Poems

...Ingratitude Out of the north a stormbird came A wild, wild thing that none could tame...

...The spinster elms, too sleepy now to care, Gather the shadows and murmur a stiff goodnight...

...this mightier might, This wild upflinging to a topless height Must be considered...

...Even as day's expiring garrison Pledges upon thy crown, before it dies, Its knightly troth it will retake the skies, So I, a weary young Bellerophon Tumbled by Pegasus, rely upon Thy sudden dazzlement and oId surprise To pierce me back into the fight again...

...The tarnished cypress trees stand gaunt and red Their rusty swords across the lichened tomb That once inspired the song of Ulalume, Rows of dead sentries watching by their dead...

...And then the thrush, the dweller in the vale, Orate Fratres sang--how near, how clear...

...And the summers strike at my breast with blight, Where every noontide fresh and free Has a touch of silver leprosy And the paths that I tread seek night...

...Invited not, she marched in of a night, Stabbing the sky like an adventurer...

...MARTHA BANNING THOMAS...

...Natural or sprite...

...The stars above that were not whitened then The candles were...

...FAITH VAN VALKENBURGH VILAS...

...It was the lark who sang in dark's decrease Kyrie Eleison...

...THOMAS WALStI...

...the little bird was clerk, At intervals he struck his silver bell...

...ountry Home Whenever I shall pass this house again, Morning or evening, noon--I shall prepare My thoughts far, far ahead of time, and then, Like any other tourist, stare and stare...

...And if I learn to stare With friendliness at what I've lately lost, I cheat my heart of malice, and the bare, Long years ahead of black and bitter frost...

...Thou bold pretender to forgotten thrones, Thou saffron queen of solemn-faced young men, Thou newer glory out of olden stones, The Lux et Veritas engraved in thee Even to dust lends immortality...

...Now Dust claims the whole, as dust has claimed the brow Which housed the tragedy that once was Poe...

...And it beat at the window of my heart Till I took it in for all its blame...

...This must be so...

...Myself was there with meet observances Hearing the Mass the birds said in the dell...

...These small-paned windows, gleaming and precise, Through which I've watched the snow sweep down the hill, To cover trees with soundlessness the nice Adjustment of each flake upon the sill, And all the lovely whiteness of the field, Will be as cheerful with some other eyes Behind them, and will brightly yield As much of peace and beautiful surprise...

...the altar was a stone...

...The moon she sets at nightfall in her hair, To gild her sun-brown skin to a fair white...

...II The sombre elms stand back a pace from her, New England to the core...

...February I6, 1927 THE COMMONWEAL 411 POEMS arAness Memorial Tower (Yale University) I Thou, russet maid, hast raised our laden eyes Out of the dust we daily walk upon...

...The Old Guion Tomb (It is said that while walking throuch an old graveyard at Mamaroneck, Poe received the inspiration to write Ulalume...

...HARRY McGtrme...

...Staid old trees confer In twittering whispers: "Is she villager Or immigrant...

...The silver bell was rung for him in chief...

...Oh, noon was fiery, clear and bright, As it swung and swung beyond the height, But never a song came back to me...

...The campus is a still cobalt lagoon Showing Her Grace the tilt of the mirrored moon...

...avid .alp Gwillam's Mass The thrush, the lark, and, chief, the nightingale, With one small bird whose name I do not ken, Offered a Mass...

...It was the thrush who, as the sun appeared, Held up the Monstrance, a dew-circled leaf...

...I warmed and fed it there apart As its wings grew strong with my healing art, So it rose in the sun like flame...

...PADRAIC COLUM...

...then the nightingale The Consecration chanted solemnly...

...Some living few that pass this way may know That here a poet walked with beauty...