Showing, while millions of souls hurry on,
The virtues of collars, from
sunset till dawn,
By dart or by tumble of whirl within whirl,
Starting new fads for the shame-weary girl,
By maggoty motions in
sickening line
Proclaiming a hat or a soup or a wine,
While there far above the steep cliffs of the street
The stars sing a message elusive and sweet.
Now man cannot rest in his pleasure and toil
His
clumsy contraptions of coil upon coil
Till the thing he invents, in its use and its range,
Leads on to the marvellous CHANGE BEYOND CHANGE.
Some day this old Broadway shall climb to the skies,
As a
ribbon of cloud on a soul-wind shall rise.
And we shall be lifted,
rejoicing by night,
Till we join with the planets who choir their delight.
The signs in the street and the signs in the skies
Shall make a new Zodiac, guiding the wise,
And Broadway make one with that marvellous stair
That is climbed by the rainbow-clad spirits of prayer.
In Memory of a Child
The angels guide him now,
And watch his curly head,
And lead him in their games,
The little boy we led.
He cannot come to harm,
He knows more than we know,
His light is brighter far
Than
daytime here below.
His path leads on and on,
Through pleasant lawns and flowers,
His brown eyes open wide
At grass more green than ours.
With playmates like himself,
The shining boy will sing,
Exploring
wondrous woods,
Sweet with
eternal spring.
Galahad, Knight Who Perished
A Poem Dedicated to All Crusaders against the International and Interstate
Traffic in Young Girls
Galahad . . . soldier that
perished . . . ages ago,
Our hearts are breaking with shame, our tears overflow.
Galahad . . .
knight who
perished . . .
awaken again,
Teach us to fight for
immaculate ways among men.
Soldiers
fantastic, we pray to the star of the sea,
We pray to the mother of God that the bound may be free.
Rose-crowned lady from heaven, give us thy grace,
Help us the
intricate,
desperate battle to face
Till the leer of the
trader is seen nevermore in the land,
Till we bring every maid of the age to one sheltering hand.
Ah, they are
priceless, the pale and the ivory and red!
Breathless we gaze on the curls of each
glorious head!
Arm them with strength mediaeval, thy marvellous dower,
Blast now their tempters, shelter their steps with thy power.
Leave not life's fairest to
perish -- strangers to thee,
Let not the weakest be shipwrecked, oh, star of the sea!
The Leaden-eyed
Let not young souls be smothered out before
They do
quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride.
It is the world's one crime its babes grow dull,
Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed.
Not that they
starve, but
starve so dreamlessly,
Not that they sow, but that they seldom reap,
Not that they serve, but have no gods to serve,
Not that they die, but that they die like sheep.
An Indian Summer Day on the Prairie
(In the Beginning)
The sun is a huntress young,
The sun is a red, red joy,
The sun is an Indian girl,
Of the tribe of the Illinois.
(Mid-morning)
The sun is a smouldering fire,
That creeps through the high gray plain,
And leaves not a bush of cloud
To
blossom with flowers of rain.
(Noon)
The sun is a wounded deer,
That treads pale grass in the skies,
Shaking his golden horns,
Flashing his baleful eyes.
(Sunset)
The sun is an eagle old,
There in the windless west.
Atop of the spirit-cliffs
He builds him a
crimson nest.
The Hearth Eternal
There dwelt a widow
learned and devout,
Behind our
hamlet on the eastern hill.
Three sons she had, who went to find the world.
They promised to return, but wandered still.
The cities used them well, they won their way,
Rich gifts they sent, to still their mother's sighs.
Worn out with honors, and apart from her,
They died as many a self-made exile dies.
The mother had a
hearth that would not
quench,
The deathless embers fought the creeping gloom.
She said to us who came with wondering eyes --
"This is a magic fire, a magic room."
The pine burned out, but still the coals glowed on,
Her grave grew old beneath the pear-tree shade,
And yet her crumbling home enshrined the light.
The neighbors peering in were half afraid.
Then
sturdy beggars, needing fagots, came,
One at a time, and stole the walls, and floor.
They left a naked stone, but how it blazed!
And in the thunderstorm it flared the more.
And now it was that men were heard to say,
"This light should be
beloved by all the town."
At last they made the slope a place of prayer,
Where marvellous thoughts from God came
sweeping down.
They left their churches crumbling in the sun,
They met on that soft hill, one brotherhood;
One strength and valor only, one delight,
One laughing, brooding
genius, great and good.
Now many gray-haired prodigals come home,
The place out-flames the cities of the land,
And twice-born Brahmans reach us from afar,
With subtle eyes prepared to understand.
Higher and higher burns the eastern steep,
Showing the roads that march from every place,
A steady
beacon o'er the weary leagues,
At dead of night it lights the traveller's face!
Thus has the widow conquered half the earth,
She who increased in faith, though all alone,
Who kept her empty house a magic place,
Has made the town a holy angel's throne.
The Soul of the City Receives the Gift of the Holy Spirit
A Broadside distributed in Springfield, Illinois
Censers are swinging
Over the town;
Censers are swinging,
Look overhead!
Censers are swinging,
Heaven comes down.
City, dead city,
Awake from the dead!
Censers, tremendous,
Gleam overhead.
Wind-harps are ringing,
Wind-harps
unseen --
Calling and
calling: --
"Wake from the dead.
Rise, little city,
Shine like a queen."
Soldiers of Christ
For battle grow keen.
Heaven-sent winds
Haunt alley and lane.
Singing of life
In town-meadows green
After the toil
And battle and pain.
Incense is pouring
Like the spring rain
Down on the mob
That moil through the street.
Blessed are they
Who behold it and gain
Power made more mighty
Thro' every defeat.
Builders, toil on.
Make all complete.
Make Springfield wonderful.
Make her renown
Worthy this day,
Till, at God's feet,
Tranced, saved forever,
Waits the white town.
Censers are swinging
Over the town,
Censers gigantic!
Look overhead!
Hear the winds singing: --
"Heaven comes down.
City, dead city,
Awake from the dead."
By the Spring, at Sunset
Sometimes we remember kisses,
Remember the dear heart-leap when they came:
Not always, but sometimes we remember
The kindness, the dumbness, the good flame
Of
laughter and farewell.
Beside the road
Afar from those who said "Good-by" I write,
Far from my city task, my
lawful load.
Sun in my face, wind beside my shoulder,
Streaming clouds, banners of new-born night
Enchant me now. The splendors growing bolder
Make bold my soul for some new wise delight.
I write the day's event, and
quench my drouth,
Pausing beside the spring with happy mind.
And now I feel those kisses on my mouth,
Hers most of all, one little friend most kind.
I Went down into the Desert
I went down into the desert
To meet Elijah --
Arisen from the dead.
I thought to find him in an echoing cave;
*For so my dream had said*.
I went down into the desert