the Golden Gate._) - And they chant of the forty-niners - Who sailed round the cape for their loot - With guns and picks and washpans - And a dagger in each boot. - How the richest became the King of England, - The poorest became the King of Spain, - The bravest a colonel in the army, - And a mean one went insane. - - The ten gold suns are so blasting - The sunstruck scoot for the sea - And turn to mermen and mermaids - And whoop that their souls are free. - (_Limber, double-jointed lords of fate, - Proud native sons of the Golden Gate._) - And they take young whales for their bronchos - And old whales for their steeds, - Harnessed with golden seaweeds, - And driven with golden reeds. - They dance on the shore throwing roseleaves. - They kiss all night throwing hearts. - They fight like scalded wildcats - When the least bit of fighting starts. - They drink, these belly-busting devils - And their tremens shake the ground. - And then they repent like whirlwinds - And never were such saints found. - They will give you their plug tobacco. - They will give you the shirts off their backs. - They will cry for your every sorrow, - Put ham in your haversacks. - And they feed the cuttlefishes, whales and skates - With dates and figs in bales and crates:-- - Shiploads of sweet potatoes, peanuts, rutabagas, - Honey in hearts of gourds: - Grapefruits and oranges barrelled with apples, - And spices like sharp sweet swords. - - -_Part III. St. Francis of San Francisco_ - - But the surf is white, down the long strange coast - With breasts that shake with sighs, - And the ocean of all oceans - Holds salt from weary eyes. - - St. Francis comes to his city at night - And stands in the brilliant electric light - And his swans that prophesy night and day - Would soothe his heart that wastes away: - The giant swans of California - That nest on the Golden Gate - And beat through the clouds serenely - And on St. Francis wait. - But St. Francis shades his face in his cowl - And stands in the street like a lost grey owl. - He thinks of _gold_ ... _gold_. - He sees on far redwoods - Dewfall and dawning: - Deep in Yosemite - Shadows and shrines: - He hears from far valleys - Prayers by young Christians, - He sees their due penance - So cruel, so cold; - He sees them made holy, - White-souled like young aspens - With whimsies and fancies untold:-- - _The opposite of gold_. - And the mighty mountain swans of California - Whose eggs are like mosque domes of Ind, - Cry with curious notes - That their eggs are good for boats - To toss upon the foam and the wind. - He beholds on far rivers - The venturesome lovers - Sailing for the sea - All night - In swanshells white. - He sees them far on the ocean prevailing - In a year and a month and a day of sailing - Leaving the whales and their whoop unfailing - On through the lightning, ice and confusion - North of the North Pole, - South of the South Pole, - And west of the west of the west of the west, - To the shore of Heartache’s Cure, - _The opposite of gold_, - On and on like Columbus - With faith and eggshell sure. - - -_Part IV. The Voice of the Earthquake_ - - But what is the earthquake’s cry at last - Making St. Francis yet aghast:-- - -[Sidenote: From here on, the audience joins in the refrain:--“_gold, -gold, gold_.”] - - “Oh the flashing cornucopia of haughty California - Is _gold, gold, gold_. - Their brittle speech and their clutching reach - Is _gold, gold, gold_. - What is the fire-engine’s ding dong bell? - The burden of the burble of the bull-frog in the well? - _Gold, gold, gold. - What_ is the color of the cup and plate - And knife and fork of the chief of state? - _Gold, gold, gold._ - _What_ is the flavor of the Bartlett pear? - _What_ is the savor of the salt sea air? - _Gold, gold, gold._ - _What_ is the color of the sea-girl’s hair? - _Gold, gold, gold._ - In the church of Jesus and the streets of Venus:-- - _Gold, gold, gold._ - What color are the cradle and the bridal bed? - What color are the coffins of the great grey dead? - _Gold, gold, gold._ - What is the hue of the big whales’ hide? - _Gold, gold, gold._ - What is the color of their guts’ inside? - _Gold, gold, gold._ - - “What is the color of the pumpkins in the moonlight? - _Gold, gold, gold._ - The color of the moth and the worm in the starlight? - _Gold, gold, gold._” - - - - -KALAMAZOO - - - Once, in the city of Kalamazoo, - The gods went walking, two and two, - With the friendly phœnix, the stars of Orion, - The speaking pony and singing lion. - For in Kalamazoo in a cottage apart - Lived the girl with the innocent heart. - - Thenceforth the city of Kalamazoo - Was the envied, intimate chum of the sun. - He rose from a cave by the principal street. - The lions sang, the dawn-horns blew, - And the ponies danced on silver feet. - He hurled his clouds of love around; - Deathless colors of his old heart - Draped the houses and dyed the ground. - Oh shrine of the wide young Yankee land, - Incense city of Kalamazoo, - That held, in the midnight, the priceless sun - As a jeweller holds an opal in hand! - - From the awkward city of Oshkosh came - Love the bully no whip shall tame, - Bringing his gang of sinners bold. - And I was the least of his Oshkosh men; - But none were reticent, none were old. - And we joined the singing phœnix then, - And shook the lilies of Kalamazoo - All for one hidden butterfly. - Bulls of glory, in cars of war - We charged the boulevards, proud to die - For her ribbon sailing there on high. - Our blood set gutters all aflame, - Where the sun slept without any shame, - Cold rock till he must rise again. - She made great poets of wolf-eyed men-- - The dear queen-bee of Kalamazoo, - With her crystal wings, and her honey heart. - We fought for her favors a year and a day - (Oh, the bones of the dead, the Oshkosh dead, - That were scattered along her pathway red!) - And then, in her harum-scarum way, - She left with a passing traveller-man-- - With a singing Irishman - Went to Japan. - - Why do the lean hyenas glare - Where the glory of Artemis had begun-- - Of Atalanta, Joan of Arc, - Lorna Doone, Rosy O’Grady, - And Orphant Annie, all in one? - Who burned this city of Kalamazoo - Till nothing was left but a ribbon or two-- - One scorched phœnix that mourned in the dew, - Acres of ashes, a junk-man’s cart, - A torn-up letter, a dancing shoe, - (And the bones of the valiant dead)? - Who burned this city of Kalamazoo-- - Love-town, Troy-town Kalamazoo? - - A harum-scarum innocent heart. - - - - -JOHN L. SULLIVAN, THE STRONG BOY OF BOSTON - -_Inscribed to Louis Untermeyer and Robert Frost_ - - - When I was nine years old, in 1889 - I sent my love a lacy Valentine. - Suffering boys were dressed like Fauntleroys, - While Judge and Puck in giant humor vied. - The Gibson Girl came shining like a bride - To spoil the cult of Tennyson’s Elaine. - Louisa Alcott was my gentle guide.... - Then ... - I heard a battle trumpet sound. - Nigh New Orleans - Upon an emerald plain - John L. Sullivan - The strong boy - Of Boston - Fought seventy-five red rounds with Jake Kilrain. - - In simple sheltered 1889 - Nick Carter I would piously deride. - Over the Elsie Books I moped and sighed. - St. Nicholas Magazine was all my pride, - While coarser boys on cellar doors would slide. - The grown ups bought refinement by the pound. - Rogers groups had not been told to hide. - E. P. Roe had just begun to wane. - Howells was rising, surely to attain! - The nation for a jamboree was gowned:-- - Her hundredth year of roaring freedom crowned. - The British Lion ran and hid from Blaine - The razzle-dazzle hip-hurrah from Maine. - The mocking bird was singing in the lane.... - Yet ... - “East side, west side, all around the town - The tots sang: ‘Ring a rosie--’ - ‘London Bridge is falling down.’” - And ... - John L. Sullivan - The strong boy - Of Boston - Broke every single rib of Jake Kilrain. - - In dear provincial 1889, - Barnum’s bears and tigers could astound. - Ingersoll was called a most vile hound, - And named with Satan, Judas, Thomas Paine! - Robert Elsmere riled the pious brain. - Phillips Brooks for heresy was fried. - Boston Brahmins patronized Mark Twain. - The base ball rules were changed. That was a gain. - Pop Anson was our darling, pet and pride. - Native sons in Irish votes were drowned. - Tammany once more escaped its chain. - Once more each raw saloon was raising Cain. - The mocking bird was singing in the lane.... - Yet ... - “East side, west side, all around the town - The tots sang: ‘Ring a rosie’ - ‘London Bridge is falling down.’” - And ... - John L. Sullivan - The strong boy - Of Boston - Finished the ring career of Jake Kilrain. - - In mystic, ancient 1889, - Wilson with pure learning was allied. - Roosevelt gave forth a chirping sound. - Stanley found old Emin and his train. - Stout explorers sought the pole in vain. - To dream of flying proved a man insane. - The newly rich were bathing in champagne. - Van Bibber Davis, at a single bound - Displayed himself, and simpering glory found. - John J. Ingalls, like a lonely crane - Swore and swore, and stalked the Kansas plain. - The Cronin murder was the ages’ stain. - Johnstown was flooded, and the whole world cried. - We heard not of Louvain nor of Lorraine, - Or a million heroes for their freedom slain. - Of Armageddon and the world’s birth-pain-- - The League of Nations, and the world one posy. - We _thought_ the world would loaf and sprawl and mosey. - The gods of Yap and Swat were sweetly dozy. - We _thought_ the far off gods of Chow had died. - The mocking bird was singing in the lane.... - Yet ... - “East side, west side, all around the town - The tots sang: ‘Ring a rosie’ - ‘LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN.’” - And ... - John L. Sullivan knocked out Jake Kilrain. - - - - -BRYAN, BRYAN, BRYAN, BRYAN - -_The Campaign of Eighteen Ninety-six, as Viewed at the Time by a -Sixteen Year Old, etc._ - - -I - - In a nation of one hundred fine, mob-hearted, lynching, - relenting, repenting millions, - There are plenty of sweeping, swinging, stinging, gorgeous - things to shout about, - And knock your old blue devils out. - - I brag and chant of Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, - Candidate for president who sketched a silver Zion, - The one American Poet who could sing out doors. - He brought in tides of wonder, of unprecedented splendor, - Wild roses from the plains, that made hearts tender, - All the funny circus silks - Of politics unfurled, - Bartlett pears of romance that were honey at the cores, - And torchlights down the street, to the end of the world. - There were truths eternal in the gab and tittle-tattle. - There were real heads broken in the fustian and the rattle. - There were real lines drawn: - Not the silver and the gold, - But Nebraska’s cry went eastward against the dour and old, - The mean and cold. - - It was eighteen ninety-six, and I was just sixteen - And Altgeld ruled in Springfield, Illinois, - When there came from the sunset Nebraska’s shout of joy:-- - In a coat like a deacon, in a black Stetson hat - He scourged the elephant plutocrats - With barbed wire from the Platte. - The scales dropped from their mighty eyes. - They saw that summer’s noon - A tribe of wonders coming - To a marching tune. - - Oh the long horns from Texas, - The jay hawks from Kansas, - The plop-eyed bungaroo and giant giassicus, - The varmint, chipmunk, bugaboo, - The horned-toad, prairie-dog and ballyhoo, - From all the new-born states arow, - Bidding the eagles of the west fly on, - Bidding the eagles of the west fly on. - The fawn, prodactyl and thing-a-ma-jig, - The rakaboor, the hellangone, - The whangdoodle, batfowl and pig, - The coyote, wild-cat and grizzly in a glow, - In a miracle of health and speed, the whole breed abreast, - They leaped the Mississippi, blue border of the West, - From the Gulf to Canada, two thousand miles long:-- - Against the towns of Tubal Cain, - Ah,--sharp was their song. - Against the ways of Tubal Cain, too cunning for the young, - The long-horn calf, the buffalo and wampus gave tongue. - - These creatures were defending things Mark Hanna never dreamed: - The moods of airy childhood that in desert dews gleamed, - The gossamers and whimsies, - The monkeyshines and didoes - Rank and strange - Of the canyons and the range, - The ultimate fantastics - Of the far western slope, - And of prairie schooner children - Born beneath the stars, - Beneath falling snows, - Of the babies born at midnight - In the sod huts of lost hope, - With no physician there, - Except a Kansas prayer, - With the Indian raid a howling through the air. - - And all these in their helpless days - By the dour East oppressed, - Mean paternalism - Making their mistakes for them, - Crucifying half the West, - Till the whole Atlantic coast - Seemed a giant spiders’ nest. - - And these children and their sons - At last rode through the cactus, - A cliff of mighty cowboys - On the lope, - With gun and rope. - And all the way to frightened Maine the old East heard them call, - And saw our Bryan by a mile lead the wall - Of men and whirling flowers and beasts, - The bard and the prophet of them all. - Prairie avenger, mountain lion, - Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, - Gigantic troubadour, speaking like a siege gun, - Smashing Plymouth Rock with his boulders from the West, - And just a hundred miles behind, tornadoes piled across the sky, - Blotting out sun and moon, - A sign on high. - - Headlong, dazed and blinking in the weird green light, - The scalawags made moan, - Afraid to fight. - - -II - - When Bryan came to Springfield, and Altgeld gave him greeting, - Rochester was deserted, Divernon was deserted, - Mechanicsburg, Riverton, Chickenbristle, Cotton Hill, - Empty: for all Sangamon drove to the meeting-- - In silver-decked racing cart, - Buggy, buckboard, carryall, - Carriage, phaeton, whatever would haul, - And silver-decked farm-wagons gritted, banged and rolled, - With the new tale of Bryan by the iron tires told. - - The State House loomed afar, - A speck, a hive, a football, - A captive balloon! - And the town was all one spreading wing of bunting, plumes, - and sunshine, - Every rag and flag, and Bryan picture sold, - When the rigs in many a dusty line - Jammed our streets at noon, - And joined the wild parade against the power of gold. - - We roamed, we boys from High School - With mankind, - While Springfield gleamed, - Silk-lined. - Oh Tom Dines, and Art Fitzgerald, - And the gangs that they could get! - I can hear them yelling yet. - Helping the incantation, - Defying aristocracy, - With every bridle gone, - Ridding the world of the low down mean, - Bidding the eagles of the West fly on, - Bidding the eagles of the West fly on, - We were bully, wild and wooly, - Never yet curried below the knees. - We saw flowers in the air, - Fair as the Pleiades, bright as Orion, - --Hopes of all mankind, - Made rare, resistless, thrice refined. - Oh we bucks from every Springfield ward! - Colts of democracy-- - Yet time-winds out of Chaos from the star-fields of the Lord. - - The long parade rolled on. I stood by my best girl. - She was a cool young citizen, with wise and laughing eyes. - With my necktie by my ear, I was stepping on my dear, - But she kept like a pattern, without a shaken curl. - - She wore in her hair a brave prairie rose. - Her gold chums cut her, for that was not the pose. - No Gibson Girl would wear it in that fresh way. - But we were fairy Democrats, and this was our day. - - The earth rocked like the ocean, the sidewalk was a deck. - The houses for the moment were lost in the wide wreck. - And the bands played strange and stranger music as they trailed along. - Against the ways of Tubal Cain, - Ah, sharp was their song! - The demons in the bricks, the demons in the grass, - The demons in the bank-vaults peered out to see us pass, - And the angels in the trees, the angels in the grass, - The angels in the flags, peered out to see us pass. - And the sidewalk was our chariot, and the flowers bloomed higher, - And the street turned to silver and the grass turned to fire, - And then it was but grass, and the town was there again, - A place for women and men. - - -III - - Then we stood where we could see - Every band, - And the speaker’s stand. - And Bryan took the platform. - And he was introduced. - And he lifted his hand - And cast a new spell. - Progressive silence fell - In Springfield, - In Illinois, - Around the world. - Then we heard these glacial boulders across the prairie rolled: - “_The people have a right to make their own mistakes.... - You shall not crucify mankind - Upon a cross of gold._” - - And everybody heard him-- - In the streets and State House yard. - And everybody heard him - In Springfield, - In Illinois, - Around and around and around the world, - That danced upon its axis - And like a darling broncho whirled. - - -IV - - July, August, suspense. - Wall Street lost to sense. - August, September, October, - More suspense, - And the whole East down like a wind-smashed fence. - - Then Hanna to the rescue, - Hanna of Ohio, - Rallying the roller-tops, - Rallying the bucket-shops, - Threatening drouth and death, - Promising manna, - Rallying the trusts against the bawling flannelmouth; - Invading misers’ cellars, - Tin-cans, socks, - Melting down the rocks, - Pouring out the long green to a million workers, - Spondulix by the mountain-load, to stop each new tornado, - And beat the cheapskate, blatherskite, - Populistic, anarchistic, - Deacon--desperado. - - -V - - Election night at midnight: - Boy Bryan’s defeat. - Defeat of western silver. - Defeat of the wheat. - Victory of letterfiles - And plutocrats in miles - With dollar signs upon their coats, - Diamond watchchains on their vests - And spats on their feet. - Victory of custodians, - Plymouth Rock, - And all that inbred landlord stock. - Victory of the neat. - Defeat of the aspen groves of Colorado valleys, - The blue bells of the Rockies, - And blue bonnets of old Texas, - By the Pittsburg alleys. - Defeat of alfalfa and the Mariposa lily. - Defeat of the Pacific and the long Mississippi. - Defeat of the young by the old and silly. - Defeat of tornadoes by the poison vats supreme. - Defeat of my boyhood, defeat of my dream. - - -VI - - Where is McKinley, that respectable McKinley, - The man without an angle or a tangle, - Who soothed down the city man and soothed down the farmer, - The German, the Irish, the Southerner, the Northerner, - Who climbed every greasy pole, and slipped through every crack; - Who soothed down the gambling hall, the bar-room, the church, - The devil vote, the angel vote, the neutral vote, - The desperately wicked, and their victims on the rack, - The gold vote, the silver vote, the brass vote, the lead vote, - Every vote.... - - Where is McKinley, Mark Hanna’s McKinley, - His slave, his echo, his suit of clothes? - Gone to join the shadows, with the pomps of that time, - And the flame of that summer’s prairie rose. - - Where is Cleveland whom the Democratic platform - Read from the party in a glorious hour? - Gone to join the shadows with pitchfork Tillman, - And sledge-hammer Altgeld who wrecked his power. - - Where is Hanna, bull dog Hanna, - Low browed Hanna, who said: “Stand pat”? - Gone to his place with old Pierpont Morgan. - Gone somewhere ... with lean rat Platt. - - Where is Roosevelt, the young dude cowboy, - Who hated Bryan, then aped his way? - Gone to join the shadows with mighty Cromwell - And tall King Saul, till the Judgment day. - - Where is Altgeld, brave as the truth, - Whose name the few still say with tears? - Gone to join the ironies with Old John Brown, - Whose fame rings loud for a thousand years. - - Where is that boy, that Heaven-born Bryan, - That Homer Bryan, who sang from the West? - Gone to join the shadows with Altgeld the Eagle, - Where the kings and the slaves and the troubadours rest. - - Written at the Guanella Ranch, Empire, Colorado, August, 1919. - - - - -RAMESES II - - - Would that the brave Rameses, King of Time - Were throned in your souls, to raise for you - Vast immemorial dreams dark Egypt knew, - Filling these barren days with Mystery, - With Life and Death, and Immortality, - The Devouring Ages, the all-consuming Sun: - God keep us brooding on eternal things, - God make us wizard-kings. - - - - -MOSES - - - Yet let us raise that Egypt-nurtured prince, - Son of a Hebrew, with the dauntless scorn - And hate for bleating gods Egyptian-born, - Showing with signs to stubborn Mizraim - “God is one God, the God of Abraham,” - He who in the beginning made the Sun. - God send us Moses from his hidden grave, - God make us meek and brave. - - - - -A RHYME FOR ALL ZIONISTS - - _The Eyes of Queen Esther, and How they Conquered King - Ahasuerus_ - - “Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred.” - - -I - - He harried lions up the peaks. - In blood and moss and snow they died. - He wore a cloak of lions’ manes - To satisfy his curious pride. - Men saw it, trimmed with emerald bands, - Flash on the crested battle-tide. - - Where Bagdad stands, he hunted kings, - Burned them alive, his soul to cool. - Yet in his veins god Ormadz wrought - To make a just man of a fool. - He spoke the rigid truth, and rode, - And drew the bow, by Persian rule. - - -II - - Ahasuerus in his prime - Was gracious and voluptuous. - He saw a pale face turn to him, - A gleam of Heaven’s righteousness: - A girl with hair of David’s gold - And Rachel’s face of loveliness. - - He dropped his sword, he bowed his head. - She led his steps to courtesy. - He took her for his white north star: - A wedding of true majesty. - Oh, what a war for gentleness - Was in her bridal fantasy! - - Why did he fall by candlelight - And press his bull-heart to her feet? - He found them as the mountain-snow - Where lions died. Her hands were sweet - As ice upon a blood-burnt mouth, - As mead to reapers in the wheat. - - The little nation in her soul - Bloomed in her girl’s prophetic face. - She named it not, and yet he felt - One challenge: her eternal race. - This was the mystery of her step, - Her trembling body’s sacred grace. - - He stood, a priest, a Nazarite, - A rabbi reading by a tomb. - The hardy raider saw and feared - Her white knees in the palace gloom, - Her pouting breasts and locks well combed - Within the humming, reeling room. - - Her name was _Meditation_ there: - Fair opposite of bullock’s brawn. - I sing her eyes that conquered him. - He bent before his little fawn, - Her dewy fern, her bitter weed, - Her secret forest’s floor and lawn. - - He gave her Shushan[1] from the walls. - She saw it not, and turned not back. - Her eyes kept hunting through his soul - As one may seek through battle black - For one dear banner held on high, - For one bright bugle in the rack. - - The scorn that loves the sexless stars: - Traditions passionless and bright: - The ten commands (to him unknown), - The pillar of the fire by night:-- - Flashed from her alabaster crown - The while they kissed by candlelight. - - The rarest psalms of David came - From her dropped veil (odd dreams to him). - It prophesied, he knew not how, - Against his endless armies grim. - He saw his Shushan in the dust-- - Far in the ages growing dim. - - Then came a glance of steely blue, - Flash of her body’s silver sword. - Her eyes of law and temple prayer - Broke him who spoiled the temple hoard. - The thief who fouled all little lands - Went mad before her, and adored. - - The girl was Eve in Paradise, - Yet Judith, till her war was won. - All of the future tyrants fell - In this one king, ere night was done, - And Israel, captive then as now - Ruled with tomorrow’s rising sun. - - And in the logic of the skies - He who keeps Israel in his hand, - The God whose hope for joy on earth - The Gentile yet shall understand, - Through powers like Esther’s steadfast eyes - Shall free each little tribe and land. - - These verses were written for the Phi Beta Kappa Society of - Philadelphia and read at their meeting, December 8, 1917. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Shushan--the royal city. - - - - -A MEDITATION ON THE SUN - - -I - - Come, let us think upon the great that came - Our spiritual solar-kings, whose fame - Is quenchless in the lands of mental light, - High planets in the vast historic game: - - Youths from the sky, they came in splendid flight. - We hold to them as to our day and night, - And by them measure out our moments here, - Our greatness, littleness, and wrong and right. - - For like the sun, we carry yesteryears - Within our wallets: all the ancient fears - And scorns and triumphs woven in our cloaks, - Our tall plumes bought with some lost race’s tears. - - Oh Sun, I wish that all the nations bright - You ever looked upon were in my sight, - That I had stood up in your royal car - With your eye-rays to search out field and height: - - To see young David, leading forth his sheep, - The Christ Child on the Hill of Nazareth sleep, - To watch proud Dante climb the stranger’s stairs, - To see the ocean round Columbus leap. - - And beauty absolute man’s heart has known - In those old hills where the Greek blood was sown, - They named you young Apollo in that day - And served you well, and loved your chariot-throne. - - Would I had looked on Venice in her prime. - And long had watched the prayerful Gothic time - When Notre Dame arose, a mystery there - In wicked good old Paris and its grime! - - -II - - Oh light, light, light! Oh Sun your light is good. - You stir the sap of garden, field and wood, - Of men and ages. And your deeds are fair, - And by this light, is God’s love understood. - - So let us think upon Creation’s days - And Great Jehovah Moses came to praise:-- - The God the Hebrews said excelled the sun, - To whom all psalms are due, who made the ways - - The sun shall follow till he burns no more - Till he is cold and clinkered to the core. - Praise God, and not the sun too much, my soul, - The God behind the sun we must adore. - - -III - - Oh Sun, that yet will my spring thoughts astound, - How often this lone mendicant you found - Stripped in your presence of all earthly things. - A happy dervish whirling round and round. - - You were his tree of incense and his feast, - You were his wagon and his harnessed beast, - His singing brother, yet his tyrant hard, - With whip and spur and shout that never ceased. - - He thought of Freedom that rides round with you - Healing the nations with a crystal dew, - The comrade of your car, with Science there, - Making the ways of men forever new. - - Would we might lift a mighty battle-cry. - Nations and mendicants, and shake your sky: - Would that you caught us singing as one man - That song I sang when begging days began - Hearing it in every beam on high: - “Man’s spirit-darkness shall forever die.” - - - - -DANTE - - - Would we were lean and grim, and shaken with hate - Like Dante, fugitive, o’er-wrought with cares, - And climbing bitterly the stranger’s stairs, - Yet Love, Love, Love, divining: finding still - Beyond dark Hell the penitential hill, - And blessed Beatrice beyond the grave. - Jehovah lead us through the wilderness: - God make our wandering brave. - - - - -THE COMET OF PROPHECY - - - I had hold of the comet’s mane - A-clinging like grim death. - I passed the dearest star of all, - The one with violet breath: - The blue-gold-silver Venus star, - And almost lost my hold.... - Again I ride the chaos-tide, - Again the winds are cold. - - I look ahead, I look above, - I look on either hand. - I cannot sight the fields I seek, - The holy No-Man’s-Land. - And yet my heart is full of faith. - My comet splits the gloom, - His red mane slaps across my face, - His eyes like bonfires loom. - - My comet smells the far off grass - Of valleys richly green. - My comet sights strange continents - My sad eyes have not seen, - We gallop through the whirling mist. - My good steed cannot fail. - And we shall reach that flowery shore, - And wisdom’s mountain scale. - - And I shall find my wizard cloak - Beneath that alien sky - And touching black soil to my lips - Begin to prophesy. - While chaos sleet and chaos rain - Beat on an Indian Drum - There in tomorrow’s moon I stand - And speak the age to come. - - - - -“Confucius appeared, according to Mencius, one of his most -distinguished followers, at a crisis in the nation’s history. ‘The -world,’ he says, ‘had fallen into decay, and right principles had -disappeared. Perverse discourses and oppressive deeds were waxen rife. -Ministers murdered their rulers, and sons their fathers. Confucius was -frightened by what he saw,--and he undertook the work of reformation.’ - -“He was a native of the state of Lu, a part of the modern Shantung.... -Lu had a great name among the other states of Chow ... etc.” Rev. James -Legge, Professor of Chinese, University of Oxford. - - - - -SHANTUNG, OR THE EMPIRE OF CHINA IS CRUMBLING DOWN - - _Dedicated to William Rose Benét_ - - -I - - _Now let the generations pass-- - Like sand through Heaven’s blue hour-glass._ - - In old Shantung, - By the capital where poetry began, - Near the only printing presses known to man, - Young Confucius walks the shore - On a sorrowful day. - The town, all books, is tumbling down - Through the blue bay. - The book-worms writhe - From rusty musty walls. - They drown themselves like rabbits in the sea. - _Venomous foreigners harry mandarins_ - With pitchfork, blunderbuss and snickersnee. - - In the book-slums there is thunder; - Gunpowder, that sad wonder, - Intoxicates the knights and beggar-men. - The old grotesques of war begin again: - Rebels, devils, fairies, are set free. - - So ... - Confucius hears a carol and a hum: - A picture sea-child whirs from off his fan - In one quick breath of peach-bloom fantasy, - Then, in an instant bows the reverent knee-- - A full-grown sweetheart, chanting his renown. - And then she darts into the Yellow Sea, - Calling, calling: - “Sage with holy brow, - Say farewell to China now; - Live like the swine, - Leave off your scholar-gown! - This city of books is falling, falling, - The Empire of China is crumbling down.” - - -II - - _Confucius, Confucius, how great was Confucius-- - The sage of Shantung, and the master of Mencius?_ - - Alexander fights the East. - Just as the Indus turns him back - He hears of tempting lands beyond, - With sword-swept cities on the rack - With crowns outshining India’s crown: - The Empire of China, crumbling down. - Later the Roman sibyls say: - “Egypt, Persia and Macedon, - Tyre and Carthage, passed away; - And the Empire of China is crumbling down. - Rome will never crumble down.” - - -III - - _See how the generations pass-- - Like sand through Heaven’s blue hour-glass._ - - Arthur waits on the British shore - One thankful day, - For Galahad sails back at last - To Camelot Bay. - The _pure_ knight lands and tells the tale: - “Far in the east - A sea-girl led us to a king, - The king to a feast, - In a land where poppies bloom for miles, - Where books are made like bricks and tiles. - I taught that king to love your name-- - Brother and Christian he became. - - “His Town of Thunder-Powder keeps - A giant hound that never sleeps, - A crocodile that sits and weeps. - - “His Town of Cheese the mouse affrights - With fire-winged cats that light the nights. - They glorify the land of rust; - Their sneeze is music in the dust. - (And deep and ancient is the dust.) - - “All towns have one same miracle - With the Town of Silk, the capital-- - Vast book-worms in the book-built walls. - Their creeping shakes the silver halls; - They look like cables, and they seem - Like writhing roots on trees of dream. - Their sticky cobwebs cross the street, - Catching scholars by the feet, - Who own the tribes, yet rule them not, - Bitten by book-worms till they rot. - Beggars and clowns rebel in might - Bitten by book-worms till they fight.” - - Arthur calls to his knights in rows: - “I will go if Merlin goes; - These rebels must be flayed and sliced-- - Let us cut their throats for Christ.” - But Merlin whispers in his beard: - “China has witches to be feared.” - - Arthur stares at the sea-foam’s rim - Amazed. The fan-girl beckons him!-- - That slender and peculiar child - Mongolian and brown and wild. - His eyes grow wide, his senses drown. - She laughs in her wing, like the sleeve of a gown. - She lifts a key of crimson stone: - “The Great Gunpowder-town you own.” - She lifts a key with chains and rings: - “I give the town where cats have wings.” - She lifts a key as white as milk: - “This unlocks the Town of Silk”-- - Throws forty keys at Arthur’s feet: - “These unlock the land complete.” - - Then, frightened by suspicious knights, - And Merlin’s eyes like altar-lights, - And the Christian towers of Arthur’s town, - She spreads blue fins--she whirs away; - Fleeing far across the bay, - Wailing through the gorgeous day: - “My sick king begs - That you save his crown - And his learnèd chiefs from the worm and clown-- - The Empire of China is crumbling down.” - - -IV - - _Always the generations pass, - Like sand through Heaven’s blue hour-glass!_ - - The time the King of Rome is born-- - Napoleon’s son, that eaglet thing-- - Bonaparte finds beside his throne - One evening, laughing in her wing, - The Chinese sea-child; and she cries, - Breaking his heart with emerald eyes - And fairy-bred unearthly grace: - “Master, take your destined place-- - Across white foam and water blue - The streets of China call to you: - The Empire of China is crumbling down.” - Then he bends to kiss her mouth, - And gets but incense, dust and drouth. - - Custodians, custodians! - Mongols and Manchurians! - Christians, wolves, Mohammedans! - - In hard Berlin they cried: “O King, - China’s way is a shameful thing!” - - In Tokio they cry: “O King, - China’s way is a shameful thing!” - - And thus our song might call the roll - Of every land from pole to pole, - And every rumor known to time - Of China doddering--or sublime. - - -V - - _Slowly the generations pass-- - Like sand through Heaven’s blue hour-glass._ - - So let us find tomorrow now: - Our towns are gone; - Our books have passed; ten thousand years - Have thundered on. - The Sphinx looks far across the world - In fury black: - She sees all western nations spent - Or on the rack. - Eastward she sees one land she knew - When from the stone - Priests of the sunrise carved her out - And left her lone. - She sees the shore Confucius walked - On his sorrowful day: - _Impudent foreigners rioting_, - In the ancient way; - Officials, futile as of old, - Have gowns more bright; - Bookworms are fiercer than of old, - Their skins more white; - Dust is deeper than of old, - More bats are flying; - More songs are written than of old-- - More songs are dying. - - Where Galahad found forty towns - Now fade and glare - Ten thousand towns with book-tiled roof - And garden-stair, - Where beggars’ babies come like showers - Of classic words: - They rule the world--immortal brooks - And magic birds. - - The lion Sphinx roars at the sun: - “I hate this nursing you have done! - The meek inherit the earth too long-- - When will the world belong to the strong?” - She soars; she claws his patient face-- - The girl-moon screams at the disgrace. - The sun’s blood fills the western sky; - He hurries not, and will not die. - - The baffled Sphinx, on granite wings, - Turns now to where young China sings. - One thousand of ten thousand towns - Go down before her silent wrath; - Yet even lion-gods may faint - And die upon their brilliant path. - She sees the Chinese children romp - In dust that she must breathe and eat. - Her tongue is reddened by its lye; - She craves its grit, its cold and heat. - The Dust of Ages holds a glint - Of fire from the foundation-stones, - Of spangles from the sun’s bright face, - Of sapphires from earth’s marrow-bones. - Mad-drunk with it, she ends her day-- - Slips when a high sea-wall gives way, - Drowns in the cold Confucian sea - Where the whirring fan-girl first flew free. - - _In the light of the maxims of Chesterfield, Mencius, - Wilson, Roosevelt, Tolstoy, Trotsky, - Franklin or Nietzsche, how great was Confucius?_ - - “_Laughing Asia_” brown and wild, - That lyric and immortal child, - His fan’s gay daughter, crowned with sand, - Between the water and the land - Now cries on high in irony, - With a voice of night-wind alchemy: - “O cat, O sphinx, - O stony-face, - The joke is on Egyptian pride, - The joke is on the human race: - ‘The meek inherit the earth too long-- - When will the world belong to the strong?’ - I am born from off the holy fan - Of the world’s most patient gentleman. - So answer me, - O courteous sea! - O deathless sea!” - - And thus will the answering Ocean call: - “China will fall, - The Empire of China will crumble down, - When the Alps and the Andes crumble down; - When the sun and the moon have crumbled down, - The Empire of China will crumble down, - Crumble down.” - - - - -In the following narrative, Lucifer is not Satan, King of Evil, who in -the beginning led the rebels from Heaven, establishing the underworld. - -Lucifer is here taken as a character appearing much later, the first -singing creature weary of established ways in music, moved with the -lust of wandering. He finds the open road between the stars too lonely. -He wanders to the kingdom of Satan, there to sing a song that so moves -demons and angels that he is, at its climax, momentary emperor of Hell -and Heaven, and the flame kindled of the tears of the demons devastates -the golden streets. - -Therefore it is best for the established order of things that this -wanderer shall be cursed with eternal silence and death. But since then -there has been music in every temptation, in every demon voice. - -Along with a set of verses called _The Heroes of Time_, and another -_The Tree of Laughing Bells_, I exchanged _The Last Song of Lucifer_ -for a night’s lodging in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio, as narrated -in _A Handy Guide for Beggars_. - -The fourteenth chapter of Isaiah contains these words on Lucifer: - -“Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the -worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee. - -“How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How -art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations. - -“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will -exalt my throne above the stars of God.... - -“All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every -one in his own house. - -“But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as -the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that -go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. - -“Thou shalt not be joined to them in burial, because thou hast -destroyed thy land.” - - - - -THE LAST SONG OF LUCIFER - -_To Be Read Like a Meditation_ - - -[Sidenote: _Lucifer dreams of his fate and then forgets the dream._] - - When Lucifer was undefiled, - When Lucifer was young, - When only angel-music - Fell from his glorious tongue, - Dreaming in his innocence - Beneath God’s golden trees - By genius pure his fancy fell-- - By sweet divine disease-- - To a wilderness of sorrows dim - Beneath the ether seas. - That father of radiant harmony, - Of music transcendently bright-- - Truest to art since heaven began, - Wrapped in royal, melodious light-- - That beautiful light-bearer, lofty and loyal - Dreamed bitter dreams of enigma and night. - - But soon the singer woke and stood - And tuned his harp to sing anew - And scorned the dreams (as well he should) - For only to the evil crew - Are dreams of dread and evil true, - Remembered well, or understood. - -[Sidenote: _The dream is fulfilled._] - - But when a million years were done - And a million million years beside, - He broke his harp-strings one by one; - He sighed, aweary of rich things, - He spread his pallid, heavy wings - And flew to find the deathless stains, - The wounds that come with wanderings. - -[Sidenote: _He will never dream again, but the demons dream of -wandering and singing, and doing all things just as he did in his day._] - - He chose the solemn paths of Hell, - He sang for that dumb land too well, - Defying their disdain - Till he was cursed and slain. - Ah--he shall never dream again-- - Mourn, for he shall not dream again-- - But the demons dream in pain, - Of wandering in the night - And singing in the night, - Singing till they reign. - -[Sidenote: _Music is holy, even in the infernal world._] - -[Sidenote: _If Lucifer’s song could be completely remembered, one would -be willing to pay the great price._] - - Oh hallowed are the demons, - A-dreaming songs again, - And holy to my heart! the ancient music-art, - That echo of a memory in demon-haunted men, - That hope of music, sweet hope, vain, - That sets the world a-seeking-- - A passion pure, a subtle pain - Too dear for song or speaking. - Oh, who would not with the demons be, - For the fullness of their memory - Of that dayspring song, - Of that holy thing - That Lucifer alone could sing, - That Hell and Earth so hopelessly - And gloriously are seeking! - -[Sidenote: NOW FOLLOWS WHAT EVERY DEMON SAYS IN HIS HEART, REMEMBERING -THAT TIME] - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - -[Sidenote: _How the singer made his lyre._] - - Oh, Lucifer, great Lucifer, - Oh, fallen, ancient Lucifer, - Master, lost, of the angel choir-- - Silent, suffering Lucifer: - Once your alchemies of Hell - Wrought your chains to a magic lyre - All strung with threads of purple fire, - Till the hell-hounds moaned from your bitter spell-- - The sweetest song since the demons fell-- - Haunting song of the heart’s desire. - -[Sidenote: _How the song began._] - - Oh, Lucifer, great Lucifer, - You who have sung in vain, - Ecstasy of sweet regret, - Ecstasy of pain, - Strain that the angels can never forget, - Haunting the children of punishment yet, - Bowing them, bringing their tears in the darkness; - Oh, the night-caves of Chaos are breathing it yet! - The last that your bosom may ever deliver, - Oh, musical master of æons and æons.... - Nor devils nor dragons may ever forget, - Though the walls of our prison should crumble and shiver, - And the death-dews of Chaos our armor should wet, - For the song of the infamous Lucifer - Was an anthem of glorious scorning - And courage, and horrible pain-- - Was the song of a Son of the Morning, - A song that was sung in vain. - - Oh singing was only in Heaven - Ere Lucifer’s melody came, - But when Lucifer’s harp-strings grew loud in their sighing, - When he called up the dragons by name-- - The song was the sorrow of sorrows, - The song was the Hope of Despair, - Or the smile of a warrior falling-- - A prayer and a curse and a prayer-- - Or a soul going down through the shadows and calling, - Or the laughter of Night in his lair; - The song was the fear of ten thousand tomorrows-- - On the racks of grief and of pain-- - The herald of silences, dreadful, unending, - When the last little echo should listen in vain.... - -[Sidenote: _How the song made the demons dream they were still fighting -for Satan._] - - It was memory, memory, - Visions of glory,-- - Memory, memory, - Visions of fight. - The pride of the onset, - The banners that fluttered, - The wails of the battle-pierced angels of light. - Song of the times of the Nether Empire - The age when our desperate band - Heaped our redoubts with the horrible fire - On the fringes of Holier Land-- - Conquering always, conquering never, - Building a throne of sand-- - When Satan still wielded that glorious scepter-- - The sword of his glorious hand. - - Then rang the martial music - Sung by the hosts of God - In the first of the shameful years of fear - When we bit the purple sod: - He sang that shameful battle-story-- - He twanged each threaded torture-flame; - Wherever his leprous fingers came - They drew from the strings a groan of glory: - -[Sidenote: _How the song enchanted them til they were in fancy the good -warriors of God, and they shouted their enemy’s battle-cry._] - - Then we dreamed at last, - Then we lost the past, - We dreamed we were angels in battle-array: - We tore our hearts with God’s battle-yell - And the sound crashed up from the smoky fen - And the battle sweat stood forth - On the awful brows of our fighting men: - And the magical singer, grim and wild - Swept his harp again, and smiled, - And the harp-strings lifted our cries that day - Till the thundering charge reached the City on High-- - God’s charge, that he thought - Had passed for aye, - When our last fond hope went down to die. - -[Sidenote: _How, at the climax of the song Lucifer almost restored the -first day of creation, when the Universe was happy and sinless._] - -[Sidenote: _How the tears of the distracted demons become a -heaven-climbing flame._] - - Oh throbbing, sweet, enthralling spell! - Madly, madly, oh my heart-- - Heart of anguish, heart of Hell-- - Beat the music through your night-- - Pierced the strain that the wanderer - Wrought with fingers white; - For last he sang--of the morning-- - The song of the Sons of the Morning-- - The fire of the star-souled Lucifer - Before he had known a stain; - That song which came when the suns were young - And the Dayspring knew his place-- - That joy, full born, that unknown tongue, - That shouting chant of the Sons of God - When first they saw Jehovah’s face. - And the Wanderer laughed, then sang it at last - Till it leaped as a flame to the forests on high - And the tears of the demons were fire in the sky. - -[Sidenote: _How Lucifer seemed to make himself God._] - - And just for a breath he conquered and reigned, - For one quick pulse of time he stood; - By flame was crowned where God had been - Himself the Word sublime-- - Himself the Most High Love unstained, - The Great, Good King of the Stars and Years-- - Crowned, enthroned, by a leaping flame-- - The fire of our love-born tears. - -[Sidenote: _How the angels were conquered by the sound of his music -from afar, and the Demons were torn with love._] - - And the angels bowed down, for his glory was vast-- - Loving their conqueror, weeping, aghast-- - While we sobbed, for a moment repenting the past, - And the mock-hope came, that eats and stings, - The hope for innocent dawns above, - The joy of it beat in our ears like wings, - Our iron cheeks seared with the tears of love-- - Was it not enough, - Was it not enough - That our cheeks were seared with the tears of Love? - -[Sidenote: _Demons and angels curse the singer._] - - So we cursed the harping of Lucifer - The lyre was lost from his leper hands - And the hell-hounds tore his living heart. - And the angels cursed great Lucifer - For his purple flame consumed their lands - Till golden ways were desert sands; - They hurled him down, afar, apart. - -[Sidenote: _The Punishment._] - - Beneath where the Gulfs of Silence end, - Where never sighs nor songs descend, - Never a hell-flare in his eyes - Alone, alone, afar he lies.... - Fearfully alone, beyond immortal ken - He is further down in the deep of pain - Than is Hell from the grief of men; - And his memories of music - Are rare as desert-rain. - - Ended forever the ecstasy - And song too sweet for scorning-- - The song that was still in vain; - And the shout of the battle-charge of God-- - Ended forever the Song of the Morning-- - The Song that was sung in vain. - - - - -SECOND SECTION - -A RHYMED SCENARIO, SOME POEM GAMES, AND THE LIKE - - - - -A DOLL’S “ARABIAN NIGHTS” - -_A Rhymed Scenario for Mae Marsh, when she acts in the new many-colored -films_ - - - I dreamed the play was real. - I walked into the screen. - Like Alice through the looking-glass, - I found a curious scene. - The black stones took on flame. - The shadows shone with eyes. - The colors poured and changed - In a Hell’s debauch of dyes, - In a street with incense thick, - In a court of witch-bazars, - With flambeaux by the stalls - Whose splutter hid the stars. - Camels stalked in line. - Courtezans tripped by - Dressed in silks and gems, - Copper diadems, - All the wealth they had. - -[Sidenote: _This refrain to be elaborately articulated and the -instrumental music then made to match it precisely._] - - _Oh quivering lights,_ - _Arabian Nights!_ - _Bagdad,_ - _Bagdad!_ - - You were a guarded girl - In a palanquin of gold. - I was buying figs: - All my hands could hold. - You slipped a note to me. - Your eyes made me your slave. - “Twelve paces back,” you wrote. - No other word gave. - The delicate dove house swayed - Close-veiled, a snare most sweet. - “Joy” said the silver bells - On the palanquin-bearers’ feet. - Then by a mosque, a dervish - Yelled and whirled like mad. - - _Oh quivering lights, - Arabian Nights! - Bagdad, - Bagdad!_ - - I reached a dim, still court. - I saw you there afar, - Beckoning from the roof, - Veiled, a cloud-wrapped star. - And your black slave said: “Proud boy, - Do you dare everything - With your young arm and bright steel? - Then climb. You are her king.” - And I heard a hiss of knives - In the doorway dark and bad. - - _Oh quivering lights, - Arabian Nights! - Bagdad, - Bagdad!_ - - The stairway climbed and climbed. - It spoke. It shouted lies. - I reached a tar-black room, - A panther’s belly gloom, - Filled with howls and sighs. - I found the roof. Twelve kings - Rose up to stab me there. - But I sent them to their graves. - My singing shook the air. - - My scimitar seemed more - Than any steel could be, - A whirling wheel, a pack - Of death-hounds guarding me. - And then you came like May. - You bound my torn breast well - With your discarded veil. - And flowery silence fell. - While Mohammed spread his wings - In the stars, you bent me back, - With a quick kiss touched my mouth, - And my heart was on the rack. - Oh dreadful, deathless love! - Oh kiss of Islam fire. - And your flashing hands were more - Than all a thief’s desire. - -[Sidenote: _The morning after is always noted in the Arabian Nights._] - - I woke by twelve dead curs - On bloody, stony ground. - And the grey watch muttered “shame,” - As he tottered on his round. - You had written on my sword:-- - “Goodby, O iron arm. - I love you much too well - To do you further harm. - And as my pledge and sign - You are in crimson clad.” - - _Oh quivering lights, - Arabian Nights! - Bagdad, - Bagdad!_ - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - The rocs scream in the air. - The ghouls my pathway clear. - For I have drunk the soul - Of the dazzling maid they fear. - The long handclasp you gave - Still shakes upon my hands. - O, daughter of a Jinn - I plot in Islam lands, - Haunting purple streets, - Hissing, snarling, bold, - - A robber never jailed, - A beggar never cold. - I shall be sultan yet - In this old crimson clad. - - _Oh quivering lights, - Arabian Nights! - Bagdad, - Bagdad!_ - - - - -THE LAME BOY AND THE FAIRY - -_To be Chanted with a Suggestion of Chopin’s Berceuse_ - -_A Poem Game. See the Chinese Nightingale, pages 93 through 97_ - - - A lame boy - Met a fairy - In a meadow - Where the bells grow. - - And the fairy - Kissed him gaily. - - And the fairy - Gave him friendship, - Gave him healing, - Gave him wings. - - “All the fashions - I will give you. - You will fly, dear, - All the long year. - - “Wings of springtime, - Wings of summer, - Wings of autumn, - Wings of winter! - - “Here is - A dress for springtime.” - And she gave him - A dress of grasses, - Orchard blossoms, - Wildflowers found in - Mountain passes, - _Shoes of song and - Wings of rhyme_. - - “Here is - A dress for summer.” - And she gave him - A hat of sunflowers, - A suit of poppies, - Clover, daisies, - All from wheat-sheaves - In harvest time; - _Shoes of song and - Wings of rhyme_. - - “Here is - A dress for autumn.” - And she gave him - A suit of red haw, - Hickory, apple, - Elder, paw paw, - Maple, hazel, - Elm and grape leaves. - And blue - And white - Cloaks of smoke, - And veils of sunlight, - From the Indian summer prime! - _Shoes of song and - Wings of rhyme._ - - “Here is - A dress for winter.” - And she gave him - A polar bear suit, - And he heard the - Christmas horns toot, - And she gave him - Green festoons and - Red balloons and - All the sweet cakes - And the snow flakes - Of Christmas time, - _Shoes of song and - Wings of rhyme_. - - And the fairy - Kept him laughing, - Led him dancing, - Kept him climbing - On the hill tops - Toward the moon. - - “We shall see silver ships. - We shall see singing ships, - Valleys of spray today, - Mountains of foam. - We have been long away, - Far from our wonderland. - Here come the ships of love - Taking us home. - - “Who are our captains bold? - They are the saints of old. - One is Saint Christopher. - He takes your hand. - He leads the cloudy fleet. - He gives us bread and meat. - His is our ship till - We reach our dear land. - - “Where is our house to be? - Far in the ether sea. - There where the North Star - Is moored in the deep. - Sleepy old comets nod - There on the silver sod. - Sleepy young fairy flowers - Laugh in their sleep. - - “A hundred years - And - A day, - There we will fly - And play - I spy and cross tag. - And meet on the high way, - And call to the game - Little Red Riding Hood, - Goldilocks, Santa Claus, - Every beloved - And heart-shaking name.” - - And the lame child - And the fairy - Journeyed far, far - To the North Star. - - - - -THE BLACKSMITH’S SERENADE - - _A pantomime and farce, to be acted by My Lady on one side of - a shutter, while the singer chants on the other, to an iron - guitar._ - - - John Littlehouse the redhead was a large ruddy man - Quite proud to be a blacksmith, and he loved Polly Ann, Polly Ann. - Straightway to her window with his iron guitar he came - Breathing like a blacksmith--his wonderful heart’s flame. - Though not very bashful and not very bold - He had reached the plain conclusion his passion must be told. - And so he sang: “Awake, awake,”--this hip-hoo-rayious man. - “Do you like me, do you love me, Polly Ann, Polly Ann? - The rooster on my coalshed crows at break of day. - It makes a person happy to hear his roundelay. - The fido in my woodshed barks at fall of night. - He makes one feel so safe and snug. He barks exactly right. - I swear to do my stylish best and purchase all I can - Of the flummeries, flunkeries and mummeries of man. - And I will carry in the coal and the water from the spring - And I will sweep the porches if you will cook and sing. - No doubt your Pa sleeps like a rock. Of course Ma is awake - But dares not say she hears me, for gentle custom’s sake. - Your sleeping father knows I am a decent honest man. - Will you wake him, Polly Ann, - And if he dares deny it I will thrash him, lash bash mash - Hash him, Polly Ann. - Hum hum hum, fee fie fo fum-- - And my brawn should wed your beauty - Do you hear me, Polly Ann, Polly Ann?” - - Polly had not heard of him before, but heard him now. - She blushed behind the shutters like a pippin on the bough. - She was not overfluttered, she was not overbold. - She was glad a lad was living with a passion to be told. - But she spoke up to her mother: “Oh, what an awful man:--” - This merry merry quite contrary tricky trixy, Polly Ann, Polly Ann. - - The neighbors put their heads out of the windows. They said:-- - “What sort of turtle dove is this that seems to wake the dead?” - Yes, in their nighties whispered this question to the night. - They did not dare to shout it. It wouldn’t be right. - And so, I say, they whispered:--“Does she hear this awful man, - Polly Ann, Polly Ann?” - - John Littlehouse the redhead sang on of his desires: - “Steel makes the wires of lyres, makes the frames of terrible towers - And circus chariots’ tires. - Believe me, dear, a blacksmith man can feel. - I will bind you, if I can to my ribs with hoops of steel. - Do you hear me, Polly Ann, Polly Ann?” - - And then his tune was silence, for he was not a fool. - He let his voice rest, his iron guitar cool. - And thus he let the wind sing, the stars sing and the grass sing, - The prankishness of love sing, the girl’s tingling feet sing, - Her trembling sweet hands sing, her mirror in the dark sing, - Her grace in the dark sing, her pillow in the dark sing, - The savage in her blood sing, her starved little heart sing, - Silently sing. - - “Yes, I hear you, Mister Man,” - To herself said Polly Ann, Polly Ann. - - He shouted one great loud “_Good night_,” and laughed, - And skipped home. - And every star was winking in the wide wicked dome. - - And early in the morning, sweet Polly stole away. - And though the town went crazy, she is his wife today. - - - - -THE APPLE BLOSSOM SNOW BLUES - - _A “blues” is a song in the mood of Milton’s Il Penseroso, or - a paragraph from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. This present - production is the chronicle of the secret soul of a vaudeville - man, as he dances in the limelight with his haughty lady. Let - the reader take special pains to make his own tune for this - production, to a very delicate drum beat._ - - - “_Your_ - Dandelion beauty, - _Your_ - Cherry-blossom beauty, - _Your_ - Apple-blossom beauty, - I will dance as I can, - O - You rag time lady, - O - You jazz dancing lady, - O - You blues-singing lady,” - _Thinks_ the blues-singing man. - - “Your - Grace and slightness, - And your fragrant whiteness, - Make me see the bending - Of an apple-blossom bough. - _You_ - Are a fairy, - Yet a jump-jazz dancer, - And your heart - Is a robin, - Singing, making merry - With the apple-flowers now.” - - See him kneel and canter - And smirk and banter, - And essay her heart - While the gourd horns blow. - For he is her lover - _And_ - Her dancing partner, - In the blues he made - Called “The Apple Blossom Snow.” - - She does her duty - No more - Than her duty, - Yet the packed house cheers - To the gallery rim. - Her young scorn fires them, - Its pep inspires them, - They watch her lover - And envy him. - - He does not fathom - What her heart has in keeping - Till that last circus leaping - Takes all by surprise. - Then he catches her softly, - Saves her gently, - And a mood for his soul - Lights her pansy eyes. - - Then - She steps rare measures. - Her eyes are treasures. - Brave truth shines out - From her young-witch glance. - From the velvety shade, - Ah, the thoughts of the maid. - Relenting glory, - Unveiled by chance. - - Though soon thereafter - She hides in laughter, - And flouts all his loving, - He will dance as he can, - As he can, - Like a man, - With his jazz dancing wonder, - With his pansy blossom wonder, - With his apple blossom wonder, - With his rag time lady, - The - Rag - Time - Man. - -[Sidenote: _Grand finale of jazz music, like the fall of a pile of -dishes in the kitchen._] - - - - -THE DANIEL JAZZ - - _Let the leader train the audience to roar like lions, and to - join in the refrain “Go chain the lions down,” before he begins - to lead them in this jazz._ - - -[Sidenote: _Beginning with a strain of “Dixie.”_] - - Darius the Mede was a king and a wonder. - His eye was proud, and his voice was thunder. - He kept bad lions in a monstrous den. - He fed up the lions on Christian men. - -[Sidenote: _With a touch of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”_] - - Daniel was the chief hired man of the land. - He stirred up the jazz in the palace band. - He whitewashed the cellar. He shovelled in the coal. - And Daniel kept a-praying:--“Lord save my soul.” - Daniel kept a-praying:--“Lord save my soul.” - Daniel kept a-praying:--“Lord save my soul.” - - Daniel was the butler, swagger and swell. - He ran up stairs. He answered the bell. - And _he_ would let in whoever came a-calling:-- - Saints so holy, scamps so appalling. - “Old man Ahab leaves his card. - Elisha and the bears are a-waiting in the yard. - Here comes Pharaoh and his snakes a-calling. - Here comes Cain and his wife a-calling. - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for tea. - Here comes Jonah and the whale, - And the _Sea_! - Here comes St. Peter and his fishing pole. - Here comes Judas and his silver a-calling. - Here comes old Beelzebub a-calling.” - And Daniel kept a-praying:--“Lord save my soul.” - Daniel kept a-praying:--“Lord save my soul.” - Daniel kept a-praying:--“Lord save my soul.” - - His sweetheart and his mother were Christian and meek. - They washed and ironed for Darius every week. - One Thursday he met them at the door:-- - Paid them as usual, but acted sore. - - He said:--“Your Daniel is a dead little pigeon. - He’s a good hard worker, but he talks religion.” - And he showed them Daniel in the lion’s cage. - Daniel standing quietly, the lions in a rage. - - His good old mother cried:-- - “Lord save him.” - And Daniel’s tender sweetheart cried:-- - “Lord save him.” - - And she was a golden lily in the dew. - And she was as sweet as an apple on the tree - And she was as fine as a melon in the corn-field, - Gliding and lovely as a ship on the sea, - Gliding and lovely as a ship on the sea. - - And she prayed to the Lord:-- - “_Send_ Gabriel. _Send_ Gabriel.” - - King Darius said to the lions:-- - “Bite Daniel. Bite Daniel. - Bite him. Bite him. Bite him!” - -[Sidenote: _Here the audience roars with the leader._] - - Thus roared the lions:-- - “We want Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, - We want Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. - Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” - -[Sidenote: _The audience sings this with the leader, to the old negro -tune._] - - And Daniel did not frown, - Daniel did not cry. - He kept on looking at the sky. - And the Lord said to Gabriel:-- - “Go chain the lions down, - Go chain the lions down. - Go chain the lions down. - Go chain the lions down.” - - And _Gabriel_ chained the lions, - And _Gabriel_ chained the lions, - And _Gabriel_ chained the lions, - And Daniel got out of the den, - And Daniel got out of the den, - And Daniel got out of the den. - And Darius said:--“You’re a Christian child,” - Darius said:--“You’re a Christian child,” - Darius said:--“You’re a Christian child,” - And gave him his job again, - And gave him his job again, - And gave him his job again. - - - - -WHEN PETER JACKSON PREACHED IN THE OLD CHURCH - - _To be sung to the tune of the old Negro Spiritual “Every time - I feel the spirit moving in my heart I’ll pray.”_ - - - Peter Jackson was a-preaching - And the house was still as snow. - He whispered of repentance - And the lights were dim and low - And were almost out - When he gave the first shout: - “Arise, arise, - Cry out your eyes.” - And we mourned all our terrible sins away. - Clean, clean away. - Then we marched around, around, - And sang with a wonderful sound:-- - “Every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart I’ll pray. - Every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart I’ll pray.” - And we fell by the altar - And fell by the aisle, - And found our Savior - In just a little while, - We all found Jesus at the break of the day, - We all found Jesus at the break of the day. - Blessed Jesus, - Blessed Jesus. - - - - -THE CONSCIENTIOUS DEACON - -_A song to be syncopated as you please_ - - - Black cats, grey cats, green cats miau-- - Chasing the deacon who stole the cow. - - He runs and tumbles, he tumbles and runs. - He sees big white men with dogs and guns. - - He falls down flat. He turns to stare-- - No cats, no dogs, and no men there. - - But black shadows, grey shadows, green shadows come. - The wind says, “Miau!” and the rain says, “Hum!” - - He goes straight home. He dreams all night. - He howls. He puts his wife in a fright. - - Black devils, grey devils, green devils shine-- - Yes, by Sambo, - And the fire looks fine! - Cat devils, dog devils, cow devils grin-- - Yes, by Sambo, - And the fire rolls in. - - And so, next day, to avoid the worst-- - He takes that cow - Where he found her first. - - - - -DAVY JONES’ DOOR-BELL - -_A Chant for Boys with Manly Voices._ - -_Every line sung one step deeper than the line preceding._ - - - Any sky-bird sings, - “_Ring, ring!_” - Any church-chime calls, - “_Dong ding!_” - Any cannon says, - “_Boom bang!_” - Any whirlwind says, - “_Whing whang!_” - The bell-buoy hums and roars, - “_Ding dong!_” - And way down deep, - Where fishes throng, - By Davy Jones’ big deep-sea door, - Shaking the ocean’s flowery floor, - His door-bell booms - “_Dong dong, - Dong dong_,” - Deep, deep down, - “_Clang boom, - Boom dong, - Boom dong, - Boom dong!_” - - - - -THE SEA SERPENT CHANTEY - - -I - - There’s a snake on the western wave - And his crest is red. - He is long as a city street, - And he eats the dead. - There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea - Where the snake goes down. - And he waits in the bottom of the sea - For the men that drown. - -[Sidenote: _Let the audience join in the chorus._] - -Chorus:-- - - This is the voice of the sand - (The sailors understand) - “There is far more sea than sand, - There is far more sea than land. Yo ... ho, yo ... ho.” - - -II - - He waits by the door of his cave - While the ages moan. - He cracks the ribs of the ships - With his teeth of stone. - In his gizzard deep and long - Much treasure lies. - Oh, the pearls and the Spanish gold.... - And the idols’ eyes.... - Oh, the totem poles ... the skulls ... - The altars cold ... - The wedding rings, the dice ... - The buoy bells old. - -Chorus:--This is the voice, etc. - - -III - - Dive, mermaids, with sharp swords - And cut him through, - And bring us the idols’ eyes - And the red gold too. - Lower the grappling hooks - Good pirate men - And drag him up by the tongue - From his deep wet den. - We will sail to the end of the world, - We will nail his hide - To the main mast of the moon - In the evening tide. - -Chorus:--This is the voice, etc. - - -IV - - Or will you let him live, - The deep-sea thing, - With the wrecks of all the world - In a black wide ring - By the hole in the bottom of the sea - Where the snake goes down, - Where he waits in the bottom of the sea - For the men that drown? - Chorus:--This is the voice, etc. - - - - -THE LITTLE TURTLE - - _A Recitation for Martha Wakefield, Three Years Old_ - - - There was a little turtle. - He lived in a box. - He swam in a puddle. - He climbed on the rocks. - - He snapped at a musquito. - He snapped at a flea. - He snapped at a minnow. - And he snapped at me. - - He caught the musquito. - He caught the flea. - He caught the minnow. - But he didn’t catch me. - - - - -THIRD SECTION - -COBWEBS AND CABLES - - - - -THE SCIENTIFIC ASPIRATION - - - Would that the dry hot wind called Science came, - Forerunner of a higher mystic day, - Though vile machine-made commerce clear the way-- - Though nature losing shame should lose her veil, - And ghosts of buried angel-warriors wail - The fall of Heaven, and the relentless Sun - Smile on, as Abraham’s God forever dies-- - Lord, give us Darwin’s eyes! - - - - -THE VISIT TO MAB - - - When glad vacation time began - A snail-king said to his dear spouse, - “Come, let us lock our birch-bark house - And visit some important man. - - “Each summer we have hoped to go - To see the sultan Gingerbread - Who wears chopped citron on his head - And currant love-locks in a row. - - “And see his vizier Chocolate Bill - And Popcorn Man, his pale young priest. - They live twelve inches to the east - Behind the lofty brown-bread hill.” - - His wife said: “Simple elegance - Is what we want. It is the mode - To take the little western road - To where the blue-grass fairies dance. - - “I think the queen will recognize - Our atmosphere of wealth and ease. - My steel-grey shell is sure to please, - And she will fear your fiery eyes.” - - And so they visited proud Mab. - The firs were laughing overhead, - The chattering roses burned deep-red. - The snails were queer and dumb and drab. - - The contrast made them quite the thing. - A setting spells success at times. - Mab gave the queen a book of rhymes. - A tissue-cap she gave the king, - - Like caps the children wear for sport. - And vainer than he well could say - He called gay Mab his “pride and stay,” - With pompous speeches to the court. - - They journeyed home, made young indeed, - But opening the book of song - Each poem looked so deep and long - They could not bear to start to read. - - - - -THE SONG OF THE STURDY SNAILS - - - Gristly bare-bone fingers - On my window-pane-- - The drumbeat of a ghost - Louder than the rain! - - Oh frail, storm-shaken hut-- - No candle, not a spark - Of fire within the grate. - Oh the lonely dark! - - Trembling by the window - I watched the lightning flash - And saw the little villains - Upon the outer sash - - And other small musicians - Upon the window-pane-- - Garden snails, a-dragging - Their shells amid the rain! - - The thunder blew away. - My happiness began. - Over the dripping darkness - Rills of moonlight ran. - - In the silence rich - The scratching of the shells - Became a crooning music - A lazy peal of bells. - - So fearless in the night - My sluggard brothers bold! - Your fancies swift and glowing; - Your footsteps slow and cold! - - My happy beggar-brothers - Tuning all together, - Playing on the pane - Praise of stormy weather! - - Upon a ragged pillow - At last I laid my head - And watched the sparkling window - And the wan light on my bed. - - Through the glass came flying - Dream snails, with leafy wings-- - Glided on the moonbeams-- - And all the snails were kings! - - With crowns of pollen yellow - And eyes of firefly gold - Behold--to crooning music - Their coiling wings unrolled! - - These tiny kings I saw - Reigning over white - Bisque jars of fairy flowers - In sturdy proud delight. - - These jars in fairyland - Await good snails that keep - Vigils on the windows - Of beggars fast asleep. - - - - -ANOTHER WORD ON THE SCIENTIFIC ASPIRATION - - - “There’s machinery in the butterfly. - There’s a mainspring to the bee. - There’s hydraulics to a daisy - And contraptions to a tree. - - “If we could see the birdie - That makes the chirping sound - With psycho-analytic eyes, - And x ray, scientific eyes, - We could see the wheels go round.” - - _And I hope all men - Who think like this - Will soon lie - Underground._ - - - - -DANCING FOR A PRIZE - - - Three fairies by the Sangamon - Were dancing for a prize. - The rascals were alike indeed - As they danced with drooping eyes. - I gave the magic acorn - To the one I loved the best, - The imp that made me think of her - My heart’s eternal guest, - My lady of the tea-rose, my lady far away, - Queen of the fleets of No-Man’s-Land - That sail to old Cathay. - How did the trifler hint of her? - Ah, when the dance was done - They begged me for the acorn, - Laughing every one. - Two had eyes of midnight, - And one had golden eyes, - And I gave the golden acorn - To the scamp with golden eyes. - Confessor Dandelion, - My priest so grey and wise - Whispered when I gave it - To the girl with golden eyes: - “She is like your Queen of Glory - On China’s holy strand - Who drove the coiling dragons - Like doves before her hand.” - - - - -COLD SUNBEAMS - - - The Question: - “Tell me, where do fairy queens - Find their bridal veils?” - - The Answer: - “If you were now a fairy queen - Then I, your faithless page and bold - Would win the realm by winning you. - Your veil would be transparent gold - White magic spiders wove for you - At cold grey dawn, from sunbeams cold - While robins sang amid the dew.” - - - - -FOR ALL WHO EVER SENT LACE VALENTINES - - - The little-boy lover - And little-girl lover - Met the first time - At the house of a friend. - And great the respect - Of the little-boy lover. - The awe and the fear of her - Stayed to the end. - - The little girl chattered - Incessantly chattered, - Hardly would look - When he tried to be nice. - But deeply she trembled - The little-girl lover, - Eaten with flame - While she tried to be ice. - - The lion of loving - The terrible lion - Woke in the two - Long before they could wed. - The world said: “Child hearts - You must keep till the summer. - It is not allowed - That your hearts should be red.” - - If only a wizard - A kindly grey wizard - Had built them a house - In a cave underground. - With an emerald door, - And honey to eat! - But it seemed that no wizard - Was waiting around. - - Oh children with fancies, - The rarest of notions, - The rarest of passions - And hopes here below! - Many a child, - His young heart too timid - Has fled from his princess - No other to know. - - I have seen them with faces - Like books out of Heaven, - With messages there - The harsh world should read, - The lions and roses and lilies of love, - Its tender, mystic, tyrannical need. - - Were I god of the village - My servants should mate them. - Were I priest of the church - I would set them apart. - If the wide state were mine - It should live for such darlings, - And hedge with all shelter - The child-wedded heart. - - - - -MY LADY IS COMPARED TO A YOUNG TREE - - - When I see a young tree - In its white beginning, - With white leaves - And white buds - Barely tipped with green, - In the April weather, - In the weeping sunshine-- - Then I see my lady, - My democratic queen, - Standing free and equal - With the youngest woodland sapling - Swaying, singing in the wind, - Delicate and white: - Soul so near to blossom, - Fragile, strong as death; - A kiss from far off Eden, - A flash of Judgment’s trumpet-- - April’s breath. - - - - -TO EVE, MAN’S DREAM OF WIFEHOOD AS DESCRIBED BY MILTON - - - Darling of Milton--when that marble man - Saw you in shadow, coming from God’s hand - Serene and young, did he not chant for you - Praises more quaint than he could understand? - - “To justify the ways of God to man”-- - So, self-deceived, his printed purpose runs. - His love for you is the true key to him, - And Uriel and Michael were your sons. - - Your bosom nurtured his Urania. - Your meek voice, piercing through his midnight sleep - Shook him far more than silver chariot wheels - Or rattling shields, or trumpets of the deep. - - Titan and lover, could he be content - With Eden’s narrow setting for your spell? - You wound soft arms around his brows. He smiled - And grimly for your home built Heaven and Hell. - - That was his posy. A strange gift, indeed. - We bring you what we can, not what is fit. - Eve, dream of wifehood! Each man in his way - Serves you with chants according to his wit. - - - - -A KIND OF SCORN - - - You do not know my pride - Or the storm of scorn I ride. - - I am too proud to kiss you and leave you - Without wonders - Spreading round you like flame. - I am too proud to leave you - Without love - Haunting your very name: - Until you bear the Grail - Above your head in splendor - O child, dear and pale. - I am too proud to leave you - Though we part forevermore - Till all your thoughts - Go up toward Glory’s door. - - Oh, I am but a sinner proud and poor, - Utterly without merit - To help you climb in wonder - A stair toward Heaven’s door-- - Except that I have prayed my God, - And He will give the Grail, - And you will mourn no longer, - Beset, confused, and pale. - And God will lift you far on high, - The while I pray and pray - Until the hour I die. - The effectual fervent prayer availeth much. - And my first prayer ascends this proud harsh day. - - - - -HARPS IN HEAVEN - - - I will bring you great harps in Heaven, - Made of giant shells - From the jasper sea. - With a thousand burnt up years behind, - What then of the gulf from you to me? - It will be but the width of a thread, - Or the narrowest leaf of our sheltering tree. - - You dare not refuse my harps in Heaven. - Or angels will mock you, and turn away. - Or with angel wit, - Will praise your eyes, - And your pure Greek lips, and bid you play, - And sing of the love from them to you, - And then of my poor flaming heart - In the far off earth, when the years were new. - - I will bring you such harps in Heaven - That they will shake at your touch and breath, - Whose threads are rainbows, - Seventy times seven, - Whose voice is life, and silence death. - - - - -THE CELESTIAL CIRCUS - - - In Heaven, if not on earth, - You and I will be dancing. - I will whirl you over my head, - A torch and a flag and a bird, - A hawk that loves my shoulder, - A dove with plumes outspread. - We will whirl for God when the trumpets - Speak the millennial word. - - We will howl in praise of God, - Dervish and young cyclone. - We will ride in the joy of God - On circus horses white. - Your feet will be white lightning, - Your spangles white and regal, - We will leap from the horses’ backs - To the cliffs of day and night. - - We will have our rest in the pits of sleep - When the darkness heaps upon us, - And buries us for æons - Till we rise like grass in the spring. - We will come like dandelions, - Like buttercups and crocuses, - And all the winter of our sleep - But make us storm and sing. - - We will tumble like swift foam - On the wave-crests of old ghostland, - And dance on the crafts of doom, - And wrestle on the moon. - And Saturn and his triple ring - Will be our tinsel circus, - Till all sad wraiths of yesterday - With the stars rejoice and croon. - - O dancer, love undying, - My soul, my swan, my eagle, - The first of our million dancing years - Dawns, dawns soon. - - - - -THE FIRE-LADDIE, LOVE - - - The door has a bolt. - The window a grate. - O friend we are trapped - In the factory, Fate. - The flames pierce the ceiling. - The brands heap the floor. - But listen, dear heart: - A song at the door! - The forcing of bolts, - The hewing of oak! - A sword breaks the lock - With one cleaving stroke. - Naked and fair - Unscathed and wild - Behold he comes swiftly, - An elfin-eyed child. - The fire-laddie, _Love_, - Is our hero this night, - As he walks on the embers - His plumes are cloud white. - He sings of the lightning - And snow of desire, - His step parts the veil - Of the factory fire. - Oh his chubby child hands, - Oh his long curls agleam, - From out their soft tossing - Comes thunder and dream. - Our fire-laddie, Love, - At the last moment here, - To bear us away - To a road without fear, - To the dark, to the wind, - To the mist, to the dawn, - Where the lilac blooms nod - By the rain renewed lawn. - To a land of deep knowledge - Our tired feet are led, - While the stars of new morning - Still glint overhead. - Sweet Love walks between us - With silences long. - His step is the music. - The day is the song. - - - - -FOURTH SECTION - -RHYMES CONCERNING THE LATE WORLD WAR AND THE NEXT WAR - - - - -IN MEMORY OF MY FRIEND JOYCE KILMER, POET AND SOLDIER - - _Written Armistice Day, November eleventh, 1918_ - - - I hear a thousand chimes, - I hear ten thousand chimes, - I hear a million chimes - In Heaven. - I see a thousand bells, - I see ten thousand bells, - I see a million bells - In Heaven. - - Listen, friends and companions. - Through the deep heart, - Sweetly they toll. - - I hear the chimes - Of tomorrow ring, - The azure bells - Of eternal love.... - I see the chimes - Of tomorrow swing: - On unseen ropes - They gleam above. - - Rejoice, friends and companions. - Through the deep heart - Sweetly they toll. - - They shake the sky - They blaze and sing. - They fill the air - Like larks a-wing, - Like storm-clouds - Turned to blue-bell flowers. - Like Spring gone mad, - Like stars in showers. - - Join the song, - Friends and companions. - Through the deep heart - Sweetly they toll. - - And some are near, - And touch my hand, - Small whispering blooms - From Beulah Land. - Giants afar - Still touch the sky, - Still give their giant - Battle-cry. - - Join hands, friends and companions. - Through the deep heart - Sweetly they toll. - - And every bell - Is voice and breath - Of a spirit - Who has conquered death, - In this great war - Has given all, - Like Kilmer - Heard the hero-call. - - Join hands, - Poets, - Friends, - Companions. - Through the deep heart - Sweetly they toll! - - - - -THE TIGER ON PARADE - - - The Sparrow and the Robin on a toot - Drunk on honey-dew and violet’s breath - Came knocking at the brazen bars of Death. - And Death, no other than a tiger caged, - In a street parade that had no ending, - Roared at them and clawed at them and raged-- - Whose chirping was the height of their offending. - His paws too big--their fluttering bodies small - Escaped unscathed above the City Hall. - - They learned new dances, scattering birdy laughter, - And filled again their throats with honey-dew. - A Maltese kitten killed them, two days after. - But they had had their fill. It was enough:-- - Had quarreled, made up, on many a lilac swayed, - Darted through sunny thunder-clouds and rainbows, - High above that tiger on parade. - - - - -THE FEVER CALLED WAR - - - Love and Kindness, - Two sad shadows - Over the old nations, - Bigger than the world, - Mists above a grave! - - Says Love, the shadow - To Kindness the shadow:-- - “I weep for the children - No miracle will save. - All the little children - Are down with the fever, - Thousands upon thousands, - Blind and deaf and mad. - Their fathers are all dead, - And the same raging fever - Is burning up the children, - The babes that once were glad.” - - - - -STANZAS IN JUST THE RIGHT TONE FOR THE SPIRITED GENTLEMEN WHO WOULD -CONQUER MEXICO - - -ALEXANDER - - Would I might waken in you Alexander, - Murdering the nations wickedly, - Flooding his time with blood remorselessly, - Sowing new Empires, where the Athenian light, - Knowledge and music, slay the Asian night, - And men behold Apollo in the sun. - God make us splendid, though by grievous wrong. - God make us fierce and strong. - -MOHAMMED - - Would that on horses swifter than desire - We rode behind Mohammed ’round the zones - With swords unceasing, sowing fields of bones, - Till New America, ancient Mizraim, - Cry: “Allah is the God of Abraham.” - God make our host relentless as the sun, - Each soul your spear, your banner and your slave, - God help us to be brave. - -NAPOLEON - - Would that the cold adventurous Corsican - Woke with new hope of glory, strong from sleep, - Instructed how to conquer and to keep - More justly, having dreamed awhile, yea crowned - With shining flowers, God-given; while the sound - Of singing continents, following the sun, - Calls freeborn men to guard Napoleon’s throne - Who makes the eternal hopes of man his own. - - - - -THE MODEST JAZZ-BIRD - - - The Jazz-bird sings a barnyard song-- - A cock-a-doodle bray, - A jingle-bells, a boiler works, - A he-man’s roundelay. - - The eagle said, “My noisy son, - I send you out to fight!” - So the youngster spread his sunflower wings - And roared with all his might. - - His headlight eyes went flashing - From Oregon to Maine; - And the land was dark with airships - In the darting Jazz-bird’s train. - - Crossing the howling ocean, - His bell-mouth shook the sky; - And the Yankees in the trenches - Gave back the hue and cry. - - And Europe had not heard the like-- - And Germany went down! - The fowl of steel with clashing claws - Tore off the Kaiser’s crown. - - - - -When the statue of Andrew Jackson before the White House in Washington -is removed, America is doomed. The nobler days of America’s innocence, -in which it was set up, always have a special tang for those who are -tasty. But this is not all. It is only the America that has the courage -of her complete past that can hold up her head in the world of the -artists, priests and sages. It is for us to put the iron dog and deer -back upon the lawn, the John Rogers group back into the parlor, and get -new inspiration from these and from Andrew Jackson ramping in bronze -replica in New Orleans, Nashville and Washington, and add to them a -sense of humor, till it becomes a sense of beauty that will resist the -merely dulcet and affettuoso. - -Please read Lorado Taft’s _History of American Sculpture_, pages -123-127, with these matters in mind. I quote a few bits: - -“... The maker of the first equestrian statue in the history of -American sculpture: Clark Mills.... Never having seen General Jackson -or an equestrian statue, he felt himself incompetent ... the incident, -however, made an impression on his mind, and he reflected sufficiently -to produce a design which was the very one subsequently executed.... -Congress appropriated the old cannon captured by General Jackson.... -Having no notion, nor even suspicion of a dignified sculptural -treatment of a theme, the clever carpenter felt, nevertheless, the need -of a feature.... He built a colossal horse, adroitly balanced on the -hind legs, and America gazed with bated breath. Nobody knows or cares -whether the rider looks like Jackson or not. - -“The extraordinary pose of the horse absorbs all attention, all -admiration. There may be some subconscious feeling of respect for a -rider who holds on so well....” - - - - -THE STATUE OF OLD ANDREW JACKSON - -_Written while America was in the midst of the war with Germany, -August, 1918_ - - - Andrew Jackson was eight feet tall. - His arm was a hickory limb and a maul. - His sword was so long he dragged it on the ground. - Every friend was an equal. Every foe was a hound. - - Andrew Jackson was a Democrat, - Defying kings in his old cocked hat. - His vast steed rocked like a hobby horse. - But he sat straight up. He held his course. - - He licked the British at Noo Orleens; - Beat them out of their elegant jeans. - He piled the cotton-bales twenty feet high, - And he snorted “freedom,” and it flashed from his eye. - - And the American Eagle swooped through the air, - And cheered when he heard the Jackson swear:-- - “By the Eternal, let them come. - Sound Yankee Doodle. Let the bullets hum.” - - And his wild men, straight from the woods, fought on - Till the British fops were dead and gone. - - And now Old Andrew Jackson fights - To set the sad big world to rights. - He joins the British and the French. - He cheers up the Italian trench. - He’s making Democrats of these, - And freedom’s sons of Japanese. - His hobby horse will gallop on - Till all the infernal Huns are gone. - - Yes, - Yes, - Yes! - By the Eternal! - Old Andrew Jackson! - - - - -SEW THE FLAGS TOGETHER - - - Great wave of youth, ere you be spent, - Sweep over every monument - Of caste, smash every high imperial wall - That stands against the new World State, - And overwhelm each ravening hate, - And heal, and make blood-brothers of us all. - Nor let your clamor cease - Till ballots conquer guns. - Drum on for the world’s peace - Till the Tory power is gone. - Envenomed lame old age - Is not our heritage, - But springtime’s vast release, and flaming dawn. - - Peasants, rise in splendor - And your accounting render - Ere the lords unnerve your hand! - Sew the flags together. - Do not tear them down. - Hurl the worlds together. - Dethrone the wallowing monster - And the clown. - Resolving:-- - “Only that shall grow - In Balkan furrow, Chinese row, - That blooms, and is perpetually young.” - That only be held fine and dear - That brings heart-wisdom year by year - And puts this thrilling word upon the tongue: - “The United States of Europe, Asia, and the World.” - - “Youth will be served,” now let us cry. - Hurl the referendum. - Your fathers, five long years ago, - Resolved to strike, too late. - Now - Sun-crowned crowds - Innumerable, - Of boys and girls - Imperial, - With your patchwork flag of brotherhood - On high, - With every silk - In one flower-banner whirled-- - Rise, - Citizens of one tremendous state, - The United States of Europe, Asia, and the World. - - The dawn is rose-drest and impearled. - The guards of privilege are spent. - The blood-fed captains nod. - So Saxon, Slav, French, German, - Rise, - Yankee, Chinese, Japanese, - All the lands, all the seas, - With the blazing rainbow flag unfurled, - Rise, rise, - Take the sick dragons by surprise, - Highly establish, - In the name of God, - The United States of Europe, Asia, and the World. - - Written for William Stanley Braithwaite’s Victory Anthology - issued at once, after Armistice Day, November, 1918. - - - - -JUSTINIAN - -(_The Tory Reply_) - - - Nay, let us have the marble peace of Rome, - Recorded in the Code Justinian, - Till Pagan Justice shelters man from man. - Fanatics snarl like mongrel dogs; the code - Will build each custom like a Roman Road, - Direct as daylight, clear-eyed as the sun. - God grant all crazy world-disturbers cease. - God give us honest peace. - - - - -THE VOICE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI - - - I saw St. Francis by a stream - Washing his wounds that bled. - The aspens quivered overhead. - The silver doves flew round. - - Weeping and sore dismayed - “Peace, peace,” St. Francis prayed. - - But the soft doves quickly fled. - Carrion crows flew round. - An earthquake rocked the ground. - - “War, war,” the west wind said. - - - - -IN WHICH ROOSEVELT IS COMPARED TO SAUL - - _Written and published in 1913, and republished five years - later, in The Boston Transcript, on the death of Roosevelt._ - - - Where is David?... Oh God’s people - Saul has passed, the good and great. - Mourn for Saul, the first anointed, - Head and shoulders o’er the state. - - He was found among the prophets: - Judge and monarch, merged in one. - But the wars of Saul are ended, - And the works of Saul are done. - - Where is David, ruddy shepherd, - God’s boy-king for Israel? - Mystic, ardent, dowered with beauty, - Singing where still waters dwell? - - Prophet, find that destined minstrel - Wandering on the range today, - Driving sheep, and crooning softly - Psalms that cannot pass away. - - “David waits,” the prophet answers, - “In a black, notorious den, - In a cave upon the border, - With four hundred outlaw men. - - “He is fair and loved of women, - Mighty hearted, born to sing: - Thieving, weeping, erring, praying, - Radiant, royal rebel-king. - - “He will come with harp and psaltry, - Quell his troop of convict swine, - Quell his mad-dog roaring rascals, - Witching them with tunes divine. - - “They will ram the walls of Zion, - They will win us Salem hill, - All for David, shepherd David, - Singing like a mountain rill.” - - - - -HAIL TO THE SONS OF ROOSEVELT - - “_Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came - forth sweetness._”--_Samson’s riddle._ - - - There is no name for brother - Like the name of Jonathan - The son of Saul. - And so we greet you all: - The sons of Roosevelt-- - The sons of Saul. - - Four brother Jonathans went out to battle. - Let every Yankee poet sing their praise - Through all the days-- - What David sang of Saul - And Jonathan, beloved more than all. - - God grant such sons, begot of our young men, - To make each generation glad again. - Let sons of Saul be springing up again: - Out of the eater, fire and power again. - From the lost lion, honey for all men. - - I hear the sacred Rocky Mountains call, - I hear the Mississippi Jordan call: - “_Stand up, America, and praise them all, - Living and dead, the fine young sons of Saul!_” - - - - -THE SPACIOUS DAYS OF ROOSEVELT - - - These were the spacious days of Roosevelt. - Would that among you chiefs like him arose - To win the wrath of our united foes, - To chain King Mammon in the donjon-keep, - To rouse our godly citizens that sleep - Till as one soul, we shout up to the sun - The battle-yell of freedom and the right-- - “Lord, let good men unite.” - - Nay, I would have you lonely and despised. - Statesmen whom only statesmen understand, - Artists whom only artists can command, - Sages whom all but sages scorn, whose fame - Dies down in lies, in synonyms for shame - With the best populace beneath the sun. - God give us tasks that martyrs can revere, - Still too much hated to be whispered here. - - Would we might drink, with knowledge high and kind - The hemlock cup of Socrates the king, - Knowing right well we know not anything, - With full life done, bowing before the law, - Binding young thinkers’ hearts with loyal awe, - And fealty fixed as the ever-enduring sun-- - God let us live, seeking the highest light, - God help us die aright. - - Nay, I would have you grand, and still forgotten, - Hid like the stars at noon, as he who set - The Egyptian magic of man’s alphabet; - Or that far Coptic, first to dream in pain - That dauntless souls cannot by death be slain-- - Conquering for all men then, the fearful grave. - God keep us hid, yet vaster far than death. - God help us to be brave. - - - - -FIFTH SECTION - -RHYMES OF THE MIDDLE WEST AND SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS - - - - -WHEN THE MISSISSIPPI FLOWED IN INDIANA - -_Inscribed to Bruce Campbell, who read_ Tom Sawyer _with me in the old -house_ - - - Beneath Time’s roaring cannon - Many walls fall down. - But though the guns break every stone, - Level every town:-- - Within our Grandma’s old front hall - Some wonders flourish yet:-- - The Pavement of Verona, - Where stands young Juliet, - The roof of Blue-beard’s palace, - And Kublai Khan’s wild ground, - The cave of young Aladdin, - Where the jewel-flowers were found, - And the garden of old Sparta - Where little Helen played, - The grotto of Miranda - That Prospero arrayed, - And the cave, by the Mississippi, - Where Becky Thatcher strayed. - - On that Indiana stairway - Gleams Cinderella’s shoe. - Upon that mighty mountainside - Walks Snow-white in the dew. - Upon that grassy hillside - Trips shining Nicolette:-- - That stairway of remembrance - Time’s cannon will not get-- - That chattering slope of glory - Our little cousins made, - That hill by the Mississippi - Where Becky Thatcher strayed. - - Spring beauties on that cliffside, - Love in the air, - While the soul’s deep Mississippi - Sweeps on, forever fair. - And he who enters in the cave, - Nothing shall make afraid, - The cave by the Mississippi - Where Tom and Becky strayed. - - - - -THE FAIRY FROM THE APPLE-SEED - - - Oh apple-seed I planted in a silly shallow place - In a bowl of wrought silver, with Sangamon earth within it, - Oh baby tree that came, without an apple on it, - A tree that grew a tiny height, but thickened on apace, - With bossy glossy arms, and leaves of trembling lace. - - One night the trunk was rent, and the heavy bowl rocked round, - The boughs were bending here and there, with a curious locust sound, - And a tiny dryad came, from out the doll tree, - And held the boughs in ivory hands, - And waved her black hair round, - And climbed, and ate with merry words - The sudden fruit it bore. - And in the leaves she hides and sings - And guards my study door. - - She guards it like a watchdog true - And robbers run away. - Her eyes are lifted spears all night, - But dove-eyes in the day. - - And she is stranger, stronger - Than the funny human race. - Lovelier her form, and holier her face. - She feeds me flowers and fruit - With a quaint grace. - She dresses in the apple-leaves - As delicate as lace. - This girl that came from Sangamon earth - In a bowl of silver bright - From an apple-seed I planted in a silly shallow place. - - - - -A HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN - - - Guns salute, and crows and pigeons fly, - Bronzed, Homeric bards go striding by, - Shouting “Glory” amid the cannonade:-- - It is the cross-roads - Resurrection - Parade. - - Actors, craftsmen, builders, join the throng, - Painters, sculptors, florists tramp along, - Farm-boys prance, in tinsel, tin and jade:-- - It is the cross-roads - Love and Laughter - Crusade. - - The sun is blazing big as all the sky, - The mustard-plant with the sunflower climbing high, - With the Indian corn in fiery plumes arrayed:-- - It is the cross-roads - Love and Beauty - Crusade. - - Free and proud and mellow jamboree, - Roar and foam upon the prairie sea, - Tom turkeys sing the sun a serenade:-- - It is the cross-roads - Resurrection - Parade. - - Our sweethearts dance, with wands as white as milk, - With veils of gold and robes of silver silk, - Their caps in velvet pansy-patterns made:-- - It is the cross-roads - Resurrection - Parade. - - Wandering ’round the shrines we understand, - Waving oak-boughs cheap and close at hand, - And field-flowers fair, for which no man has paid:-- - It is the cross-roads - Love and Beauty - Crusade. - - Hieroglyphic marchers here we bring. - Rich inscriptions strut and talk and sing. - A scroll to read, a picture-word brigade:-- - It is the cross-roads - Love and Laughter - Crusade. - - Swans for symbols deck the banners rare, - Mighty acorn-signs command the air, - For hearts of oak, by flying beauty swayed:-- - It is the cross-roads - Resurrection - Parade. - - The flags are big, like rainbows flashing ’round, - They spread like sails, and lift us from the ground, - Star-born ships, that have come in masquerade:-- - It is the cross-roads - Resurrection - Parade. - - - - -THE DREAM OF ALL THE SPRINGFIELD WRITERS - - - I’ll haunt this town, though gone the maids and men, - The darling few, my friends and loves today. - My ghost returns, bearing a great sword-pen - When far off children of their children play. - - That pen will drip with moonlight and with fire. - I’ll write upon the church-doors and the walls. - And reading there, young hearts shall leap the higher - Though drunk already with their own love-calls. - - Still led of love and arm in arm, strange gold - Shall find in tracing the far-speeding track - The dauntless war-cries that my sword-pen bold - Shall carve on terraces and tree-trunks black-- - - On tree-trunks black beneath the blossoms white:-- - Just as the phosphorent merman, bound for home - Jewels his fire-path in the tides at night - While hurrying sea-babes follow through the foam. - - And in December when the leaves are dead - And the first snow has carpeted the street - While young cheeks flush a healthful Christmas red - And young eyes glisten with youth’s fervor sweet-- - - My pen shall cut in winter’s snowy floor - Cries that in channelled glory leap and shine, - My Village Gospel, living evermore - Amid rejoicing, loyal friends of mine. - - - - -THE SPRINGFIELD OF THE FAR FUTURE - - - Some day our town will grow old. - “She is wicked and raw,” men say, - “Awkward and brash and profane.” - But the years have a healing way. - The years of God are like bread, - Balm of Gilead and sweet. - And the soul of this little town - Our Father will make complete. - - Some day our town will grow old, - Filled with the fullness of time, - Treasure on treasure heaped - Of beauty’s tradition sublime. - Proud and gay and grey - Like Hannah with Samuel blest. - Humble and girlish and white - Like Mary, the manger guest. - - Like Mary the manger queen - Bringing the God of Light - Till Christmas is here indeed - And earth has no more of night, - And hosts of Magi come, - The wisest under the sun - Bringing frankincense and praise - For her gift of the Infinite One. - - - - -AFTER READING THE SAD STORY OF THE FALL OF BABYLON - - - Oh Lady, my city, and new flower of the prairie, - What have we to do with this long time ago? - Oh lady love, - Bud of tomorrow, - With eyes that hold the hundred years - Yet to ebb and flow, - And breasts that burn - With great great grandsons - All their valor, all their tears, - A century hence shall know, - What have we to do - With this long time ago? - - - - -ALEXANDER CAMPBELL - -“The present material universe, yet unrevealed in all its area, in -all its tenantries, in all its riches, beauty and grandeur will be -wholly regenerated. Of this fact we have full assurance since He that -now sits upon the throne of the Universe has pledged His word for it, -saying: ‘Behold I will create all things new,’ consequently, ‘new -heavens, new earth,’ consequently, new tenantries, new employments, -new pleasures, new joys, new ecstasies. There is a fullness of joy, a -fullness of glory and a fullness of blessedness of which no living man, -however enlightened, however enlarged, however gifted, ever formed or -entertained one adequate conception.” - -The above is the closing paragraph in Alexander Campbell’s last essay -in the _Millennial Harbinger_, which he had edited thirty-five years. -This paragraph appeared November, 1865, four months before his death. - - - - -I--MY FATHERS CAME FROM KENTUCKY - - I was born in Illinois,-- - Have lived there many days. - And I have Northern words, - And thoughts, - And ways. - - But my great grandfathers came - To the west with Daniel Boone, - And taught his babes to read, - And heard the red-bird’s tune; - - And heard the turkey’s call, - And stilled the panther’s cry, - And rolled on the blue-grass hills, - And looked God in the eye. - - And feud and Hell were theirs; - Love, like the moon’s desire, - Love like a burning mine, - Love like rifle-fire. - - I tell tales out of school - Till these Yankees hate my style. - Why should the young cad cry, - Shout with joy for a mile? - - Why do I faint with love - Till the prairies dip and reel? - My heart is a kicking horse - Shod with Kentucky steel. - - No drop of my blood from north - Of Mason and Dixon’s line. - And this racer in my breast - Tears my ribs for a sign. - - But I ran in Kentucky hills - Last week. They were hearth and home.... - And the church at Grassy Springs, - Under the red-bird’s wings - Was peace and honeycomb. - - - - -II--WRITTEN IN A YEAR WHEN MANY OF MY PEOPLE DIED - - - I have begun to count my dead. - They wave green branches - Around my head, - Put their hands upon my shoulders, - Stand behind me, - Fly above me-- - Presences that love me. - They watch me daily, - Murmuring, gravely, gaily, - Praising, reproving, readily. - And every year that company - Grows the greater, steadily. - And every day I count my dead - In robes of sunrise, blue and red. - - - - -III--A RHYMED ADDRESS TO ALL RENEGADE CAMPBELLITES, EXHORTING THEM TO -RETURN - - -I - - O prodigal son, O recreant daughter, - When broken by the death of a child - You called for the greybeard Campbellite elder, - Who spoke as of old in the wild. - His voice held echoes of the deep woods of Kentucky. - He towered in apostolic state, - While the portrait of Campbell emerged from the dark: - That genius beautiful and great. - And millennial trumpets poised, half lifted, - Millennial trumpets that wait. - - -II - - Like the woods of old Kentucky - The memories of childhood - Arch up to where gold chariot wheels go ringing, - To where the precious airs are terraces and roadways - For witnesses to God, forever singing. - Like Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, the memories of childhood - Go in and in forever underground - To river and fountain of whispering and mystery - And many a haunted hall without a sound. - To Indian hoards and carvings and graveyards unexplored. - To pits so deep a torch turns to a star - Whirling ’round and going down to the deepest rocks of earth, - To the fiery roots of forests brave and far. - - -III - - As I built cob-houses with small cousins on the floor: - (The talk was not meant for me). - Daguerreotypes shone. The back log sizzled - And my grandmother traced the family tree. - Then she swept to the proverbs of Campbell again. - And we glanced at the portrait of that most benign of men - Looking down through the evening gleam - With a bit of Andrew Jackson’s air, - More of Henry Clay - And the statesmen of Thomas Jefferson’s day: - With the face of age, - And the flush of youth, - And that air of going on, forever free. - - For once upon a time ... - Long, long ago ... - In the holy forest land - There was a jolly pre-millennial band, - When that text-armed apostle, Alexander Campbell - Held deathless debate with the wicked “infi-del.” - The clearing was a picnic ground. - Squirrels were barking. - The seventeen year locust charged by. - Wild turkeys perched on high. - And millions of wild pigeons - Broke the limbs of trees, - Then shut out the sun, as they swept on their way. - But ah, the wilder dove of God flew down - To bring a secret glory, and to stay, - With the proud hunter-trappers, patriarchs that came - To break bread together and to pray - And oh the music of each living throbbing thing - When Campbell arose, - A pillar of fire, - The great high priest of the Spring. - - He stepped from out the Brush Run Meeting House - To make the big woods his cathedrals, - The river his baptismal font, - The rolling clouds his bells, - The storming skies his waterfalls, - His pastures and his wells. - Despite all sternness in his word - Richer grew the rushing blood - Within our fathers’ coldest thought. - Imagination at the flood - Made flowery all they heard. - The deep communion cup - Of the whole South lifted up. - - Who were the witnesses, the great cloud of witnesses - With which he was compassed around? - The heroes of faith from the days of Abraham - Stood on that blue-grass ground-- - While the battle-ax of thought - Hewed to the bone - That the utmost generation - Till the world was set right - Might have an America their own. - For religion Dionysian - Was far from Campbell’s doctrine. - He preached with faultless logic - An American Millennium: - The social order - Of a realist and farmer - With every neighbor - Within stone wall and border. - And the tongues of flame came down - Almost in spite of him. - And now all but that Pentecost is dim. - - -IV - - I walk the forest by the Daniel Boone trail. - By guide posts quaint. - And the blazes are faint - In the rough old bark - Of silver poplars - And elms once slim, - Now monoliths tall. - I walk the aisle, - The cathedral hall - That is haunted still - With chariots dim, - Whispering still - With debate and call. - - I come to you from Campbell. - Turn again, prodigal - Haunted by his name! - Artist, singer, builder, - The forest’s son or daughter! - You, the blasphemer - Will yet know repentance, - And Campbell old and grey - Will lead you to the dream-side - Of a pennyroyal river. - While your proud heart is shaken - Your confession will be taken - And your sins baptized away. - - You, statesman-philosopher, - Sage with high conceit - Who speak of revolutions, in long words, - And guide the little world as best you may: - I come to you from Campbell - And say he rides your way - And will wait with you the coming of his day. - His horse still threads the forest, - Though the storm be roaring down.... - Campbell enters now your log-house door. - Indeed you make him welcome, after many years, - While the children build cob-houses on the floor. - - Let a thousand prophets have their due. - Let each have his boat in the sky. - But you were born for his secular millennium - With the old Kentucky forest blooming like Heaven, - And the red birds flying high. - - -THE END - - -PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - -Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The golden whales of California and other rhymes in the American language</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Vachel Lindsay</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 7, 2023 [eBook #69969]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: D A Alexander, Krista Zaleski and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN WHALES OF CALIFORNIA AND OTHER RHYMES IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE ***</div> - - - - -<h1> THE GOLDEN WHALES - OF CALIFORNIA</h1> - -<p class="center"> AND OTHER RHYMES IN THE - AMERICAN LANGUAGE -</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter bbox"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="LIST_OF_THE_BOOKS_OF_VACHEL_LINDSAY">LIST OF THE BOOKS OF VACHEL LINDSAY</h2> - - -<p><i>Prose</i>:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>A Handy Guide for Beggars</p> - -<p>Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty</p> - -<p>The Art of the Moving Picture</p> -</div> - - -<p><i>Verse</i>:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>General William Booth Enters into Heaven and Other Poems</p> - -<p>The Congo and Other Poems</p> - -<p>The Chinese Nightingale and Other Poems</p> - -<p>The Golden Whales of California and Other Rhymes in the -American Language</p> -</div> - -<p>It is suggested that those who are interested in a complete view of -these works should take them in the above order. They are all published -by The Macmillan Company.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - - - - -<p class="center xbig"> THE GOLDEN WHALES - OF CALIFORNIA</p> - -<p class="center big"> AND OTHER RHYMES IN THE - AMERICAN LANGUAGE</p> - -<p class="center p4"> BY<br> - VACHEL LINDSAY</p> - -</div> -<p class="center p6"> New York<br> - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br> - 1920</p> - -<p class="center p6"> <i>All rights reserved</i> -</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center"> -<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1920,<br> -<span class="smcap">By</span> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br> -<br> -Set up and electrotyped. Published January, 1920.<br> -</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center"> -<span class="small">THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED<br> -<br> -TO</span><br> -<br> -ISADORA BENNETT,<br> -<span class="small">CITIZEN OF SPRINGFIELD,</span><br> -<br> -because she helped me to write many of<br> -the pieces, from the Golden Whales<br> -of California to Alexander Campbell,<br> -and because she danced<br> -the Daniel Jazz.<br> -</p> - -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - - - -<p>For permission to reprint some of the verses in this volume the author -is indebted to the courtesy of the editors and publishers of <i>The -Chicago Daily News</i>, <i>Poetry</i> (Chicago), <i>Contemporary -Verse</i>, <i>The New Republic</i>, <i>The Forum</i>, Books and the -Book World of the <i>New York Sun</i>, <i>Others</i>, <i>The Red Cross -Magazine</i>, <i>Youth</i>, <i>The Independent</i>, and William Stanley -Braithwaite’s anthology entitled “Victory.”</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS">TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"></td> -<td class="tdr">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Word on California, Photoplays, and Saint Francis</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_xiii">xiii</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">FIRST SECTION</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">THE LONGER PIECES, WITH INTERLUDES</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Golden Whales of California</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Kalamazoo</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">John L. Sullivan, the Strong Boy of Boston</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Rameses II</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Moses</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Rhyme for All Zionists</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Meditation on the Sun</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dante</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Comet of Prophecy</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Shantung, or the Empire of China Is Crumbling Down</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Last Song of Lucifer</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">SECOND SECTION</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">A RHYMED SCENARIO, SOME POEM GAMES, AND THE LIKE</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Doll’s “Arabian Nights”</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Lame Boy and the Fairy</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Blacksmith’s Serenade</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Apple Blossom Snow Blues</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Daniel Jazz</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_91">91</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">When Peter Jackson Preached in the Old Church</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Conscientious Deacon</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Davy Jones’ Door-Bell</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Sea Serpent Chantey</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Little Turtle</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">THIRD SECTION</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">COBWEBS AND CABLES</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Scientific Aspiration</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Visit to Mab</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Song of the Sturdy Snails</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Another Word on the Scientific Aspiration</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing for a Prize</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cold Sunbeams</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">For All Who Ever Sent Lace Valentines</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">My Lady Is Compared to a Young Tree</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">To Eve, Man’s Dream of Wifehood, as Described by Milton</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Kind of Scorn</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Harps in Heaven</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Celestial Circus</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Fire-Laddie, Love</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">FOURTH SECTION</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">RHYMES CONCERNING THE LATE WORLD WAR, AND THE NEXT WAR</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">In Memory of My Friend Joyce Kilmer, Poet and Soldier</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Tiger on Parade</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Fever Called War</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Stanzas in Just the Right Tone for the Spirited Gentleman Who Would Conquer Mexico</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Modest Jazz-Bird</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Statue of Old Andrew Jackson</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Sew the Flags Together</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Justinian</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Voice of St. Francis of Assisi</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">In Which Roosevelt Is Compared to Saul</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Hail to the Sons of Roosevelt</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Spacious Days of Roosevelt</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">FIFTH SECTION</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc" colspan="2">RHYMES OF THE MIDDLE WEST AND SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">When the Mississippi Flowed in Indiana</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Fairy from the Apple-Seed</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Hot Time in the Old Town</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Dream of All of the Springfield Writers</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Springfield of the Far Future</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">After Reading the Sad Story of the Fall of Babylon</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Alexander Campbell</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</span> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_WORD_ON_CALIFORNIA_PHOTOPLAYS_AND_SAINT_FRANCIS">A WORD ON CALIFORNIA, PHOTOPLAYS, AND SAINT FRANCIS</h2> -</div> - - -<p>In <i>The Art of the Moving Picture</i>, in the chapter on California -and America, I said, in part:</p> - -<p>“The moving picture captains of industry, like the California gold -finders of 1849, making colossal fortunes in two or three years, have -the same glorious irresponsibility and occasional need of the sheriff. -They are Californians more literally than this. Around Los Angeles -the greatest and most characteristic moving picture colonies are -built. Each photoplay magazine has its California letter, telling of -the putting up of new studios, and the transfer of actors with much -slap-you-on-the-back personal gossip.</p> - -<p>“... Every type of the photoplay but the intimate is founded on some -phase of the out-of doors. Being thus dependent, the plant can best be -set up where there is no winter. Besides this, the Los Angeles region -has the sea, the mountains, the desert, and many kinds of grove and -field....</p> - -<p>“If the photoplay is the consistent utterance of its scenes, if the -actors are incarnations of the land they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</span> walk upon, as they should -be, California indeed stands a chance to achieve through the films an -utterance of her own. Will this land, furthest west, be the first to -capture the inner spirit of this newest and most curious of the arts?...</p> - -<p>“People who revere the Pilgrim Fathers of 1620 have often wished those -gentlemen had moored their bark in the region of Los Angeles, rather -than Plymouth Rock, that Boston had been founded there. At last that -landing is achieved.</p> - -<p>“Patriotic art students have discussed with mingled irony and -admiration the Boston domination of the only American culture of the -nineteenth century, namely, literature. Indianapolis has had her day -since then. Chicago is lifting her head. Nevertheless Boston still -controls the text book in English, and dominates our high schools. -Ironic feelings in this matter, on the part of western men, are based -somewhat on envy and illegitimate cussedness, but are also grounded in -the honest hope of a healthful rivalry. They want new romanticists and -artists as indigenous to their soil as was Hawthorne to witch-haunted -Salem, or Longfellow to the chestnuts of his native heath. Whatever may -be said of the patriarchs, from Oliver Wendell Holmes to Amos Bronson -Alcott, they were true sons<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</span> of the New England stone fences and -meeting houses. They could not have been born or nurtured anywhere else -on the face of the earth.</p> - -<p>“Some of us view with a peculiar thrill the prospect that Los Angeles -may become the Boston of the photoplay. Perhaps it would be better to -say the Florence, because California reminds one of colorful Italy, -more than of any part of the United States. Yet there is a difference.</p> - -<p>“The present day man-in-the-street, man-about-town Californian has an -obvious magnificence about him that is allied to the eucalyptus tree, -the pomegranate....</p> - -<p>“The enemy of California says the state is magnificent, but thin. He -declares it is as though it were painted on a Brobdingnagian piece of -gilt paper, and he who dampens his finger and thrusts it through finds -an alkali valley on the other side, the lonely prickly pear, and a heap -of ashes from a deserted camp-fire. He says the citizens of this state -lack the richness of an æsthetic and religious tradition. He says there -is no substitute for time. But even these things make for coincidence. -This apparent thinness California has in common with the routine -photoplay, which is at times as shallow in its thought as the shadow -it throws upon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</span> the screen. This newness California has in common with -all photoplays. It is thrillingly possible for the state and the art to -acquire spiritual tradition and depth together.</p> - -<p>“Part of the thinness of California is not only its youth, but the -result of the physical fact that the human race is there spread over so -many acres of land. “Good” Californians count their mines and enumerate -their palm trees. They count the miles of their sea-coast, and the -acres under cultivation and the height of the peaks, and revel in large -statistics and the bigness generally, and forget how a few men rattle -around in a great deal of scenery. They shout the statistics across -the Rockies and the deserts to New York. The Mississippi valley is -non-existent to the Californian. His fellow-feeling is for the opposite -coast line. Through the geographical accident of separation by mountain -and desert from the rest of the country, he becomes a mere shouter, -hurrahing so assiduously that all variety in the voice is lost. Then he -tries gestures, and becomes flamboyant, rococo.</p> - -<p>“These are the defects of the motion picture qualities. Also its -panoramic tendency runs wild. As an institution it advertises itself -with a sweeping gesture. It has the same passion for coast-line. These -are not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</span> the sins of New England. When, in the hands of masters, they -become sources of strength, they will be a different set of virtues -from those of New England....</p> - -<p>“When the Californian relegates the dramatic to secondary scenes, both -in his life and his photoplay, and turns to the genuinely epic and -lyric, he and this instrument may find their immortality together as -New England found its soul in the essays of Emerson. Tide upon tide of -Spring comes into California, through all four seasons. Fairy beauty -overwhelms the lumbering grand-stand players. The tiniest garden -is a jewelled pathway of wonder. But the Californian cannot shout -‘orange blossoms, orange blossoms; heliotrope, heliotrope.’ He cannot -boom forth ‘roseleaves, roseleaves’ so that he does their beauties -justice. Here is where the photoplay can begin to give him a more -delicate utterance. And he can go on into stranger things, and evolve -all the <i>Splendor Films</i> into higher types, for the very name of -California is splendor.... The California photoplaywright can base his -<i>Crowd Picture</i> upon the city-worshipping mobs of San Francisco. -He can derive his <i>Patriotic</i> and <i>Religious Splendors</i> from -something older and more magnificent than the aisles of the Romanesque, -namely: the groves of the giant redwoods.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</span></p> - -<p>“The campaigns for a beautiful nation could very well emanate from the -west coast, where, with the slightest care, grow up models for all the -world of plant arrangement and tree-luxury. Our mechanical east is -reproved, our tension is relaxed, our ugliness is challenged, every -time we look upon those garden-paths and forests.</p> - -<p>“It is possible for Los Angeles to lay hold of the motion picture as -our national text book in art, as Boston appropriated to herself the -guardianship of the national text book of literature. If California -has a shining soul, and not merely a golden body, let her forget her -seventeen year old melodramatics, and turn to her poets who understand -the heart underneath the glory. Edwin Markham, the dean of American -singers, Clark Ashton Smith, the young star-treader, George Sterling -... have, in their songs, seeds of better scenarios than California has -sent us....</p> - -<p>“California can tell us stories that are grim children of the tales of -the wild Ambrose Bierce. Then there is the lovely unforgotten Nora May -French, and the austere Edward Rowland Sill....”</p> - -<p>All this from <i>The Art of the Moving Picture</i> may serve to -answer many questions I have been asked as to my general ideas in the -realms of art and verse, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</span> it may more particularly elucidate my -<i>personal attitude toward California</i>.</p> - -<p>One item that should perhaps chasten the native son, is that these -motion picture people, so truly the hope of California, are not native -sons or daughters.</p> - -<p>When I was in Los Angeles, visiting my cousin Ruby Vachel Lindsay, we -discussed many of these items at great length, as we walked about the -Los Angeles region together. I owe much of my conception of the more -idealistic moods of the state to those conversations. Others who have -shown me what might be called the Franciscan soul, of the Franciscan -minority, are Professor and Mrs. E. Olan James, my host and hostess at -Mills College. Another discriminating interpreter of the coast is that -follower of Alexander Campbell, Peter Clark Macfarlane, to whom I owe -much of my hope for a state that will some day gleam with spiritual and -Franciscan, and not earthly gold.</p> - -<p>When I think of California, I think so emphatically of these people -and the things they have to say to the native sons, and the rest, -that if the discussion in this volume is not considered conclusive, I -refer the reader to these, and to the California poets, and to motion -picture people like Anita Loos and John Emerson, people who still dream -of things that are not gilded, and know<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</span> the difference for instance, -between St. Francis and Mammon. For a general view of those poets of -California who make clear its spiritual gold, turn to “Golden Songs of -the Golden State,” an anthology collected by Marguerite Wilkinson.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FIRST_SECTION">FIRST SECTION<br> - -<span class="small">THE LONGER PIECES, WITH INTERLUDES</span></h2> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_GOLDEN_WHALES_OF_CALIFORNIA">THE GOLDEN WHALES OF CALIFORNIA</h2> -</div> - - -<p class="center"><i>Part I. A Short Walk Along the Coast</i></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Yes, I have walked in California,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the rivers there are blue and white.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thunderclouds of grapes hang on the mountains.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bears in the meadows pitch and fight.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(<i>Limber, double-jointed lords of fate,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Proud native sons of the Golden Gate.</i>)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flowers burst like bombs in California,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Exploding on tomb and tower.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the panther-cats chase the red rabbits,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Scatter their young blood every hour.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the cattle on the hills of California</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the very swine in the holes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have ears of silk and velvet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And tusks like long white poles.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the very swine, big hearted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Walk with pride to their doom</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For they feed on the sacred raisins</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the great black agates loom.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Goshawfuls are Burbanked with the grizzly bears.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At midnight their children come clanking up the stairs.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They wriggle up the canyons,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nose into the caves,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And swallow the papooses and the Indian braves.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The trees climb so high the crows are dizzy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flying to their nests at the top.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the jazz-birds screech, and storm the brazen beach</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the sea-stars turn flip flop.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The solid Golden Gate soars up to Heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Perfumed cataracts are hurled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the zones of silver snow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the ripening rye below,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the land of the lemon and the nut</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the biggest ocean in the world.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the Native Sons, like lords tremendous</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lift up their heads with chants sublime,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the band-stands sound the trombone, the saxophone and xylophone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the whales roar in perfect tune and time.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the chanting of the whales of California</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I have set my heart upon.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is sometimes a play by Belasco,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sometimes a tale of Prester John.</div> - </div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Part II. The Chanting of the Whales</i></p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">North to the Pole, south to the Pole</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The whales of California wallow and roll.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They dive and breed and snort and play</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the sun struck feed them every day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Boatloads of citrons, quinces, cherries,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of bloody strawberries, plums and beets,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hogsheads of pomegranates, vats of sweets,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the he-whales’ chant like a cyclone blares,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Proclaiming the California noons</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So gloriously hot some days</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The snake is fried in the desert</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the flea no longer plays.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There are ten gold suns in California</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When all other lands have one,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For the Golden Gate must have due light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And persimmons be well-done.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the hot whales slosh and cool in the wash</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the fume of the hollow sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rally and roam in the loblolly foam</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And whoop that their souls are free.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(<i>Limber, double-jointed lords of fate,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Proud native sons of the Golden Gate.</i>)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And they chant of the forty-niners</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Who sailed round the cape for their loot</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With guns and picks and washpans</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And a dagger in each boot.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How the richest became the King of England,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The poorest became the King of Spain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bravest a colonel in the army,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And a mean one went insane.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The ten gold suns are so blasting</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sunstruck scoot for the sea</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And turn to mermen and mermaids</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And whoop that their souls are free.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(<i>Limber, double-jointed lords of fate,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Proud native sons of the Golden Gate.</i>)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And they take young whales for their bronchos</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And old whales for their steeds,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Harnessed with golden seaweeds,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And driven with golden reeds.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They dance on the shore throwing roseleaves.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They kiss all night throwing hearts.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They fight like scalded wildcats</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When the least bit of fighting starts.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They drink, these belly-busting devils</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And their tremens shake the ground.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then they repent like whirlwinds</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And never were such saints found.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They will give you their plug tobacco.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They will give you the shirts off their backs.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They will cry for your every sorrow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Put ham in your haversacks.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And they feed the cuttlefishes, whales and skates</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With dates and figs in bales and crates:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shiploads of sweet potatoes, peanuts, rutabagas,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Honey in hearts of gourds:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grapefruits and oranges barrelled with apples,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And spices like sharp sweet swords.</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center"><i>Part III. St. Francis of San Francisco</i></p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But the surf is white, down the long strange coast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With breasts that shake with sighs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the ocean of all oceans</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Holds salt from weary eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">St. Francis comes to his city at night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And stands in the brilliant electric light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And his swans that prophesy night and day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would soothe his heart that wastes away:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The giant swans of California</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That nest on the Golden Gate</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And beat through the clouds serenely</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And on St. Francis wait.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But St. Francis shades his face in his cowl</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And stands in the street like a lost grey owl.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He thinks of <i>gold</i> ... <i>gold</i>.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sees on far redwoods</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dewfall and dawning:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Deep in Yosemite</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shadows and shrines:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He hears from far valleys</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Prayers by young Christians,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sees their due penance</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So cruel, so cold;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sees them made holy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">White-souled like young aspens</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With whimsies and fancies untold:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>The opposite of gold</i>.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the mighty mountain swans of California</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose eggs are like mosque domes of Ind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cry with curious notes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That their eggs are good for boats</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To toss upon the foam and the wind.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He beholds on far rivers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The venturesome lovers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sailing for the sea</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All night</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">In swanshells white.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sees them far on the ocean prevailing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a year and a month and a day of sailing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Leaving the whales and their whoop unfailing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On through the lightning, ice and confusion</div> - <div class="verse indent2">North of the North Pole,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">South of the South Pole,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And west of the west of the west of the west,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the shore of Heartache’s Cure,</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>The opposite of gold</i>,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On and on like Columbus</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With faith and eggshell sure.</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center"><i>Part IV. The Voice of the Earthquake</i></p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But what is the earthquake’s cry at last</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Making St. Francis yet aghast:—</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote">From here on, the audience joins in the refrain:—“<i>gold, -gold, gold</i>.”</div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Oh the flashing cornucopia of haughty California</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is <i>gold, gold, gold</i>.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their brittle speech and their clutching reach</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is <i>gold, gold, gold</i>.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What is the fire-engine’s ding dong bell?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The burden of the burble of the bull-frog in the well?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>What</i> is the color of the cup and plate</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And knife and fork of the chief of state?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>What</i> is the flavor of the Bartlett pear?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>What</i> is the savor of the salt sea air?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>What</i> is the color of the sea-girl’s hair?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the church of Jesus and the streets of Venus:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">What color are the cradle and the bridal bed?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What color are the coffins of the great grey dead?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">What is the hue of the big whales’ hide?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">What is the color of their guts’ inside?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“What is the color of the pumpkins in the moonlight?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The color of the moth and the worm in the starlight?</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Gold, gold, gold.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="KALAMAZOO">KALAMAZOO</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Once, in the city of Kalamazoo,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The gods went walking, two and two,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the friendly phœnix, the stars of Orion,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The speaking pony and singing lion.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For in Kalamazoo in a cottage apart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lived the girl with the innocent heart.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Thenceforth the city of Kalamazoo</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was the envied, intimate chum of the sun.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He rose from a cave by the principal street.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lions sang, the dawn-horns blew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the ponies danced on silver feet.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He hurled his clouds of love around;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Deathless colors of his old heart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Draped the houses and dyed the ground.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh shrine of the wide young Yankee land,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Incense city of Kalamazoo,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That held, in the midnight, the priceless sun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As a jeweller holds an opal in hand!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">From the awkward city of Oshkosh came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love the bully no whip shall tame,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bringing his gang of sinners bold.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I was the least of his Oshkosh men;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But none were reticent, none were old.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And we joined the singing phœnix then,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shook the lilies of Kalamazoo</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All for one hidden butterfly.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bulls of glory, in cars of war</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We charged the boulevards, proud to die</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For her ribbon sailing there on high.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our blood set gutters all aflame,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the sun slept without any shame,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cold rock till he must rise again.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She made great poets of wolf-eyed men—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dear queen-bee of Kalamazoo,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With her crystal wings, and her honey heart.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We fought for her favors a year and a day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(Oh, the bones of the dead, the Oshkosh dead,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That were scattered along her pathway red!)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then, in her harum-scarum way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She left with a passing traveller-man—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With a singing Irishman</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Went to Japan.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Why do the lean hyenas glare</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the glory of Artemis had begun—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Atalanta, Joan of Arc,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lorna Doone, Rosy O’Grady,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Orphant Annie, all in one?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who burned this city of Kalamazoo</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till nothing was left but a ribbon or two—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One scorched phœnix that mourned in the dew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Acres of ashes, a junk-man’s cart,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A torn-up letter, a dancing shoe,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(And the bones of the valiant dead)?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who burned this city of Kalamazoo—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love-town, Troy-town Kalamazoo?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">A harum-scarum innocent heart.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="JOHN_L_SULLIVAN_THE_STRONG_BOY_OF_BOSTON">JOHN L. SULLIVAN, THE STRONG BOY OF BOSTON</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>Inscribed to Louis Untermeyer and Robert Frost</i></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When I was nine years old, in 1889</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I sent my love a lacy Valentine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Suffering boys were dressed like Fauntleroys,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While Judge and Puck in giant humor vied.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Gibson Girl came shining like a bride</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To spoil the cult of Tennyson’s Elaine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Louisa Alcott was my gentle guide....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I heard a battle trumpet sound.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nigh New Orleans</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon an emerald plain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">John L. Sullivan</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The strong boy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Boston</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fought seventy-five red rounds with Jake Kilrain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In simple sheltered 1889</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nick Carter I would piously deride.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Over the Elsie Books I moped and sighed.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">St. Nicholas Magazine was all my pride,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While coarser boys on cellar doors would slide.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The grown ups bought refinement by the pound.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rogers groups had not been told to hide.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">E. P. Roe had just begun to wane.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Howells was rising, surely to attain!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The nation for a jamboree was gowned:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her hundredth year of roaring freedom crowned.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The British Lion ran and hid from Blaine</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The razzle-dazzle hip-hurrah from Maine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The mocking bird was singing in the lane....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“East side, west side, all around the town</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tots sang: ‘Ring a rosie—’</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘London Bridge is falling down.’”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">John L. Sullivan</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The strong boy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Boston</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Broke every single rib of Jake Kilrain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In dear provincial 1889,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Barnum’s bears and tigers could astound.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ingersoll was called a most vile hound,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And named with Satan, Judas, Thomas Paine!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Robert Elsmere riled the pious brain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Phillips Brooks for heresy was fried.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Boston Brahmins patronized Mark Twain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The base ball rules were changed. That was a gain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pop Anson was our darling, pet and pride.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Native sons in Irish votes were drowned.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tammany once more escaped its chain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Once more each raw saloon was raising Cain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The mocking bird was singing in the lane....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“East side, west side, all around the town</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tots sang: ‘Ring a rosie’</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘London Bridge is falling down.’”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">John L. Sullivan</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The strong boy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Boston</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Finished the ring career of Jake Kilrain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In mystic, ancient 1889,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wilson with pure learning was allied.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Roosevelt gave forth a chirping sound.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stanley found old Emin and his train.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stout explorers sought the pole in vain.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">To dream of flying proved a man insane.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The newly rich were bathing in champagne.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Van Bibber Davis, at a single bound</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Displayed himself, and simpering glory found.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">John J. Ingalls, like a lonely crane</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Swore and swore, and stalked the Kansas plain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Cronin murder was the ages’ stain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Johnstown was flooded, and the whole world cried.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We heard not of Louvain nor of Lorraine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or a million heroes for their freedom slain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Armageddon and the world’s birth-pain—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The League of Nations, and the world one posy.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We <i>thought</i> the world would loaf and sprawl and mosey.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The gods of Yap and Swat were sweetly dozy.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We <i>thought</i> the far off gods of Chow had died.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The mocking bird was singing in the lane....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“East side, west side, all around the town</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tots sang: ‘Ring a rosie’</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘<span class="smcap">London Bridge is falling down</span>.’”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">John L. Sullivan knocked out Jake Kilrain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="BRYAN_BRYAN_BRYAN_BRYAN">BRYAN, BRYAN, BRYAN, BRYAN</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>The Campaign of Eighteen Ninety-six, as Viewed at the Time by a -Sixteen Year Old, etc.</i></p> - - -<p class="center">I</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In a nation of one hundred fine, mob-hearted, lynching,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">relenting, repenting millions,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There are plenty of sweeping, swinging, stinging, gorgeous</div> - <div class="verse indent6">things to shout about,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And knock your old blue devils out.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I brag and chant of Bryan, Bryan, Bryan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Candidate for president who sketched a silver Zion,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The one American Poet who could sing out doors.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He brought in tides of wonder, of unprecedented splendor,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wild roses from the plains, that made hearts tender,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All the funny circus silks</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of politics unfurled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bartlett pears of romance that were honey at the cores,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And torchlights down the street, to the end of the world.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">There were truths eternal in the gab and tittle-tattle.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There were real heads broken in the fustian and the rattle.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There were real lines drawn:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Not the silver and the gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But Nebraska’s cry went eastward against the dour and old,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The mean and cold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">It was eighteen ninety-six, and I was just sixteen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Altgeld ruled in Springfield, Illinois,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When there came from the sunset Nebraska’s shout of joy:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a coat like a deacon, in a black Stetson hat</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He scourged the elephant plutocrats</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With barbed wire from the Platte.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The scales dropped from their mighty eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They saw that summer’s noon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A tribe of wonders coming</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To a marching tune.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh the long horns from Texas,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The jay hawks from Kansas,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The plop-eyed bungaroo and giant giassicus,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The varmint, chipmunk, bugaboo,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">The horned-toad, prairie-dog and ballyhoo,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From all the new-born states arow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bidding the eagles of the west fly on,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bidding the eagles of the west fly on.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fawn, prodactyl and thing-a-ma-jig,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rakaboor, the hellangone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The whangdoodle, batfowl and pig,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The coyote, wild-cat and grizzly in a glow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a miracle of health and speed, the whole breed abreast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They leaped the Mississippi, blue border of the West,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the Gulf to Canada, two thousand miles long:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Against the towns of Tubal Cain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah,—sharp was their song.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Against the ways of Tubal Cain, too cunning for the young,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The long-horn calf, the buffalo and wampus gave tongue.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">These creatures were defending things Mark Hanna never dreamed:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The moods of airy childhood that in desert dews gleamed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The gossamers and whimsies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The monkeyshines and didoes</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Rank and strange</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the canyons and the range,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The ultimate fantastics</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the far western slope,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And of prairie schooner children</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Born beneath the stars,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath falling snows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the babies born at midnight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the sod huts of lost hope,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With no physician there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Except a Kansas prayer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the Indian raid a howling through the air.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And all these in their helpless days</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the dour East oppressed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mean paternalism</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Making their mistakes for them,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crucifying half the West,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till the whole Atlantic coast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seemed a giant spiders’ nest.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And these children and their sons</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At last rode through the cactus,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A cliff of mighty cowboys</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the lope,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">With gun and rope.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all the way to frightened Maine the old East heard them call,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And saw our Bryan by a mile lead the wall</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of men and whirling flowers and beasts,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bard and the prophet of them all.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Prairie avenger, mountain lion,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, Bryan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gigantic troubadour, speaking like a siege gun,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Smashing Plymouth Rock with his boulders from the West,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And just a hundred miles behind, tornadoes piled across the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Blotting out sun and moon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A sign on high.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Headlong, dazed and blinking in the weird green light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The scalawags made moan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Afraid to fight.</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">II</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When Bryan came to Springfield, and Altgeld gave him greeting,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rochester was deserted, Divernon was deserted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mechanicsburg, Riverton, Chickenbristle, Cotton Hill,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Empty: for all Sangamon drove to the meeting—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In silver-decked racing cart,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Buggy, buckboard, carryall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Carriage, phaeton, whatever would haul,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And silver-decked farm-wagons gritted, banged and rolled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the new tale of Bryan by the iron tires told.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The State House loomed afar,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A speck, a hive, a football,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A captive balloon!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the town was all one spreading wing of bunting, plumes,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">and sunshine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Every rag and flag, and Bryan picture sold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When the rigs in many a dusty line</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Jammed our streets at noon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And joined the wild parade against the power of gold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">We roamed, we boys from High School</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With mankind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While Springfield gleamed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Silk-lined.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh Tom Dines, and Art Fitzgerald,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the gangs that they could get!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I can hear them yelling yet.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Helping the incantation,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defying aristocracy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With every bridle gone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ridding the world of the low down mean,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bidding the eagles of the West fly on,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bidding the eagles of the West fly on,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We were bully, wild and wooly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Never yet curried below the knees.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We saw flowers in the air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fair as the Pleiades, bright as Orion,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">—Hopes of all mankind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Made rare, resistless, thrice refined.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh we bucks from every Springfield ward!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Colts of democracy—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet time-winds out of Chaos from the star-fields of the Lord.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The long parade rolled on. I stood by my best girl.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She was a cool young citizen, with wise and laughing eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With my necktie by my ear, I was stepping on my dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But she kept like a pattern, without a shaken curl.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She wore in her hair a brave prairie rose.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her gold chums cut her, for that was not the pose.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">No Gibson Girl would wear it in that fresh way.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But we were fairy Democrats, and this was our day.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The earth rocked like the ocean, the sidewalk was a deck.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The houses for the moment were lost in the wide wreck.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the bands played strange and stranger music as they trailed along.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Against the ways of Tubal Cain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah, sharp was their song!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The demons in the bricks, the demons in the grass,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The demons in the bank-vaults peered out to see us pass,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the angels in the trees, the angels in the grass,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The angels in the flags, peered out to see us pass.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the sidewalk was our chariot, and the flowers bloomed higher,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the street turned to silver and the grass turned to fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then it was but grass, and the town was there again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A place for women and men.</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">III</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then we stood where we could see</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Every band,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And the speaker’s stand.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Bryan took the platform.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he was introduced.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he lifted his hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And cast a new spell.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Progressive silence fell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Springfield,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Illinois,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Around the world.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then we heard these glacial boulders across the prairie rolled:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“<i>The people have a right to make their own mistakes....</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>You shall not crucify mankind</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Upon a cross of gold.</i>”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And everybody heard him—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the streets and State House yard.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And everybody heard him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Springfield,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Illinois,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Around and around and around the world,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That danced upon its axis</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And like a darling broncho whirled.</div> - </div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p> - -<p class="center">IV</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">July, August, suspense.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wall Street lost to sense.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">August, September, October,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More suspense,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the whole East down like a wind-smashed fence.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then Hanna to the rescue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hanna of Ohio,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rallying the roller-tops,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rallying the bucket-shops,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Threatening drouth and death,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Promising manna,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rallying the trusts against the bawling flannelmouth;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Invading misers’ cellars,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tin-cans, socks,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Melting down the rocks,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pouring out the long green to a million workers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Spondulix by the mountain-load, to stop each new tornado,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And beat the cheapskate, blatherskite,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Populistic, anarchistic,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Deacon—desperado.</div> - </div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span></p> - -<p class="center">V</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Election night at midnight:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Boy Bryan’s defeat.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defeat of western silver.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defeat of the wheat.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Victory of letterfiles</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And plutocrats in miles</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With dollar signs upon their coats,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Diamond watchchains on their vests</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And spats on their feet.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Victory of custodians,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Plymouth Rock,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all that inbred landlord stock.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Victory of the neat.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defeat of the aspen groves of Colorado valleys,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The blue bells of the Rockies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And blue bonnets of old Texas,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the Pittsburg alleys.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defeat of alfalfa and the Mariposa lily.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defeat of the Pacific and the long Mississippi.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defeat of the young by the old and silly.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defeat of tornadoes by the poison vats supreme.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defeat of my boyhood, defeat of my dream.</div> - </div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span></p> - -<p class="center">VI</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is McKinley, that respectable McKinley,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The man without an angle or a tangle,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who soothed down the city man and soothed down the farmer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The German, the Irish, the Southerner, the Northerner,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who climbed every greasy pole, and slipped through every crack;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who soothed down the gambling hall, the bar-room, the church,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The devil vote, the angel vote, the neutral vote,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The desperately wicked, and their victims on the rack,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The gold vote, the silver vote, the brass vote, the lead vote,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Every vote....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is McKinley, Mark Hanna’s McKinley,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His slave, his echo, his suit of clothes?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gone to join the shadows, with the pomps of that time,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the flame of that summer’s prairie rose.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is Cleveland whom the Democratic platform</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Read from the party in a glorious hour?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gone to join the shadows with pitchfork Tillman,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sledge-hammer Altgeld who wrecked his power.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is Hanna, bull dog Hanna,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Low browed Hanna, who said: “Stand pat”?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gone to his place with old Pierpont Morgan.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gone somewhere ... with lean rat Platt.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is Roosevelt, the young dude cowboy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who hated Bryan, then aped his way?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gone to join the shadows with mighty Cromwell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And tall King Saul, till the Judgment day.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is Altgeld, brave as the truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose name the few still say with tears?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gone to join the ironies with Old John Brown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose fame rings loud for a thousand years.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is that boy, that Heaven-born Bryan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Homer Bryan, who sang from the West?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gone to join the shadows with Altgeld the Eagle,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the kings and the slaves and the troubadours rest.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Written at the Guanella Ranch, Empire, Colorado, August, 1919.</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="RAMESES_II">RAMESES II</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Would that the brave Rameses, King of Time</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were throned in your souls, to raise for you</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Vast immemorial dreams dark Egypt knew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Filling these barren days with Mystery,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With Life and Death, and Immortality,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Devouring Ages, the all-consuming Sun:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God keep us brooding on eternal things,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God make us wizard-kings.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="MOSES">MOSES</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet let us raise that Egypt-nurtured prince,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Son of a Hebrew, with the dauntless scorn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hate for bleating gods Egyptian-born,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Showing with signs to stubborn Mizraim</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“God is one God, the God of Abraham,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He who in the beginning made the Sun.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God send us Moses from his hidden grave,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God make us meek and brave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_RHYME_FOR_ALL_ZIONISTS">A RHYME FOR ALL ZIONISTS</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center"><i>The Eyes of Queen Esther, and How they Conquered King -Ahasuerus</i></p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center">“Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred.”</p> -</div> - - -<p class="center">I</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He harried lions up the peaks.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In blood and moss and snow they died.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He wore a cloak of lions’ manes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To satisfy his curious pride.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Men saw it, trimmed with emerald bands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flash on the crested battle-tide.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where Bagdad stands, he hunted kings,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Burned them alive, his soul to cool.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet in his veins god Ormadz wrought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make a just man of a fool.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He spoke the rigid truth, and rode,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And drew the bow, by Persian rule.</div> - </div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> - -<p class="center">II</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ahasuerus in his prime</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was gracious and voluptuous.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He saw a pale face turn to him,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A gleam of Heaven’s righteousness:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A girl with hair of David’s gold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Rachel’s face of loveliness.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He dropped his sword, he bowed his head.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She led his steps to courtesy.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He took her for his white north star:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A wedding of true majesty.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, what a war for gentleness</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was in her bridal fantasy!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Why did he fall by candlelight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And press his bull-heart to her feet?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He found them as the mountain-snow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where lions died. Her hands were sweet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As ice upon a blood-burnt mouth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As mead to reapers in the wheat.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The little nation in her soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bloomed in her girl’s prophetic face.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">She named it not, and yet he felt</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One challenge: her eternal race.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This was the mystery of her step,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her trembling body’s sacred grace.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He stood, a priest, a Nazarite,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A rabbi reading by a tomb.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hardy raider saw and feared</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her white knees in the palace gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her pouting breasts and locks well combed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within the humming, reeling room.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Her name was <i>Meditation</i> there:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fair opposite of bullock’s brawn.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I sing her eyes that conquered him.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He bent before his little fawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her dewy fern, her bitter weed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her secret forest’s floor and lawn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He gave her Shushan<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> from the walls.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She saw it not, and turned not back.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her eyes kept hunting through his soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As one may seek through battle black</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">For one dear banner held on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For one bright bugle in the rack.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The scorn that loves the sexless stars:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Traditions passionless and bright:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The ten commands (to him unknown),</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The pillar of the fire by night:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flashed from her alabaster crown</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The while they kissed by candlelight.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The rarest psalms of David came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From her dropped veil (odd dreams to him).</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It prophesied, he knew not how,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Against his endless armies grim.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He saw his Shushan in the dust—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far in the ages growing dim.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then came a glance of steely blue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flash of her body’s silver sword.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her eyes of law and temple prayer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Broke him who spoiled the temple hoard.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The thief who fouled all little lands</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Went mad before her, and adored.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The girl was Eve in Paradise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet Judith, till her war was won.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">All of the future tyrants fell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In this one king, ere night was done,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Israel, captive then as now</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ruled with tomorrow’s rising sun.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And in the logic of the skies</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He who keeps Israel in his hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The God whose hope for joy on earth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Gentile yet shall understand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through powers like Esther’s steadfast eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall free each little tribe and land.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>These verses were written for the Phi Beta Kappa Society of -Philadelphia and read at their meeting, December 8, 1917.</p> -</div> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Shushan—the royal city. - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_MEDITATION_ON_THE_SUN">A MEDITATION ON THE SUN</h2> -</div> - - -<p class="center">I</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Come, let us think upon the great that came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our spiritual solar-kings, whose fame</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is quenchless in the lands of mental light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">High planets in the vast historic game:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Youths from the sky, they came in splendid flight.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We hold to them as to our day and night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And by them measure out our moments here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our greatness, littleness, and wrong and right.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">For like the sun, we carry yesteryears</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within our wallets: all the ancient fears</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And scorns and triumphs woven in our cloaks,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our tall plumes bought with some lost race’s tears.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh Sun, I wish that all the nations bright</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You ever looked upon were in my sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That I had stood up in your royal car</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With your eye-rays to search out field and height:</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">To see young David, leading forth his sheep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Christ Child on the Hill of Nazareth sleep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To watch proud Dante climb the stranger’s stairs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To see the ocean round Columbus leap.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And beauty absolute man’s heart has known</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In those old hills where the Greek blood was sown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They named you young Apollo in that day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And served you well, and loved your chariot-throne.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Would I had looked on Venice in her prime.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And long had watched the prayerful Gothic time</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Notre Dame arose, a mystery there</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In wicked good old Paris and its grime!</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">II</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh light, light, light! Oh Sun your light is good.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You stir the sap of garden, field and wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of men and ages. And your deeds are fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And by this light, is God’s love understood.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">So let us think upon Creation’s days</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Great Jehovah Moses came to praise:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The God the Hebrews said excelled the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To whom all psalms are due, who made the ways</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The sun shall follow till he burns no more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till he is cold and clinkered to the core.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Praise God, and not the sun too much, my soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The God behind the sun we must adore.</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">III</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh Sun, that yet will my spring thoughts astound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How often this lone mendicant you found</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stripped in your presence of all earthly things.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A happy dervish whirling round and round.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">You were his tree of incense and his feast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You were his wagon and his harnessed beast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His singing brother, yet his tyrant hard,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With whip and spur and shout that never ceased.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He thought of Freedom that rides round with you</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Healing the nations with a crystal dew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The comrade of your car, with Science there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Making the ways of men forever new.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Would we might lift a mighty battle-cry.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nations and mendicants, and shake your sky:</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Would that you caught us singing as one man</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That song I sang when begging days began</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hearing it in every beam on high:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Man’s spirit-darkness shall forever die.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="DANTE">DANTE</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Would we were lean and grim, and shaken with hate</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Dante, fugitive, o’er-wrought with cares,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And climbing bitterly the stranger’s stairs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet Love, Love, Love, divining: finding still</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beyond dark Hell the penitential hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And blessed Beatrice beyond the grave.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Jehovah lead us through the wilderness:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God make our wandering brave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_COMET_OF_PROPHECY">THE COMET OF PROPHECY</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I had hold of the comet’s mane</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A-clinging like grim death.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I passed the dearest star of all,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The one with violet breath:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The blue-gold-silver Venus star,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And almost lost my hold....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Again I ride the chaos-tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Again the winds are cold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I look ahead, I look above,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I look on either hand.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I cannot sight the fields I seek,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The holy No-Man’s-Land.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And yet my heart is full of faith.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My comet splits the gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His red mane slaps across my face,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His eyes like bonfires loom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">My comet smells the far off grass</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of valleys richly green.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">My comet sights strange continents</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My sad eyes have not seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We gallop through the whirling mist.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My good steed cannot fail.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And we shall reach that flowery shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wisdom’s mountain scale.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And I shall find my wizard cloak</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath that alien sky</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And touching black soil to my lips</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Begin to prophesy.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While chaos sleet and chaos rain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beat on an Indian Drum</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There in tomorrow’s moon I stand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And speak the age to come.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span></p> -<p>“Confucius appeared, according to Mencius, one of his most -distinguished followers, at a crisis in the nation’s history. ‘The -world,’ he says, ‘had fallen into decay, and right principles had -disappeared. Perverse discourses and oppressive deeds were waxen rife. -Ministers murdered their rulers, and sons their fathers. Confucius was -frightened by what he saw,—and he undertook the work of reformation.’</p> -</div> - -<p>“He was a native of the state of Lu, a part of the modern Shantung.... -Lu had a great name among the other states of Chow ... etc.” Rev. James -Legge, Professor of Chinese, University of Oxford.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="SHANTUNG_OR_THE_EMPIRE_OF_CHINA_IS_CRUMBLING_DOWN">SHANTUNG, OR THE EMPIRE OF CHINA IS CRUMBLING DOWN</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center"><i>Dedicated to William Rose Benét</i></p> -</div> - - -<p class="center">I</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Now let the generations pass—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Like sand through Heaven’s blue hour-glass.</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In old Shantung,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the capital where poetry began,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Near the only printing presses known to man,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Young Confucius walks the shore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On a sorrowful day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The town, all books, is tumbling down</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the blue bay.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The book-worms writhe</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From rusty musty walls.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They drown themselves like rabbits in the sea.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Venomous foreigners harry mandarins</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">With pitchfork, blunderbuss and snickersnee.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In the book-slums there is thunder;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gunpowder, that sad wonder,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Intoxicates the knights and beggar-men.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The old grotesques of war begin again:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rebels, devils, fairies, are set free.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">So ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Confucius hears a carol and a hum:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A picture sea-child whirs from off his fan</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In one quick breath of peach-bloom fantasy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then, in an instant bows the reverent knee—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A full-grown sweetheart, chanting his renown.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then she darts into the Yellow Sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Calling, calling:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Sage with holy brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Say farewell to China now;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Live like the swine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Leave off your scholar-gown!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This city of books is falling, falling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Empire of China is crumbling down.”</div> - </div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p> - -<p class="center">II</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Confucius, Confucius, how great was Confucius—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>The sage of Shantung, and the master of Mencius?</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Alexander fights the East.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Just as the Indus turns him back</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He hears of tempting lands beyond,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With sword-swept cities on the rack</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With crowns outshining India’s crown:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Empire of China, crumbling down.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Later the Roman sibyls say:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Egypt, Persia and Macedon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tyre and Carthage, passed away;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the Empire of China is crumbling down.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rome will never crumble down.”</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">III</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>See how the generations pass—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Like sand through Heaven’s blue hour-glass.</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Arthur waits on the British shore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One thankful day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For Galahad sails back at last</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Camelot Bay.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">The <i>pure</i> knight lands and tells the tale:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Far in the east</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A sea-girl led us to a king,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The king to a feast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a land where poppies bloom for miles,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where books are made like bricks and tiles.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I taught that king to love your name—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Brother and Christian he became.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“His Town of Thunder-Powder keeps</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A giant hound that never sleeps,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A crocodile that sits and weeps.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“His Town of Cheese the mouse affrights</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With fire-winged cats that light the nights.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They glorify the land of rust;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their sneeze is music in the dust.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(And deep and ancient is the dust.)</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“All towns have one same miracle</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the Town of Silk, the capital—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Vast book-worms in the book-built walls.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their creeping shakes the silver halls;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They look like cables, and they seem</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like writhing roots on trees of dream.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Their sticky cobwebs cross the street,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Catching scholars by the feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who own the tribes, yet rule them not,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bitten by book-worms till they rot.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beggars and clowns rebel in might</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bitten by book-worms till they fight.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Arthur calls to his knights in rows:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“I will go if Merlin goes;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">These rebels must be flayed and sliced—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let us cut their throats for Christ.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But Merlin whispers in his beard:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“China has witches to be feared.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Arthur stares at the sea-foam’s rim</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Amazed. The fan-girl beckons him!—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That slender and peculiar child</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mongolian and brown and wild.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His eyes grow wide, his senses drown.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She laughs in her wing, like the sleeve of a gown.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She lifts a key of crimson stone:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The Great Gunpowder-town you own.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She lifts a key with chains and rings:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“I give the town where cats have wings.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She lifts a key as white as milk:</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">“This unlocks the Town of Silk”—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Throws forty keys at Arthur’s feet:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“These unlock the land complete.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then, frightened by suspicious knights,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Merlin’s eyes like altar-lights,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the Christian towers of Arthur’s town,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She spreads blue fins—she whirs away;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fleeing far across the bay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wailing through the gorgeous day:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“My sick king begs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That you save his crown</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And his learnèd chiefs from the worm and clown—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Empire of China is crumbling down.”</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">IV</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Always the generations pass,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Like sand through Heaven’s blue hour-glass!</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The time the King of Rome is born—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Napoleon’s son, that eaglet thing—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bonaparte finds beside his throne</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One evening, laughing in her wing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Chinese sea-child; and she cries,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Breaking his heart with emerald eyes</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And fairy-bred unearthly grace:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Master, take your destined place—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Across white foam and water blue</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The streets of China call to you:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Empire of China is crumbling down.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then he bends to kiss her mouth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gets but incense, dust and drouth.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Custodians, custodians!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mongols and Manchurians!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Christians, wolves, Mohammedans!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In hard Berlin they cried: “O King,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">China’s way is a shameful thing!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In Tokio they cry: “O King,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">China’s way is a shameful thing!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And thus our song might call the roll</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of every land from pole to pole,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And every rumor known to time</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of China doddering—or sublime.</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">V</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Slowly the generations pass—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Like sand through Heaven’s blue hour-glass.</i></div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">So let us find tomorrow now:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our towns are gone;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our books have passed; ten thousand years</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have thundered on.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Sphinx looks far across the world</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In fury black:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She sees all western nations spent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or on the rack.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Eastward she sees one land she knew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When from the stone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Priests of the sunrise carved her out</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And left her lone.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She sees the shore Confucius walked</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On his sorrowful day:</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Impudent foreigners rioting</i>,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the ancient way;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Officials, futile as of old,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have gowns more bright;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bookworms are fiercer than of old,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their skins more white;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dust is deeper than of old,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More bats are flying;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More songs are written than of old—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More songs are dying.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where Galahad found forty towns</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now fade and glare</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ten thousand towns with book-tiled roof</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And garden-stair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where beggars’ babies come like showers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of classic words:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They rule the world—immortal brooks</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And magic birds.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The lion Sphinx roars at the sun:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“I hate this nursing you have done!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The meek inherit the earth too long—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When will the world belong to the strong?”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She soars; she claws his patient face—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The girl-moon screams at the disgrace.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sun’s blood fills the western sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He hurries not, and will not die.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The baffled Sphinx, on granite wings,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Turns now to where young China sings.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One thousand of ten thousand towns</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go down before her silent wrath;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet even lion-gods may faint</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And die upon their brilliant path.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She sees the Chinese children romp</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">In dust that she must breathe and eat.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her tongue is reddened by its lye;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She craves its grit, its cold and heat.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Dust of Ages holds a glint</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of fire from the foundation-stones,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of spangles from the sun’s bright face,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of sapphires from earth’s marrow-bones.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mad-drunk with it, she ends her day—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Slips when a high sea-wall gives way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Drowns in the cold Confucian sea</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the whirring fan-girl first flew free.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>In the light of the maxims of Chesterfield, Mencius,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Wilson, Roosevelt, Tolstoy, Trotsky,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Franklin or Nietzsche, how great was Confucius?</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“<i>Laughing Asia</i>” brown and wild,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That lyric and immortal child,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His fan’s gay daughter, crowned with sand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Between the water and the land</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now cries on high in irony,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With a voice of night-wind alchemy:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“O cat, O sphinx,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O stony-face,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The joke is on Egyptian pride,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">The joke is on the human race:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘The meek inherit the earth too long—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When will the world belong to the strong?’</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I am born from off the holy fan</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the world’s most patient gentleman.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So answer me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O courteous sea!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O deathless sea!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And thus will the answering Ocean call:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“China will fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Empire of China will crumble down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When the Alps and the Andes crumble down;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When the sun and the moon have crumbled down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Empire of China will crumble down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crumble down.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> -<p>In the following narrative, Lucifer is not Satan, King of Evil, who in -the beginning led the rebels from Heaven, establishing the underworld.</p> -</div> - -<p>Lucifer is here taken as a character appearing much later, the first -singing creature weary of established ways in music, moved with the -lust of wandering. He finds the open road between the stars too lonely. -He wanders to the kingdom of Satan, there to sing a song that so moves -demons and angels that he is, at its climax, momentary emperor of Hell -and Heaven, and the flame kindled of the tears of the demons devastates -the golden streets.</p> - -<p>Therefore it is best for the established order of things that this -wanderer shall be cursed with eternal silence and death. But since then -there has been music in every temptation, in every demon voice.</p> - -<p>Along with a set of verses called <i>The Heroes of Time</i>, and -another <i>The Tree of Laughing Bells</i>, I exchanged <i>The Last Song -of Lucifer</i> for a night’s lodging in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and -Ohio, as narrated in <i>A Handy Guide for Beggars</i>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span></p> - -<p>The fourteenth chapter of Isaiah contains these words on Lucifer:</p> - -<p>“Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the -worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee.</p> - -<p>“How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How -art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations.</p> - -<p>“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will -exalt my throne above the stars of God....</p> - -<p>“All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every -one in his own house.</p> - -<p>“But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as -the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that -go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet.</p> - -<p>“Thou shalt not be joined to them in burial, because thou hast -destroyed thy land.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LAST_SONG_OF_LUCIFER">THE LAST SONG OF LUCIFER</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>To Be Read Like a Meditation</i></p> - -<div class="poetry-cont-side"> -<div class="poetry"> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>Lucifer dreams of his fate and then forgets the -dream.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When Lucifer was undefiled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Lucifer was young,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When only angel-music</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fell from his glorious tongue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dreaming in his innocence</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath God’s golden trees</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By genius pure his fancy fell—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By sweet divine disease—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To a wilderness of sorrows dim</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath the ether seas.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That father of radiant harmony,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of music transcendently bright—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Truest to art since heaven began,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wrapped in royal, melodious light—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That beautiful light-bearer, lofty and loyal</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dreamed bitter dreams of enigma and night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But soon the singer woke and stood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And tuned his harp to sing anew</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And scorned the dreams (as well he should)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For only to the evil crew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are dreams of dread and evil true,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Remembered well, or understood.</div> - </div> -<div class="sidenote"><i>The dream is fulfilled.</i></div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But when a million years were done</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And a million million years beside,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He broke his harp-strings one by one;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sighed, aweary of rich things,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He spread his pallid, heavy wings</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flew to find the deathless stains,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wounds that come with wanderings.</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>He will never dream again, but the demons dream of -wandering and singing, and doing all things just as he did in his -day.</i></div> - - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He chose the solemn paths of Hell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sang for that dumb land too well,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defying their disdain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till he was cursed and slain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah—he shall never dream again—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mourn, for he shall not dream again—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But the demons dream in pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of wandering in the night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And singing in the night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Singing till they reign.</div> - </div> -<div class="sidenote"><i>Music is holy, even in the infernal world.</i></div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>Oh hallowed are the demons,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A-dreaming songs again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And holy to my heart! the ancient music-art,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That echo of a memory in demon-haunted men,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That hope of music, sweet hope, vain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That sets the world a-seeking—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A passion pure, a subtle pain</div> -<div class="sidenote"><i>If Lucifer’s song could be completely remembered, one -would be willing to pay the great price.</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Too dear for song or speaking.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, who would not with the demons be,</div> - - <div class="verse indent2">For the fullness of their memory</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of that dayspring song,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of that holy thing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Lucifer alone could sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Hell and Earth so hopelessly</div> -<div class="sidenote">NOW FOLLOWS WHAT EVERY DEMON SAYS IN HIS HEART, REMEMBERING -THAT TIME</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gloriously are seeking!</div> - </div> - - -<p><span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span></p> - -<p><span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span></p> - - -<div class="sidenote"><i>How the singer made his lyre.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, Lucifer, great Lucifer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, fallen, ancient Lucifer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Master, lost, of the angel choir—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Silent, suffering Lucifer:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Once your alchemies of Hell</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Wrought your chains to a magic lyre</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All strung with threads of purple fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till the hell-hounds moaned from your bitter spell—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sweetest song since the demons fell—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Haunting song of the heart’s desire.</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>How the song began.</i></div> - - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, Lucifer, great Lucifer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You who have sung in vain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ecstasy of sweet regret,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ecstasy of pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Strain that the angels can never forget,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Haunting the children of punishment yet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bowing them, bringing their tears in the darkness;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, the night-caves of Chaos are breathing it yet!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The last that your bosom may ever deliver,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, musical master of æons and æons....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor devils nor dragons may ever forget,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though the walls of our prison should crumble and shiver,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the death-dews of Chaos our armor should wet,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">For the song of the infamous Lucifer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was an anthem of glorious scorning</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And courage, and horrible pain—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was the song of a Son of the Morning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A song that was sung in vain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh singing was only in Heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere Lucifer’s melody came,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But when Lucifer’s harp-strings grew loud in their sighing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When he called up the dragons by name—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The song was the sorrow of sorrows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The song was the Hope of Despair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or the smile of a warrior falling—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A prayer and a curse and a prayer—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or a soul going down through the shadows and calling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or the laughter of Night in his lair;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The song was the fear of ten thousand tomorrows—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the racks of grief and of pain—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The herald of silences, dreadful, unending,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When the last little echo should listen in vain....</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>How the song made the demons dream they were still -fighting for Satan.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>It was memory, memory,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Visions of glory,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Memory, memory,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Visions of fight.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The pride of the onset,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The banners that fluttered,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wails of the battle-pierced angels of light.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Song of the times of the Nether Empire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The age when our desperate band</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Heaped our redoubts with the horrible fire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the fringes of Holier Land—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Conquering always, conquering never,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Building a throne of sand—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Satan still wielded that glorious scepter—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sword of his glorious hand.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then rang the martial music</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sung by the hosts of God</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the first of the shameful years of fear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When we bit the purple sod:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sang that shameful battle-story—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He twanged each threaded torture-flame;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wherever his leprous fingers came</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">They drew from the strings a groan of glory:</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>How the song enchanted them til they were in fancy the -good warriors of God, and they shouted their enemy’s battle-cry.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then we dreamed at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then we lost the past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We dreamed we were angels in battle-array:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We tore our hearts with God’s battle-yell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the sound crashed up from the smoky fen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the battle sweat stood forth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the awful brows of our fighting men:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the magical singer, grim and wild</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Swept his harp again, and smiled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the harp-strings lifted our cries that day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till the thundering charge reached the City on High—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God’s charge, that he thought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had passed for aye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When our last fond hope went down to die.</div> - </div> - - <div class="sidenote"> <i>How, at the</i> - <i>climax of the</i> - <i>song Lucifer</i> - <i>almost restored</i> - <i>the</i> - <i>first day of</i> - <i>creation, when</i> - <i>the Universe</i> - <i>was happy</i> - <i>and sinless.</i> - </div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh throbbing, sweet, enthralling spell!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Madly, madly, oh my heart—</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span>Heart of anguish, heart of Hell—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beat the music through your night—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pierced the strain that the wanderer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wrought with fingers white;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For last he sang—of the morning—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The song of the Sons of the Morning—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fire of the star-souled Lucifer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before he had known a stain;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That song which came when the suns were young</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the Dayspring knew his place—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That joy, full born, that unknown tongue,</div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>How the tears of the distracted demons become a -heaven-climbing flame.</i></div> - - <div class="verse indent2">That shouting chant of the Sons of God</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When first they saw Jehovah’s face.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the Wanderer laughed, then sang it at last</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till it leaped as a flame to the forests on high</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the tears of the demons were fire in the sky.</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>How Lucifer seemed to make himself God.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And just for a breath he conquered and reigned,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For one quick pulse of time he stood;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">By flame was crowned where God had been</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Himself the Word sublime—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Himself the Most High Love unstained,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Great, Good King of the Stars and Years—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crowned, enthroned, by a leaping flame—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fire of our love-born tears.</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>How the angels were conquered by the sound of his music -from afar, and the Demons were torn with love.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And the angels bowed down, for his glory was vast—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Loving their conqueror, weeping, aghast—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While we sobbed, for a moment repenting the past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the mock-hope came, that eats and stings,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hope for innocent dawns above,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The joy of it beat in our ears like wings,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our iron cheeks seared with the tears of love—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was it not enough,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was it not enough</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That our cheeks were seared with the tears of Love?</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>Demons and angels curse the singer.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">So we cursed the harping of Lucifer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lyre was lost from his leper hands</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And the hell-hounds tore his living heart.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the angels cursed great Lucifer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For his purple flame consumed their lands</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till golden ways were desert sands;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They hurled him down, afar, apart.</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>The Punishment.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath where the Gulfs of Silence end,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where never sighs nor songs descend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Never a hell-flare in his eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alone, alone, afar he lies....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fearfully alone, beyond immortal ken</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He is further down in the deep of pain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than is Hell from the grief of men;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And his memories of music</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are rare as desert-rain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ended forever the ecstasy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And song too sweet for scorning—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The song that was still in vain;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the shout of the battle-charge of God—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ended forever the Song of the Morning—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Song that was sung in vain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="SECOND_SECTION">SECOND SECTION<br> -A RHYMED SCENARIO, SOME POEM GAMES, AND THE LIKE</h2> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -</div> -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_DOLLS_ARABIAN_NIGHTS">A DOLL’S “ARABIAN NIGHTS”</h2> -</div> - -<p><i>A Rhymed Scenario for Mae Marsh, when she acts in the new -many-colored films</i></p> - - -<div class="poetry-cont-side"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I dreamed the play was real.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I walked into the screen.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Alice through the looking-glass,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I found a curious scene.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The black stones took on flame.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The shadows shone with eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The colors poured and changed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a Hell’s debauch of dyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a street with incense thick,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a court of witch-bazars,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With flambeaux by the stalls</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose splutter hid the stars.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Camels stalked in line.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Courtezans tripped by</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dressed in silks and gems,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Copper diadems,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All the wealth they had.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span></p> -<div class="sidenote"><i>This refrain to be elaborately articulated and the -instrumental music then made to match it precisely.</i></div> - -<div class="poetry-cont-side"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Oh quivering lights,</i> </div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Arabian Nights!</i> </div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad,</i> </div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad!</i> </div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">You were a guarded girl</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a palanquin of gold.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I was buying figs:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All my hands could hold.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You slipped a note to me.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your eyes made me your slave.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Twelve paces back,” you wrote.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No other word gave.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The delicate dove house swayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Close-veiled, a snare most sweet.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Joy” said the silver bells</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the palanquin-bearers’ feet.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then by a mosque, a dervish</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yelled and whirled like mad.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Oh quivering lights,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Arabian Nights!</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad!</i></div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I reached a dim, still court.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I saw you there afar,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beckoning from the roof,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Veiled, a cloud-wrapped star.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And your black slave said: “Proud boy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do you dare everything</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With your young arm and bright steel?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then climb. You are her king.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I heard a hiss of knives</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the doorway dark and bad.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Oh quivering lights,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Arabian Nights!</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad!</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The stairway climbed and climbed.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It spoke. It shouted lies.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I reached a tar-black room,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A panther’s belly gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Filled with howls and sighs.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I found the roof. Twelve kings</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rose up to stab me there.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But I sent them to their graves.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My singing shook the air.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">My scimitar seemed more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than any steel could be,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A whirling wheel, a pack</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of death-hounds guarding me.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then you came like May.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You bound my torn breast well</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With your discarded veil.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flowery silence fell.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While Mohammed spread his wings</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the stars, you bent me back,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With a quick kiss touched my mouth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And my heart was on the rack.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh dreadful, deathless love!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh kiss of Islam fire.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And your flashing hands were more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than all a thief’s desire.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>The morning after is always noted in the Arabian -Nights.</i></div> - -<div class="poetry-cont-side"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I woke by twelve dead curs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On bloody, stony ground.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the grey watch muttered “shame,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As he tottered on his round.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You had written on my sword:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Goodby, O iron arm.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I love you much too well</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To do you further harm.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And as my pledge and sign</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You are in crimson clad.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Oh quivering lights,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Arabian Nights!</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad!</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"> - -<p> * <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span></p> -<p> * <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span> <span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">*</span></p> -</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The rocs scream in the air.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The ghouls my pathway clear.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For I have drunk the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the dazzling maid they fear.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The long handclasp you gave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still shakes upon my hands.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O, daughter of a Jinn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I plot in Islam lands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Haunting purple streets,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hissing, snarling, bold,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">A robber never jailed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A beggar never cold.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I shall be sultan yet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In this old crimson clad.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Oh quivering lights,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Arabian Nights!</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Bagdad!</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LAME_BOY_AND_THE_FAIRY">THE LAME BOY AND THE FAIRY</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>To be Chanted with a Suggestion of Chopin’s Berceuse</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>A Poem Game. See the Chinese Nightingale, pages 93 through 97</i></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">A lame boy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Met a fairy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a meadow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the bells grow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And the fairy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Kissed him gaily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And the fairy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gave him friendship,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gave him healing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gave him wings.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“All the fashions</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I will give you.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You will fly, dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All the long year.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Wings of springtime,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wings of summer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wings of autumn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wings of winter!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Here is</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A dress for springtime.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she gave him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A dress of grasses,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Orchard blossoms,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wildflowers found in</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mountain passes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Shoes of song and</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Wings of rhyme</i>.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Here is</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A dress for summer.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she gave him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A hat of sunflowers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A suit of poppies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Clover, daisies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All from wheat-sheaves</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In harvest time;</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Shoes of song and</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Wings of rhyme</i>.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Here is</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A dress for autumn.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she gave him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A suit of red haw,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hickory, apple,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Elder, paw paw,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Maple, hazel,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Elm and grape leaves.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And blue</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And white</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cloaks of smoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And veils of sunlight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the Indian summer prime!</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Shoes of song and</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Wings of rhyme.</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Here is</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A dress for winter.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she gave him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A polar bear suit,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he heard the</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Christmas horns toot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she gave him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Green festoons and</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Red balloons and</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">All the sweet cakes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the snow flakes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Christmas time,</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Shoes of song and</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Wings of rhyme</i>.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And the fairy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Kept him laughing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Led him dancing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Kept him climbing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the hill tops</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Toward the moon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“We shall see silver ships.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We shall see singing ships,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Valleys of spray today,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mountains of foam.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We have been long away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far from our wonderland.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here come the ships of love</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Taking us home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Who are our captains bold?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They are the saints of old.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One is Saint Christopher.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">He takes your hand.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He leads the cloudy fleet.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He gives us bread and meat.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His is our ship till</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We reach our dear land.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Where is our house to be?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far in the ether sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There where the North Star</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is moored in the deep.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sleepy old comets nod</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There on the silver sod.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sleepy young fairy flowers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Laugh in their sleep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“A hundred years</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There we will fly</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And play</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I spy and cross tag.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And meet on the high way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And call to the game</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Little Red Riding Hood,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Goldilocks, Santa Claus,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Every beloved</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And heart-shaking name.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And the lame child</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the fairy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Journeyed far, far</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the North Star.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BLACKSMITHS_SERENADE">THE BLACKSMITH’S SERENADE</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center"><i>A pantomime and farce, to be acted by My Lady on one side -of a shutter, while the singer chants on the other, to an iron -guitar.</i></p> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">John Littlehouse the redhead was a large ruddy man</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Quite proud to be a blacksmith, and he loved Polly Ann, Polly Ann.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Straightway to her window with his iron guitar he came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Breathing like a blacksmith—his wonderful heart’s flame.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though not very bashful and not very bold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He had reached the plain conclusion his passion must be told.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And so he sang: “Awake, awake,”—this hip-hoo-rayious man.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Do you like me, do you love me, Polly Ann, Polly Ann?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rooster on my coalshed crows at break of day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It makes a person happy to hear his roundelay.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fido in my woodshed barks at fall of night.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">He makes one feel so safe and snug. He barks exactly right.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I swear to do my stylish best and purchase all I can</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the flummeries, flunkeries and mummeries of man.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I will carry in the coal and the water from the spring</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I will sweep the porches if you will cook and sing.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No doubt your Pa sleeps like a rock. Of course Ma is awake</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But dares not say she hears me, for gentle custom’s sake.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your sleeping father knows I am a decent honest man.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will you wake him, Polly Ann,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And if he dares deny it I will thrash him, lash bash mash</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hash him, Polly Ann.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hum hum hum, fee fie fo fum—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And my brawn should wed your beauty</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do you hear me, Polly Ann, Polly Ann?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Polly had not heard of him before, but heard him now.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She blushed behind the shutters like a pippin on the bough.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She was not overfluttered, she was not overbold.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She was glad a lad was living with a passion to be told.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But she spoke up to her mother: “Oh, what an awful man:—”</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">This merry merry quite contrary tricky trixy, Polly Ann, Polly Ann.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The neighbors put their heads out of the windows. They said:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“What sort of turtle dove is this that seems to wake the dead?”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yes, in their nighties whispered this question to the night.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They did not dare to shout it. It wouldn’t be right.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And so, I say, they whispered:—“Does she hear this awful man,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Polly Ann, Polly Ann?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">John Littlehouse the redhead sang on of his desires:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Steel makes the wires of lyres, makes the frames of terrible towers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And circus chariots’ tires.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Believe me, dear, a blacksmith man can feel.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I will bind you, if I can to my ribs with hoops of steel.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do you hear me, Polly Ann, Polly Ann?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And then his tune was silence, for he was not a fool.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He let his voice rest, his iron guitar cool.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And thus he let the wind sing, the stars sing and the grass sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The prankishness of love sing, the girl’s tingling feet sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her trembling sweet hands sing, her mirror in the dark sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her grace in the dark sing, her pillow in the dark sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The savage in her blood sing, her starved little heart sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Silently sing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Yes, I hear you, Mister Man,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To herself said Polly Ann, Polly Ann.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He shouted one great loud “<i>Good night</i>,” and laughed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And skipped home.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And every star was winking in the wide wicked dome.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And early in the morning, sweet Polly stole away.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And though the town went crazy, she is his wife today.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_APPLE_BLOSSOM_SNOW_BLUES">THE APPLE BLOSSOM SNOW BLUES</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="hang"><i>A “blues” is a song in the mood of Milton’s Il Penseroso, or -a paragraph from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. This present -production is the chronicle of the secret soul of a vaudeville -man, as he dances in the limelight with his haughty lady. Let -the reader take special pains to make his own tune for this -production, to a very delicate drum beat.</i></p> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“<i>Your</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dandelion beauty,</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Your</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cherry-blossom beauty,</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Your</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Apple-blossom beauty,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I will dance as I can,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You rag time lady,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You jazz dancing lady,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">O</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You blues-singing lady,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Thinks</i> the blues-singing man.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Your</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grace and slightness,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And your fragrant whiteness,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Make me see the bending</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of an apple-blossom bough.</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>You</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are a fairy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet a jump-jazz dancer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And your heart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is a robin,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Singing, making merry</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the apple-flowers now.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">See him kneel and canter</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And smirk and banter,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And essay her heart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the gourd horns blow.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For he is her lover</div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>And</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her dancing partner,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the blues he made</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Called “The Apple Blossom Snow.”</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She does her duty</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than her duty,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet the packed house cheers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the gallery rim.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her young scorn fires them,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its pep inspires them,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They watch her lover</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And envy him.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He does not fathom</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What her heart has in keeping</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till that last circus leaping</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Takes all by surprise.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then he catches her softly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Saves her gently,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And a mood for his soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lights her pansy eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She steps rare measures.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her eyes are treasures.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Brave truth shines out</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From her young-witch glance.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the velvety shade,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah, the thoughts of the maid.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Relenting glory,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unveiled by chance.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Though soon thereafter</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She hides in laughter,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flouts all his loving,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He will dance as he can,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As he can,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like a man,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With his jazz dancing wonder,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With his pansy blossom wonder,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With his apple blossom wonder,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With his rag time lady,</div> -<div class="sidenote"><i>Grand finale of jazz music, like the fall of a pile of -dishes in the kitchen.</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rag</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Time</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_DANIEL_JAZZ">THE DANIEL JAZZ</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="hang"><i>Let the leader train the audience to roar like lions, and to -join in the refrain “Go chain the lions down,” before he begins -to lead them in this jazz.</i></p> -</div> - - - -<div class="poetry-cont-side"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="sidenote"><i>Beginning with a strain of “Dixie.”</i></div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Darius the Mede was a king and a wonder.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His eye was proud, and his voice was thunder.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He kept bad lions in a monstrous den.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He fed up the lions on Christian men.</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>With a touch of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Daniel was the chief hired man of the land.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He stirred up the jazz in the palace band.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He whitewashed the cellar. He shovelled in the coal.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Daniel kept a-praying:—“Lord save my soul.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daniel kept a-praying:—“Lord save my soul.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daniel kept a-praying:—“Lord save my soul.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Daniel was the butler, swagger and swell.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He ran up stairs. He answered the bell.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And <i>he</i> would let in whoever came a-calling:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Saints so holy, scamps so appalling.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Old man Ahab leaves his card.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Elisha and the bears are a-waiting in the yard.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here comes Pharaoh and his snakes a-calling.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here comes Cain and his wife a-calling.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for tea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here comes Jonah and the whale,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the <i>Sea</i>!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here comes St. Peter and his fishing pole.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here comes Judas and his silver a-calling.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here comes old Beelzebub a-calling.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Daniel kept a-praying:—“Lord save my soul.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daniel kept a-praying:—“Lord save my soul.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daniel kept a-praying:—“Lord save my soul.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">His sweetheart and his mother were Christian and meek.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They washed and ironed for Darius every week.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One Thursday he met them at the door:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Paid them as usual, but acted sore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He said:—“Your Daniel is a dead little pigeon.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He’s a good hard worker, but he talks religion.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he showed them Daniel in the lion’s cage.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daniel standing quietly, the lions in a rage.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">His good old mother cried:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Lord save him.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Daniel’s tender sweetheart cried:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Lord save him.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And she was a golden lily in the dew.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she was as sweet as an apple on the tree</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she was as fine as a melon in the corn-field,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gliding and lovely as a ship on the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gliding and lovely as a ship on the sea.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And she prayed to the Lord:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“<i>Send</i> Gabriel. <i>Send</i> Gabriel.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">King Darius said to the lions:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Bite Daniel. Bite Daniel.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bite him. Bite him. Bite him!”</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>Here the audience roars with the leader.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Thus roared the lions:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“We want Daniel, Daniel, Daniel,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We want Daniel, Daniel, Daniel.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”</div> - </div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span></p> -<div class="sidenote"><i>The audience sings this with the leader, to the old negro -tune.</i></div> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And Daniel did not frown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daniel did not cry.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He kept on looking at the sky.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the Lord said to Gabriel:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Go chain the lions down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go chain the lions down.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go chain the lions down.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go chain the lions down.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And <i>Gabriel</i> chained the lions,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And <i>Gabriel</i> chained the lions,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And <i>Gabriel</i> chained the lions,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Daniel got out of the den,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Daniel got out of the den,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Daniel got out of the den.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Darius said:—“You’re a Christian child,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Darius said:—“You’re a Christian child,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Darius said:—“You’re a Christian child,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gave him his job again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gave him his job again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gave him his job again.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="WHEN_PETER_JACKSON_PREACHED_IN_THE_OLD_CHURCH">WHEN PETER JACKSON PREACHED IN THE OLD CHURCH</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="hang"><i>To be sung to the tune of the old Negro Spiritual “Every -time I feel the spirit moving in my heart I’ll pray.”</i></p> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Peter Jackson was a-preaching</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the house was still as snow.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He whispered of repentance</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the lights were dim and low</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And were almost out</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When he gave the first shout:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Arise, arise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cry out your eyes.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And we mourned all our terrible sins away.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Clean, clean away.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then we marched around, around,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sang with a wonderful sound:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart I’ll pray.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart I’ll pray.”</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And we fell by the altar</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fell by the aisle,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And found our Savior</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In just a little while,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We all found Jesus at the break of the day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We all found Jesus at the break of the day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Blessed Jesus,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Blessed Jesus.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_CONSCIENTIOUS_DEACON">THE CONSCIENTIOUS DEACON</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>A song to be syncopated as you please</i></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Black cats, grey cats, green cats miau—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Chasing the deacon who stole the cow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He runs and tumbles, he tumbles and runs.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sees big white men with dogs and guns.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He falls down flat. He turns to stare—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No cats, no dogs, and no men there.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But black shadows, grey shadows, green shadows come.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wind says, “Miau!” and the rain says, “Hum!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He goes straight home. He dreams all night.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He howls. He puts his wife in a fright.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Black devils, grey devils, green devils shine—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yes, by Sambo,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the fire looks fine!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cat devils, dog devils, cow devils grin—</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Yes, by Sambo,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the fire rolls in.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And so, next day, to avoid the worst—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He takes that cow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where he found her first.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="DAVY_JONES_DOOR-BELL">DAVY JONES’ DOOR-BELL</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>A Chant for Boys with Manly Voices.</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Every line sung one step deeper than the line preceding.</i></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Any sky-bird sings,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">“<i>Ring, ring!</i>”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Any church-chime calls,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">“<i>Dong ding!</i>”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Any cannon says,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">“<i>Boom bang!</i>”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Any whirlwind says,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">“<i>Whing whang!</i>”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bell-buoy hums and roars,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">“<i>Ding dong!</i>”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And way down deep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where fishes throng,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By Davy Jones’ big deep-sea door,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shaking the ocean’s flowery floor,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His door-bell booms</div> - <div class="verse indent6">“<i>Dong dong,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent6"><i>Dong dong</i>,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Deep, deep down,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> - <div class="verse indent6">“<i>Clang boom,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent6"><i>Boom dong,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent6"><i>Boom dong,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent6"><i>Boom dong!</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SEA_SERPENT_CHANTEY">THE SEA SERPENT CHANTEY</h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - -<p class="center">I</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There’s a snake on the western wave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And his crest is red.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He is long as a city street,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he eats the dead.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the snake goes down.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he waits in the bottom of the sea</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For the men that drown.</div> - </div> - -<div class="sidenote"><i>Let the audience join in the chorus.</i></div> - - - <div class="stanza"> -<p>Chorus:—</p> - <div class="verse indent2">This is the voice of the sand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(The sailors understand)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“There is far more sea than sand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There is far more sea than land. Yo ... ho, yo ... ho.”</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">II</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He waits by the door of his cave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the ages moan.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He cracks the ribs of the ships</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">With his teeth of stone.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In his gizzard deep and long</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Much treasure lies.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, the pearls and the Spanish gold....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the idols’ eyes....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, the totem poles ... the skulls ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The altars cold ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wedding rings, the dice ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The buoy bells old.</div> - </div> - -<p>Chorus:—This is the voice, etc.</p> - - -<p class="center">III</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Dive, mermaids, with sharp swords</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And cut him through,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bring us the idols’ eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the red gold too.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lower the grappling hooks</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Good pirate men</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And drag him up by the tongue</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From his deep wet den.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We will sail to the end of the world,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We will nail his hide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the main mast of the moon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the evening tide.</div> - </div> - -<p>Chorus:—This is the voice, etc.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span></p> - - -<p class="center">IV</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Or will you let him live,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The deep-sea thing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the wrecks of all the world</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a black wide ring</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the hole in the bottom of the sea</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the snake goes down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where he waits in the bottom of the sea</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For the men that drown?</div> - </div> -<p>Chorus:—This is the voice, etc.</p> - -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LITTLE_TURTLE">THE LITTLE TURTLE</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center"><i>A Recitation for Martha Wakefield, Three Years Old</i></p> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There was a little turtle.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He lived in a box.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He swam in a puddle.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He climbed on the rocks.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He snapped at a musquito.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He snapped at a flea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He snapped at a minnow.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he snapped at me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He caught the musquito.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He caught the flea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He caught the minnow.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But he didn’t catch me.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THIRD_SECTION">THIRD SECTION -<br> -<span class="small">COBWEBS AND CABLES</span></h2> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SCIENTIFIC_ASPIRATION">THE SCIENTIFIC ASPIRATION</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Would that the dry hot wind called Science came,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Forerunner of a higher mystic day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though vile machine-made commerce clear the way—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though nature losing shame should lose her veil,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ghosts of buried angel-warriors wail</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fall of Heaven, and the relentless Sun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Smile on, as Abraham’s God forever dies—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lord, give us Darwin’s eyes!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_VISIT_TO_MAB">THE VISIT TO MAB</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When glad vacation time began</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A snail-king said to his dear spouse,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">“Come, let us lock our birch-bark house</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And visit some important man.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Each summer we have hoped to go</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To see the sultan Gingerbread</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Who wears chopped citron on his head</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And currant love-locks in a row.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“And see his vizier Chocolate Bill</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And Popcorn Man, his pale young priest.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">They live twelve inches to the east</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Behind the lofty brown-bread hill.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">His wife said: “Simple elegance</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Is what we want. It is the mode</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To take the little western road</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To where the blue-grass fairies dance.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“I think the queen will recognize</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Our atmosphere of wealth and ease.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">My steel-grey shell is sure to please,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And she will fear your fiery eyes.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And so they visited proud Mab.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The firs were laughing overhead,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The chattering roses burned deep-red.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The snails were queer and dumb and drab.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The contrast made them quite the thing.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A setting spells success at times.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Mab gave the queen a book of rhymes.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A tissue-cap she gave the king,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Like caps the children wear for sport.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And vainer than he well could say</div> - <div class="verse indent4">He called gay Mab his “pride and stay,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With pompous speeches to the court.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">They journeyed home, made young indeed,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">But opening the book of song</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Each poem looked so deep and long</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They could not bear to start to read.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SONG_OF_THE_STURDY_SNAILS">THE SONG OF THE STURDY SNAILS</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Gristly bare-bone fingers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On my window-pane—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The drumbeat of a ghost</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Louder than the rain!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh frail, storm-shaken hut—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No candle, not a spark</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of fire within the grate.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh the lonely dark!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Trembling by the window</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I watched the lightning flash</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And saw the little villains</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon the outer sash</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And other small musicians</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon the window-pane—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Garden snails, a-dragging</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their shells amid the rain!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The thunder blew away.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My happiness began.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Over the dripping darkness</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rills of moonlight ran.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In the silence rich</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The scratching of the shells</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Became a crooning music</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A lazy peal of bells.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">So fearless in the night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My sluggard brothers bold!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your fancies swift and glowing;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your footsteps slow and cold!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">My happy beggar-brothers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tuning all together,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Playing on the pane</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Praise of stormy weather!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon a ragged pillow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At last I laid my head</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And watched the sparkling window</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the wan light on my bed.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the glass came flying</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dream snails, with leafy wings—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Glided on the moonbeams—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all the snails were kings!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">With crowns of pollen yellow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And eyes of firefly gold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Behold—to crooning music</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their coiling wings unrolled!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">These tiny kings I saw</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Reigning over white</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bisque jars of fairy flowers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In sturdy proud delight.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">These jars in fairyland</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Await good snails that keep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Vigils on the windows</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of beggars fast asleep.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="ANOTHER_WORD_ON_THE_SCIENTIFIC_ASPIRATION">ANOTHER WORD ON THE SCIENTIFIC ASPIRATION</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“There’s machinery in the butterfly.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There’s a mainspring to the bee.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There’s hydraulics to a daisy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And contraptions to a tree.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“If we could see the birdie</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That makes the chirping sound</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With psycho-analytic eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And x ray, scientific eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We could see the wheels go round.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>And I hope all men</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Who think like this</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Will soon lie</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Underground.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="DANCING_FOR_A_PRIZE">DANCING FOR A PRIZE</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Three fairies by the Sangamon</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Were dancing for a prize.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rascals were alike indeed</div> - <div class="verse indent4">As they danced with drooping eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I gave the magic acorn</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To the one I loved the best,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The imp that made me think of her</div> - <div class="verse indent4">My heart’s eternal guest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My lady of the tea-rose, my lady far away,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Queen of the fleets of No-Man’s-Land</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That sail to old Cathay.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">How did the trifler hint of her?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah, when the dance was done</div> - <div class="verse indent4">They begged me for the acorn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Laughing every one.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Two had eyes of midnight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And one had golden eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And I gave the golden acorn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the scamp with golden eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Confessor Dandelion,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">My priest so grey and wise</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Whispered when I gave it</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the girl with golden eyes:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">“She is like your Queen of Glory</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On China’s holy strand</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Who drove the coiling dragons</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like doves before her hand.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="COLD_SUNBEAMS">COLD SUNBEAMS</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The Question:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Tell me, where do fairy queens</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Find their bridal veils?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The Answer:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“If you were now a fairy queen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then I, your faithless page and bold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would win the realm by winning you.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your veil would be transparent gold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">White magic spiders wove for you</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At cold grey dawn, from sunbeams cold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While robins sang amid the dew.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOR_ALL_WHO_EVER_SENT_LACE_VALENTINES">FOR ALL WHO EVER SENT LACE VALENTINES</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The little-boy lover</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And little-girl lover</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Met the first time</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At the house of a friend.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And great the respect</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the little-boy lover.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The awe and the fear of her</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stayed to the end.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The little girl chattered</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Incessantly chattered,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hardly would look</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When he tried to be nice.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But deeply she trembled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The little-girl lover,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Eaten with flame</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While she tried to be ice.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The lion of loving</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The terrible lion</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Woke in the two</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Long before they could wed.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The world said: “Child hearts</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You must keep till the summer.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is not allowed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That your hearts should be red.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">If only a wizard</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A kindly grey wizard</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had built them a house</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a cave underground.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With an emerald door,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And honey to eat!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But it seemed that no wizard</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was waiting around.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh children with fancies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rarest of notions,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rarest of passions</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hopes here below!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Many a child,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His young heart too timid</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has fled from his princess</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No other to know.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I have seen them with faces</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like books out of Heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With messages there</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The harsh world should read,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lions and roses and lilies of love,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its tender, mystic, tyrannical need.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Were I god of the village</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My servants should mate them.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were I priest of the church</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I would set them apart.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If the wide state were mine</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It should live for such darlings,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hedge with all shelter</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The child-wedded heart.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="MY_LADY_IS_COMPARED_TO_A_YOUNG_TREE">MY LADY IS COMPARED TO A YOUNG TREE</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When I see a young tree</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In its white beginning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With white leaves</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And white buds</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Barely tipped with green,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the April weather,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the weeping sunshine—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then I see my lady,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My democratic queen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Standing free and equal</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the youngest woodland sapling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Swaying, singing in the wind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Delicate and white:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Soul so near to blossom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fragile, strong as death;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A kiss from far off Eden,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A flash of Judgment’s trumpet—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">April’s breath.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="TO_EVE_MANS_DREAM_OF_WIFEHOOD_AS_DESCRIBED_BY_MILTON">TO EVE, MAN’S DREAM OF WIFEHOOD AS DESCRIBED BY MILTON</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Darling of Milton—when that marble man</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Saw you in shadow, coming from God’s hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Serene and young, did he not chant for you</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Praises more quaint than he could understand?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“To justify the ways of God to man”—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So, self-deceived, his printed purpose runs.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His love for you is the true key to him,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Uriel and Michael were your sons.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Your bosom nurtured his Urania.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your meek voice, piercing through his midnight sleep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shook him far more than silver chariot wheels</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or rattling shields, or trumpets of the deep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Titan and lover, could he be content</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With Eden’s narrow setting for your spell?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You wound soft arms around his brows. He smiled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And grimly for your home built Heaven and Hell.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">That was his posy. A strange gift, indeed.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We bring you what we can, not what is fit.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Eve, dream of wifehood! Each man in his way</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Serves you with chants according to his wit.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_KIND_OF_SCORN">A KIND OF SCORN</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">You do not know my pride</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or the storm of scorn I ride.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I am too proud to kiss you and leave you</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Without wonders</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Spreading round you like flame.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I am too proud to leave you</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Without love</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Haunting your very name:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until you bear the Grail</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Above your head in splendor</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O child, dear and pale.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I am too proud to leave you</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though we part forevermore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till all your thoughts</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go up toward Glory’s door.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh, I am but a sinner proud and poor,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Utterly without merit</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To help you climb in wonder</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">A stair toward Heaven’s door—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Except that I have prayed my God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And He will give the Grail,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And you will mourn no longer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beset, confused, and pale.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And God will lift you far on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The while I pray and pray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until the hour I die.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The effectual fervent prayer availeth much.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And my first prayer ascends this proud harsh day.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="HARPS_IN_HEAVEN">HARPS IN HEAVEN</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I will bring you great harps in Heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Made of giant shells</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the jasper sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With a thousand burnt up years behind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What then of the gulf from you to me?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It will be but the width of a thread,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or the narrowest leaf of our sheltering tree.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">You dare not refuse my harps in Heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or angels will mock you, and turn away.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or with angel wit,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will praise your eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And your pure Greek lips, and bid you play,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sing of the love from them to you,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then of my poor flaming heart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the far off earth, when the years were new.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I will bring you such harps in Heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That they will shake at your touch and breath,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose threads are rainbows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seventy times seven,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose voice is life, and silence death.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_CELESTIAL_CIRCUS">THE CELESTIAL CIRCUS</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In Heaven, if not on earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You and I will be dancing.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I will whirl you over my head,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A torch and a flag and a bird,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A hawk that loves my shoulder,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A dove with plumes outspread.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We will whirl for God when the trumpets</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Speak the millennial word.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">We will howl in praise of God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dervish and young cyclone.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We will ride in the joy of God</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On circus horses white.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your feet will be white lightning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your spangles white and regal,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We will leap from the horses’ backs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the cliffs of day and night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">We will have our rest in the pits of sleep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When the darkness heaps upon us,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And buries us for æons</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till we rise like grass in the spring.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We will come like dandelions,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like buttercups and crocuses,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all the winter of our sleep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But make us storm and sing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">We will tumble like swift foam</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the wave-crests of old ghostland,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And dance on the crafts of doom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wrestle on the moon.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Saturn and his triple ring</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will be our tinsel circus,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till all sad wraiths of yesterday</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the stars rejoice and croon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">O dancer, love undying,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My soul, my swan, my eagle,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The first of our million dancing years</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dawns, dawns soon.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FIRE-LADDIE_LOVE">THE FIRE-LADDIE, LOVE</h2> -</div> - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span></p><div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The door has a bolt.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The window a grate.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O friend we are trapped</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the factory, Fate.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The flames pierce the ceiling.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The brands heap the floor.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But listen, dear heart:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A song at the door!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The forcing of bolts,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hewing of oak!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A sword breaks the lock</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With one cleaving stroke.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Naked and fair</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unscathed and wild</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Behold he comes swiftly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">An elfin-eyed child.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fire-laddie, <i>Love</i>,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is our hero this night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As he walks on the embers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His plumes are cloud white.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">He sings of the lightning</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And snow of desire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His step parts the veil</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the factory fire.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh his chubby child hands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh his long curls agleam,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From out their soft tossing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Comes thunder and dream.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our fire-laddie, Love,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At the last moment here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To bear us away</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To a road without fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the dark, to the wind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the mist, to the dawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the lilac blooms nod</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the rain renewed lawn.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To a land of deep knowledge</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our tired feet are led,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the stars of new morning</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still glint overhead.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweet Love walks between us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With silences long.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His step is the music.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The day is the song.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOURTH_SECTION">FOURTH SECTION<br> -<span class="small"> -RHYMES CONCERNING THE LATE WORLD WAR AND THE NEXT WAR</span></h2> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IN_MEMORY_OF_MY_FRIEND_JOYCE_KILMER_POET_AND_SOLDIER">IN MEMORY OF MY FRIEND JOYCE KILMER, POET AND SOLDIER</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center"><i>Written Armistice Day, November eleventh, 1918</i></p> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I hear a thousand chimes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I hear ten thousand chimes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I hear a million chimes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I see a thousand bells,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I see ten thousand bells,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I see a million bells</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Heaven.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Listen, friends and companions.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the deep heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweetly they toll.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I hear the chimes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of tomorrow ring,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The azure bells</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of eternal love....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I see the chimes</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Of tomorrow swing:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On unseen ropes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They gleam above.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Rejoice, friends and companions.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the deep heart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweetly they toll.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">They shake the sky</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They blaze and sing.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They fill the air</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like larks a-wing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like storm-clouds</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Turned to blue-bell flowers.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Spring gone mad,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like stars in showers.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Join the song,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Friends and companions.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the deep heart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweetly they toll.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And some are near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And touch my hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Small whispering blooms</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">From Beulah Land.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Giants afar</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still touch the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still give their giant</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Battle-cry.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Join hands, friends and companions.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the deep heart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweetly they toll.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And every bell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is voice and breath</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of a spirit</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who has conquered death,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In this great war</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has given all,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Kilmer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Heard the hero-call.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Join hands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Poets,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Friends,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Companions.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the deep heart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweetly they toll!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_TIGER_ON_PARADE">THE TIGER ON PARADE</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The Sparrow and the Robin on a toot</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Drunk on honey-dew and violet’s breath</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came knocking at the brazen bars of Death.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Death, no other than a tiger caged,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a street parade that had no ending,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Roared at them and clawed at them and raged—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose chirping was the height of their offending.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His paws too big—their fluttering bodies small</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Escaped unscathed above the City Hall.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">They learned new dances, scattering birdy laughter,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And filled again their throats with honey-dew.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A Maltese kitten killed them, two days after.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But they had had their fill. It was enough:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had quarreled, made up, on many a lilac swayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Darted through sunny thunder-clouds and rainbows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">High above that tiger on parade.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FEVER_CALLED_WAR">THE FEVER CALLED WAR</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Love and Kindness,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Two sad shadows</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Over the old nations,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bigger than the world,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mists above a grave!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Says Love, the shadow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Kindness the shadow:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“I weep for the children</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No miracle will save.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All the little children</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are down with the fever,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thousands upon thousands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Blind and deaf and mad.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their fathers are all dead,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the same raging fever</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is burning up the children,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The babes that once were glad.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="STANZAS_IN_JUST_THE_RIGHT_TONE_FOR_THE_SPIRITED_GENTLEMEN_WHO_WOULD">STANZAS IN JUST THE RIGHT TONE FOR THE SPIRITED GENTLEMEN WHO WOULD -CONQUER MEXICO</h2> -</div> - - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse"><span class="smcap">Alexander</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would I might waken in you Alexander,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Murdering the nations wickedly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flooding his time with blood remorselessly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sowing new Empires, where the Athenian light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Knowledge and music, slay the Asian night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And men behold Apollo in the sun.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God make us splendid, though by grievous wrong.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God make us fierce and strong.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse"><span class="smcap">Mohammed</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would that on horses swifter than desire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We rode behind Mohammed ’round the zones</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With swords unceasing, sowing fields of bones,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till New America, ancient Mizraim,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cry: “Allah is the God of Abraham.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God make our host relentless as the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Each soul your spear, your banner and your slave,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God help us to be brave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="verse"><span class="smcap">Napoleon</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would that the cold adventurous Corsican</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Woke with new hope of glory, strong from sleep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Instructed how to conquer and to keep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More justly, having dreamed awhile, yea crowned</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With shining flowers, God-given; while the sound</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of singing continents, following the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Calls freeborn men to guard Napoleon’s throne</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who makes the eternal hopes of man his own.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_MODEST_JAZZ-BIRD">THE MODEST JAZZ-BIRD</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The Jazz-bird sings a barnyard song—</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A cock-a-doodle bray,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A jingle-bells, a boiler works,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A he-man’s roundelay.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The eagle said, “My noisy son,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I send you out to fight!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So the youngster spread his sunflower wings</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And roared with all his might.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">His headlight eyes went flashing</div> - <div class="verse indent4">From Oregon to Maine;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the land was dark with airships</div> - <div class="verse indent4">In the darting Jazz-bird’s train.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Crossing the howling ocean,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">His bell-mouth shook the sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the Yankees in the trenches</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Gave back the hue and cry.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And Europe had not heard the like—</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And Germany went down!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fowl of steel with clashing claws</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Tore off the Kaiser’s crown.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span></p> -<p>When the statue of Andrew Jackson before the White House in Washington -is removed, America is doomed. The nobler days of America’s innocence, -in which it was set up, always have a special tang for those who are -tasty. But this is not all. It is only the America that has the courage -of her complete past that can hold up her head in the world of the -artists, priests and sages. It is for us to put the iron dog and deer -back upon the lawn, the John Rogers group back into the parlor, and get -new inspiration from these and from Andrew Jackson ramping in bronze -replica in New Orleans, Nashville and Washington, and add to them a -sense of humor, till it becomes a sense of beauty that will resist the -merely dulcet and affettuoso.</p> -</div> - -<p>Please read Lorado Taft’s <i>History of American Sculpture</i>, pages -123-127, with these matters in mind. I quote a few bits:</p> - -<p>“... The maker of the first equestrian statue in the history of -American sculpture: Clark Mills.... Never having seen General Jackson -or an equestrian statue, he felt himself incompetent ... the incident, -however, made an impression on his mind, and he reflected sufficiently -to produce a design which was the very one subsequently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span> executed.... -Congress appropriated the old cannon captured by General Jackson.... -Having no notion, nor even suspicion of a dignified sculptural -treatment of a theme, the clever carpenter felt, nevertheless, the need -of a feature.... He built a colossal horse, adroitly balanced on the -hind legs, and America gazed with bated breath. Nobody knows or cares -whether the rider looks like Jackson or not.</p> - -<p>“The extraordinary pose of the horse absorbs all attention, all -admiration. There may be some subconscious feeling of respect for a -rider who holds on so well....”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_STATUE_OF_OLD_ANDREW_JACKSON">THE STATUE OF OLD ANDREW JACKSON</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>Written while America was in the midst of the war with Germany, -August, 1918</i></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Andrew Jackson was eight feet tall.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His arm was a hickory limb and a maul.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His sword was so long he dragged it on the ground.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Every friend was an equal. Every foe was a hound.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Andrew Jackson was a Democrat,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Defying kings in his old cocked hat.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His vast steed rocked like a hobby horse.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But he sat straight up. He held his course.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He licked the British at Noo Orleens;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beat them out of their elegant jeans.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He piled the cotton-bales twenty feet high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he snorted “freedom,” and it flashed from his eye.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And the American Eagle swooped through the air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And cheered when he heard the Jackson swear:—</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">“By the Eternal, let them come.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sound Yankee Doodle. Let the bullets hum.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And his wild men, straight from the woods, fought on</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till the British fops were dead and gone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And now Old Andrew Jackson fights</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To set the sad big world to rights.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He joins the British and the French.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He cheers up the Italian trench.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He’s making Democrats of these,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And freedom’s sons of Japanese.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His hobby horse will gallop on</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till all the infernal Huns are gone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Yes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yes!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the Eternal!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Old Andrew Jackson!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="SEW_THE_FLAGS_TOGETHER">SEW THE FLAGS TOGETHER</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Great wave of youth, ere you be spent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweep over every monument</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of caste, smash every high imperial wall</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That stands against the new World State,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And overwhelm each ravening hate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And heal, and make blood-brothers of us all.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor let your clamor cease</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till ballots conquer guns.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Drum on for the world’s peace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till the Tory power is gone.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Envenomed lame old age</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is not our heritage,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But springtime’s vast release, and flaming dawn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Peasants, rise in splendor</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And your accounting render</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere the lords unnerve your hand!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sew the flags together.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do not tear them down.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hurl the worlds together.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Dethrone the wallowing monster</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the clown.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Resolving:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Only that shall grow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Balkan furrow, Chinese row,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That blooms, and is perpetually young.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That only be held fine and dear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That brings heart-wisdom year by year</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And puts this thrilling word upon the tongue:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The United States of Europe, Asia, and the World.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Youth will be served,” now let us cry.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hurl the referendum.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your fathers, five long years ago,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Resolved to strike, too late.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sun-crowned crowds</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Innumerable,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of boys and girls</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Imperial,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With your patchwork flag of brotherhood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With every silk</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In one flower-banner whirled—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rise,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Citizens of one tremendous state,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The United States of Europe, Asia, and the World.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The dawn is rose-drest and impearled.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The guards of privilege are spent.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The blood-fed captains nod.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So Saxon, Slav, French, German,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yankee, Chinese, Japanese,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All the lands, all the seas,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the blazing rainbow flag unfurled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rise, rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Take the sick dragons by surprise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Highly establish,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the name of God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The United States of Europe, Asia, and the World.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Written for William Stanley Braithwaite’s Victory Anthology -issued at once, after Armistice Day, November, 1918.</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="JUSTINIAN">JUSTINIAN</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center">(<i>The Tory Reply</i>)</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Nay, let us have the marble peace of Rome,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Recorded in the Code Justinian,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till Pagan Justice shelters man from man.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fanatics snarl like mongrel dogs; the code</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will build each custom like a Roman Road,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Direct as daylight, clear-eyed as the sun.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God grant all crazy world-disturbers cease.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God give us honest peace.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_VOICE_OF_ST_FRANCIS_OF_ASSISI">THE VOICE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I saw St. Francis by a stream</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Washing his wounds that bled.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The aspens quivered overhead.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The silver doves flew round.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Weeping and sore dismayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Peace, peace,” St. Francis prayed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But the soft doves quickly fled.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Carrion crows flew round.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">An earthquake rocked the ground.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“War, war,” the west wind said.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IN_WHICH_ROOSEVELT_IS_COMPARED_TO_SAUL">IN WHICH ROOSEVELT IS COMPARED TO SAUL</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="hang"><i>Written and published in 1913, and republished five years -later, in The Boston Transcript, on the death of Roosevelt.</i></p> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is David?... Oh God’s people</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Saul has passed, the good and great.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mourn for Saul, the first anointed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Head and shoulders o’er the state.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He was found among the prophets:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Judge and monarch, merged in one.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But the wars of Saul are ended,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the works of Saul are done.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Where is David, ruddy shepherd,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God’s boy-king for Israel?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mystic, ardent, dowered with beauty,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Singing where still waters dwell?</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Prophet, find that destined minstrel</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wandering on the range today,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Driving sheep, and crooning softly</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Psalms that cannot pass away.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“David waits,” the prophet answers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“In a black, notorious den,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a cave upon the border,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With four hundred outlaw men.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“He is fair and loved of women,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mighty hearted, born to sing:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thieving, weeping, erring, praying,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Radiant, royal rebel-king.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“He will come with harp and psaltry,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Quell his troop of convict swine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Quell his mad-dog roaring rascals,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Witching them with tunes divine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“They will ram the walls of Zion,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They will win us Salem hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All for David, shepherd David,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Singing like a mountain rill.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="HAIL_TO_THE_SONS_OF_ROOSEVELT">HAIL TO THE SONS OF ROOSEVELT</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“<i>Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong -came forth sweetness.</i>”—<i>Samson’s riddle.</i></p> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There is no name for brother</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like the name of Jonathan</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The son of Saul.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And so we greet you all:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sons of Roosevelt—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sons of Saul.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Four brother Jonathans went out to battle.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let every Yankee poet sing their praise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through all the days—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What David sang of Saul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Jonathan, beloved more than all.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">God grant such sons, begot of our young men,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make each generation glad again.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let sons of Saul be springing up again:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Out of the eater, fire and power again.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the lost lion, honey for all men.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I hear the sacred Rocky Mountains call,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I hear the Mississippi Jordan call:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“<i>Stand up, America, and praise them all,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Living and dead, the fine young sons of Saul!</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SPACIOUS_DAYS_OF_ROOSEVELT">THE SPACIOUS DAYS OF ROOSEVELT</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">These were the spacious days of Roosevelt.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would that among you chiefs like him arose</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To win the wrath of our united foes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To chain King Mammon in the donjon-keep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To rouse our godly citizens that sleep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till as one soul, we shout up to the sun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The battle-yell of freedom and the right—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Lord, let good men unite.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Nay, I would have you lonely and despised.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Statesmen whom only statesmen understand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Artists whom only artists can command,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sages whom all but sages scorn, whose fame</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dies down in lies, in synonyms for shame</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the best populace beneath the sun.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God give us tasks that martyrs can revere,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still too much hated to be whispered here.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Would we might drink, with knowledge high and kind</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hemlock cup of Socrates the king,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Knowing right well we know not anything,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">With full life done, bowing before the law,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Binding young thinkers’ hearts with loyal awe,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fealty fixed as the ever-enduring sun—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God let us live, seeking the highest light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God help us die aright.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Nay, I would have you grand, and still forgotten,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hid like the stars at noon, as he who set</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Egyptian magic of man’s alphabet;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or that far Coptic, first to dream in pain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That dauntless souls cannot by death be slain—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Conquering for all men then, the fearful grave.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God keep us hid, yet vaster far than death.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God help us to be brave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FIFTH_SECTION">FIFTH SECTION<br> -RHYMES OF THE MIDDLE WEST AND SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS</h2> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="WHEN_THE_MISSISSIPPI_FLOWED_IN_INDIANA">WHEN THE MISSISSIPPI FLOWED IN INDIANA</h2> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>Inscribed to Bruce Campbell, who read</i> Tom Sawyer <i>with me in -the old house</i></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath Time’s roaring cannon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Many walls fall down.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But though the guns break every stone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Level every town:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within our Grandma’s old front hall</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some wonders flourish yet:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Pavement of Verona,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where stands young Juliet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The roof of Blue-beard’s palace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Kublai Khan’s wild ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cave of young Aladdin,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the jewel-flowers were found,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the garden of old Sparta</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where little Helen played,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The grotto of Miranda</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Prospero arrayed,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And the cave, by the Mississippi,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where Becky Thatcher strayed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">On that Indiana stairway</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gleams Cinderella’s shoe.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon that mighty mountainside</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Walks Snow-white in the dew.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon that grassy hillside</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Trips shining Nicolette:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That stairway of remembrance</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Time’s cannon will not get—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That chattering slope of glory</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our little cousins made,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That hill by the Mississippi</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where Becky Thatcher strayed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Spring beauties on that cliffside,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love in the air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the soul’s deep Mississippi</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweeps on, forever fair.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he who enters in the cave,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nothing shall make afraid,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cave by the Mississippi</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where Tom and Becky strayed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FAIRY_FROM_THE_APPLE-SEED">THE FAIRY FROM THE APPLE-SEED</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh apple-seed I planted in a silly shallow place</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a bowl of wrought silver, with Sangamon earth within it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh baby tree that came, without an apple on it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A tree that grew a tiny height, but thickened on apace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With bossy glossy arms, and leaves of trembling lace.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">One night the trunk was rent, and the heavy bowl rocked round,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The boughs were bending here and there, with a curious locust sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And a tiny dryad came, from out the doll tree,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And held the boughs in ivory hands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And waved her black hair round,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And climbed, and ate with merry words</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sudden fruit it bore.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And in the leaves she hides and sings</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And guards my study door.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She guards it like a watchdog true</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And robbers run away.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Her eyes are lifted spears all night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But dove-eyes in the day.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And she is stranger, stronger</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than the funny human race.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lovelier her form, and holier her face.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She feeds me flowers and fruit</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With a quaint grace.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She dresses in the apple-leaves</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As delicate as lace.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This girl that came from Sangamon earth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a bowl of silver bright</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From an apple-seed I planted in a silly shallow place.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_HOT_TIME_IN_THE_OLD_TOWN">A HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Guns salute, and crows and pigeons fly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bronzed, Homeric bards go striding by,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shouting “Glory” amid the cannonade:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Resurrection</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Parade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Actors, craftsmen, builders, join the throng,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Painters, sculptors, florists tramp along,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Farm-boys prance, in tinsel, tin and jade:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love and Laughter</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crusade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The sun is blazing big as all the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The mustard-plant with the sunflower climbing high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the Indian corn in fiery plumes arrayed:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love and Beauty</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crusade.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Free and proud and mellow jamboree,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Roar and foam upon the prairie sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tom turkeys sing the sun a serenade:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Resurrection</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Parade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Our sweethearts dance, with wands as white as milk,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With veils of gold and robes of silver silk,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their caps in velvet pansy-patterns made:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Resurrection</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Parade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Wandering ’round the shrines we understand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Waving oak-boughs cheap and close at hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And field-flowers fair, for which no man has paid:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love and Beauty</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crusade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Hieroglyphic marchers here we bring.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rich inscriptions strut and talk and sing.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A scroll to read, a picture-word brigade:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Love and Laughter</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crusade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Swans for symbols deck the banners rare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mighty acorn-signs command the air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For hearts of oak, by flying beauty swayed:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Resurrection</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Parade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The flags are big, like rainbows flashing ’round,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They spread like sails, and lift us from the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Star-born ships, that have come in masquerade:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It is the cross-roads</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Resurrection</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Parade.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_DREAM_OF_ALL_THE_SPRINGFIELD_WRITERS">THE DREAM OF ALL THE SPRINGFIELD WRITERS</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I’ll haunt this town, though gone the maids and men,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The darling few, my friends and loves today.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My ghost returns, bearing a great sword-pen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When far off children of their children play.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">That pen will drip with moonlight and with fire.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I’ll write upon the church-doors and the walls.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And reading there, young hearts shall leap the higher</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though drunk already with their own love-calls.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Still led of love and arm in arm, strange gold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall find in tracing the far-speeding track</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dauntless war-cries that my sword-pen bold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall carve on terraces and tree-trunks black—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">On tree-trunks black beneath the blossoms white:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Just as the phosphorent merman, bound for home</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Jewels his fire-path in the tides at night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While hurrying sea-babes follow through the foam.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And in December when the leaves are dead</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the first snow has carpeted the street</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While young cheeks flush a healthful Christmas red</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And young eyes glisten with youth’s fervor sweet—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">My pen shall cut in winter’s snowy floor</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cries that in channelled glory leap and shine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My Village Gospel, living evermore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Amid rejoicing, loyal friends of mine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SPRINGFIELD_OF_THE_FAR_FUTURE">THE SPRINGFIELD OF THE FAR FUTURE</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Some day our town will grow old.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“She is wicked and raw,” men say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Awkward and brash and profane.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But the years have a healing way.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The years of God are like bread,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Balm of Gilead and sweet.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the soul of this little town</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Father will make complete.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Some day our town will grow old,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Filled with the fullness of time,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Treasure on treasure heaped</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of beauty’s tradition sublime.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Proud and gay and grey</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Hannah with Samuel blest.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Humble and girlish and white</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Mary, the manger guest.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Mary the manger queen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bringing the God of Light</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Till Christmas is here indeed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And earth has no more of night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hosts of Magi come,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wisest under the sun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bringing frankincense and praise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For her gift of the Infinite One.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="AFTER_READING_THE_SAD_STORY_OF_THE_FALL_OF_BABYLON">AFTER READING THE SAD STORY OF THE FALL OF BABYLON</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh Lady, my city, and new flower of the prairie,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What have we to do with this long time ago?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oh lady love,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bud of tomorrow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With eyes that hold the hundred years</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet to ebb and flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And breasts that burn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With great great grandsons</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All their valor, all their tears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A century hence shall know,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What have we to do</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With this long time ago?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="ALEXANDER_CAMPBELL">ALEXANDER CAMPBELL</h2> -</div> - -<p>“The present material universe, yet unrevealed in all its area, in -all its tenantries, in all its riches, beauty and grandeur will be -wholly regenerated. Of this fact we have full assurance since He that -now sits upon the throne of the Universe has pledged His word for it, -saying: ‘Behold I will create all things new,’ consequently, ‘new -heavens, new earth,’ consequently, new tenantries, new employments, -new pleasures, new joys, new ecstasies. There is a fullness of joy, a -fullness of glory and a fullness of blessedness of which no living man, -however enlightened, however enlarged, however gifted, ever formed or -entertained one adequate conception.”</p> - -<p>The above is the closing paragraph in Alexander Campbell’s last essay -in the <i>Millennial Harbinger</i>, which he had edited thirty-five -years. This paragraph appeared November, 1865, four months before his -death.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="I-MY_FATHERS_CAME_FROM_KENTUCKY">I—MY FATHERS CAME FROM KENTUCKY</h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I was born in Illinois,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have lived there many days.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I have Northern words,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thoughts,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ways.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But my great grandfathers came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the west with Daniel Boone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And taught his babes to read,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And heard the red-bird’s tune;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And heard the turkey’s call,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And stilled the panther’s cry,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rolled on the blue-grass hills,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And looked God in the eye.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And feud and Hell were theirs;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love, like the moon’s desire,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Love like a burning mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love like rifle-fire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I tell tales out of school</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till these Yankees hate my style.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Why should the young cad cry,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shout with joy for a mile?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Why do I faint with love</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till the prairies dip and reel?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My heart is a kicking horse</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shod with Kentucky steel.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">No drop of my blood from north</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Mason and Dixon’s line.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And this racer in my breast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tears my ribs for a sign.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But I ran in Kentucky hills</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Last week. They were hearth and home....</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the church at Grassy Springs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Under the red-bird’s wings</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was peace and honeycomb.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="II-WRITTEN_IN_A_YEAR_WHEN_MANY_OF_MY_PEOPLE_DIED">II—WRITTEN IN A YEAR WHEN MANY OF MY PEOPLE DIED</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I have begun to count my dead.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They wave green branches</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Around my head,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Put their hands upon my shoulders,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stand behind me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fly above me—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Presences that love me.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They watch me daily,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Murmuring, gravely, gaily,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Praising, reproving, readily.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And every year that company</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grows the greater, steadily.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And every day I count my dead</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In robes of sunrise, blue and red.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III-A_RHYMED_ADDRESS_TO_ALL_RENEGADE_CAMPBELLITES_EXHORTING_THEM_TO">III—A RHYMED ADDRESS TO ALL RENEGADE CAMPBELLITES, EXHORTING THEM TO -RETURN</h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - -<p class="center">I</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">O prodigal son, O recreant daughter,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When broken by the death of a child</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You called for the greybeard Campbellite elder,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who spoke as of old in the wild.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His voice held echoes of the deep woods of Kentucky.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He towered in apostolic state,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the portrait of Campbell emerged from the dark:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That genius beautiful and great.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And millennial trumpets poised, half lifted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Millennial trumpets that wait.</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">II</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Like the woods of old Kentucky</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The memories of childhood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Arch up to where gold chariot wheels go ringing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To where the precious airs are terraces and roadways</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For witnesses to God, forever singing.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, the memories of childhood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go in and in forever underground</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To river and fountain of whispering and mystery</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And many a haunted hall without a sound.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Indian hoards and carvings and graveyards unexplored.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To pits so deep a torch turns to a star</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whirling ’round and going down to the deepest rocks of earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the fiery roots of forests brave and far.</div> - </div> - -<p class="center">III</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">As I built cob-houses with small cousins on the floor:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(The talk was not meant for me).</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Daguerreotypes shone. The back log sizzled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And my grandmother traced the family tree.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then she swept to the proverbs of Campbell again.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And we glanced at the portrait of that most benign of men</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Looking down through the evening gleam</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With a bit of Andrew Jackson’s air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More of Henry Clay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the statesmen of Thomas Jefferson’s day:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the face of age,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">And the flush of youth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And that air of going on, forever free.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">For once upon a time ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Long, long ago ...</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the holy forest land</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There was a jolly pre-millennial band,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When that text-armed apostle, Alexander Campbell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Held deathless debate with the wicked “infi-del.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The clearing was a picnic ground.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Squirrels were barking.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The seventeen year locust charged by.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wild turkeys perched on high.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And millions of wild pigeons</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Broke the limbs of trees,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then shut out the sun, as they swept on their way.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But ah, the wilder dove of God flew down</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To bring a secret glory, and to stay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the proud hunter-trappers, patriarchs that came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To break bread together and to pray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And oh the music of each living throbbing thing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Campbell arose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A pillar of fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The great high priest of the Spring.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">He stepped from out the Brush Run Meeting House</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make the big woods his cathedrals,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The river his baptismal font,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rolling clouds his bells,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The storming skies his waterfalls,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His pastures and his wells.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Despite all sternness in his word</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Richer grew the rushing blood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within our fathers’ coldest thought.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Imagination at the flood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Made flowery all they heard.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The deep communion cup</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the whole South lifted up.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Who were the witnesses, the great cloud of witnesses</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With which he was compassed around?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The heroes of faith from the days of Abraham</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stood on that blue-grass ground—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the battle-ax of thought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hewed to the bone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That the utmost generation</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till the world was set right</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Might have an America their own.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For religion Dionysian</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was far from Campbell’s doctrine.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">He preached with faultless logic</div> - <div class="verse indent2">An American Millennium:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The social order</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of a realist and farmer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With every neighbor</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within stone wall and border.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the tongues of flame came down</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Almost in spite of him.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And now all but that Pentecost is dim.</div> - </div> - - -<p class="center">IV</p> - - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I walk the forest by the Daniel Boone trail.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By guide posts quaint.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the blazes are faint</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the rough old bark</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of silver poplars</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And elms once slim,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now monoliths tall.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I walk the aisle,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cathedral hall</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That is haunted still</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With chariots dim,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whispering still</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With debate and call.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I come to you from Campbell.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Turn again, prodigal</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Haunted by his name!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Artist, singer, builder,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The forest’s son or daughter!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You, the blasphemer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will yet know repentance,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Campbell old and grey</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will lead you to the dream-side</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of a pennyroyal river.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While your proud heart is shaken</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your confession will be taken</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And your sins baptized away.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">You, statesman-philosopher,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sage with high conceit</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who speak of revolutions, in long words,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And guide the little world as best you may:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I come to you from Campbell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And say he rides your way</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And will wait with you the coming of his day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His horse still threads the forest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though the storm be roaring down....</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Campbell enters now your log-house door.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Indeed you make him welcome, after many years,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the children build cob-houses on the floor.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Let a thousand prophets have their due.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let each have his boat in the sky.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But you were born for his secular millennium</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the old Kentucky forest blooming like Heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the red birds flying high.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="center p4">THE END</p> - - -<p class="center p4">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations -in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other -spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.</p> - -</div> - - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN WHALES OF CALIFORNIA AND OTHER RHYMES IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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