GIVE me my scallop-shell of quiet, My staff of faith to walk upon, My scrip of joy, immortal diet, My bottle of salvation, My gown of glory, hope’s true gage; And thus I’ll take my pilgrimage. Blood must be my body’s balmer; No other balm will there be given; Whilst my soul, like quiet palmer,…
Tag: Poetry
Too Many Miles
There have been many songs of cowboys, railroaders, and such, of the lonely trucker, not so much. But of one lonely trucker, this story I can tell, of how he left home one night, and drove straight into hell. He’d just got back from Chicago, just pulled into the yard, The dispatcher said, I…
I WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAY
I WOULD not live alway: I ask not to stay, Where storm after storm rises dark o’er the way; The few lurid mornings that dawn on us here Are enough for life’s woes, full enough for its cheer. I would not live alway, thus fettered by sin, Temptation without and corruption within: E’en the…
THE GLORY TO BE REVEALED Exoriar aliis.
SINKS the swift sun; yet sinks but to arise In other regions far beyond our sight: We follow him with dim and dazzled eyes, Till every ray is quenched in silent night. We miss him, but he comes not; he has gone To show his glory in more cloudless air: Nothing is lost to him,…
THE FROZEN CASCADE: THE BRIDE OF THE ROCK.
In beauty perfected, with lavish grace, She casts herself about his rugged form, With all her vesture on, of snowy white, Nor left one pendant out, one dropping pearl. Could she be fairer? Through her inmost veins The warm sun searches, as for some weak spot; But with a pride refined she smileth back: “I…
SEAGULLS AT FRESH POND.
Lake of boyish dreams! I linger round Thy calm, clear waters and thine altered shores Till thought brings back the plash of childhood’s oars,– Long hid in memory’s depths, a vanished sound. Alone unchanged, the sea-birds yet are found Far floating on thy wave by threes and fours, Or grouped in hundreds, while a white…
TO MY SHADOW.
A mute companion at my side Paces and plods, the whole day long, Accepts the measure of my stride, Yet gives no cheer by word or song. More close than any doggish friend, Not ranging far and wide, like him, He goes where’er my footsteps tend, Nor shrinks for fear of life or limb. I…
COMMUNISM
Suffering unites all mortal flesh A mystic bond of pain, With little easement or surcease From gods or men to gain. It reigns coeval with the sway Of sin upon the race; A Job and a Prometheus bore It written on their face. Nor sex, nor age, nor rank exempts From its conscriptive law; None…
DECORATION.
Manibus O date lilia plenis. Mid the flower-wreathed tombs I stand Bearing lilies in my hand. Comrades! in what soldier-grave Sleeps the bravest of the brave? Is it he who sank to rest With his colors round his breast? Friendship makes his tomb a shrine; Garlands veil it: ask not mine. One low grave, yon…
LIFE AND DEATH
“WHAT is Life, father?” “A Battle, my child, Where the strongest lance may fail, Where the wariest eyes may be beguiled, And the stoutest heart may quail. Where the foes are gathered on every hand, And rest not day or night, And the feeble little ones must stand In the thickest of the fight.” “What is…