Poems
Candler, Beatrice Post & Field, Mildred Fowler & Hill, Frank Ernest & Cooke, Le Baron & Scollard, Clinton & Jennings, Leslie Nelson
i86 THE COMMONWEAL December 23, 1925 POEMS "They Also Called Me Carpenter' Once, on a night of stars, I was aroused By Someone speaking close beside my bed. "Consider," said the Voice, "how...
...Do children come to you, and coming say They love you,—or do they turn away...
...Mildred Fowler Field, i 4 Imp patience April Seems so far away From me today...
...Over each isle and isthmus, A melody sublime, The hallowed chimes of Christmas Sweep like the surge of Time...
...Withdraw not—drink mad sharpness...
...The silence was arraignment, and I knew That I had always dwelt among the least, A princely beggar and a parvenu...
...Gath and its pride were humbled These many ages gone, And by the sea have crumbled Both Tyre and Ascalon...
...Do not waste In abstinence this thing distilled Of dusk and leaf and early star— This drug like drunken artist skilled To paint you in new colors, like crazed priest To plunder from a far, Dark, and instructive east White torches for your heart and eyes, Making you mad and wise As lovers are...
...Qarved God, tired of softness, carved the early night Of a green chrysolite, Beat thin a diamond to a crescent moon, Cut trees of heavy jade...
...In this grave cavern, that will fade as soon As clouds or whispers, that is made As firm as granite, thin-edged as a blade, Even the air is a jewel to the taste...
...How deep the snow, And long the path The winter yet must go...
...Zion Now Libra and the Lion Shine like great golden flowers, I would ascend where Zion Lifts its grey walls and towers...
...The Test Do the heart-broken fear that you condemn too much, When they would yield to a more gentle touch...
...What lodging has the Spirit...
...A spirit fragrant of a song unsung Our only myrrh...
...But Zion stands...
...Do the sick ask for you, and in your presence feel The spirit of the Christ to help and heal...
...We, who have naught to barter in the mart, What offering of beaten gold Than this . . . The hidden lyre of a heart...
...Its span is Still stalwart, firm and brave, Though in its cracks and crannies The hyssop blossoms wave...
...I looked and saw the light about His head . . . "They also called me Carpenter," He said...
...Clinton Scollard...
...Then He ceased...
...Yet it were better had you built of straw For winds to blow through, that your hands had bled Sifting the sands that wise men once foresaw Would quake beneath a city of the dead...
...Leslie Nelson Jennings...
...Ls Baron Cooke...
...Song What shall we bring, Ye Manger-Born, What gifts today— We empty-handed ones who only sing...
...Will the spring air ever start Thawing the frozen meadows Of my heart...
...Frank Ernest Hill...
...So I would seek out Zion Beneath the midnight sky, So I would seek out Zion And see the Christ go by...
...Long, sweet-swayed branches of the fir Take Thou for holy frankincense...
...Consider," said the Voice, "how you are housed, Warmed at the fire of life, companioned, fed...
...Beatrice Post Candler...
Vol. 3 • December 1925 • No. 7
