Poems
Fuller, Ethel Romig & Dresbach, Glenn Ward & Hall, Amanda Benjamin & Luhrs, Marie & Littlewort, Dorothy & Sill, Louise Morgan
^yxCassacre in June The reaper came today. (The grass was long, Plumey and proud!) He paused to whet his scytfoc, Then with a kind of hot and whirring song Of execution, terrible and blithe, He...
...Then said another softer voice in me, "Roots feeding upward to the bloom have grown Too deep—and someone watching here shall see A wave of roses hide the fallen stone...
...Your brow is sweated with a nameless curse...
...And the crop of brave-eyed myrtle In the rampant grass...
...In abysmal mud dull worms press their trails...
...Then I remembered cities now so long The dust where wild bloom's drifting pollen goes...
...Ocean Easement You are chained to yourself...
...T*rayer of a Teacher Father, between Thy strong hands Thou hast bent The clay but roughly into shape, and lent To me the task of smoothing where I may And fashioning to a gentler form Thy clay...
...Where stars and mosses grow in streaming trees...
...country Graveyard The curious field^ draw near...
...I saw a breeze with cool and eager aim Leap from the sky, remembering the way The long grass rippled...
...the apse Of Notre Dame drank deep its honeyed flame...
...The phosphorescent fish light up the deep...
...Firm hand and high heart for the further task...
...Life under water moves in dreamful sleep...
...MARIE LUHRS...
...In fluid sapphire' the sponges swish...
...To see some hidden beauty Thou hadst planned...
...Sometime to help a twisted thing to grow More straight...
...And whei^ you rise again and shake your hair Free of foam webs, you will be quieted...
...He paused to whet his scytfoc, Then with a kind of hot and whirring song Of execution, terrible and blithe, He did his work...
...Deep water bears no bells nor winds that howl...
...Within, the royal soul of Shakespeare came And stayed among us for a magic lapse Of mortal time—^we could not know how long, So...
...And lamp-shells live without moving orl seeing...
...this is full recompense, and so I give Thee but the praise that Thou wouldst ask...
...They wonder at the queer, lopsided stones, The hidden bones, The snowball trees at the heads Of the narrow beds, The peonies, Pansies in a jeUy-glass, A new, long grave...
...That zealous reaper in the sun "^f^ould know no rest till, fallen every one, He sought some hospitality of shade...
...I tried to hear the golden words she said In that rare golden voice, and scarce could hear So close the meaning pressed, rich and austere...
...These hovered in irresolute despair Above the honest daisies, ligh^Hy slain...
...Like lilies in an over-planted bed...
...And in me one voice said, "The wave will fall, The spray be lost in air—the wall will stay...
...Before my lips could pass the cry of pain...
...On Hearing Julia Marlowe Read Shakespeare s Sonnets Books sheltered us, their owner listening near...
...Sink beneath the level of the salt seas Where stone lilies have their curious being...
...heavenly she sang us Shakespeare's song...
...Like mountain streams by tortuous torrents fed That curb their conscious power in the weir...
...Before dying you are living in death...
...ETHEL ROMIG FULLER...
...the universe Embraces you and sucks away your breath...
...LOUISE MORGAN SILL...
...DOROTHY LITTLEWORT...
...Without, the moon brewed mystery...
...And some age living only in its song That dipped the dew from some antique red rose, And ships of which we keep in legend now The wreath of rainbows that survived the prow...
...AMANDA BENJAMIN HALL...
...sharks prowl...
...All June came tumbling down At once...
...The shadows to their parent boughs withdrew...
...There was a legend on the air Of butterflies, bewildered gold and br own...
...The startled clover, still go trusting-sweet...
...Then back to heaven fled the breeze forlorn...
...It was not the same— The shadows reconnoitered in dismay...
...You will have learned to move in blowing air Smoothly, like fluent fish, till you fall dead...
...Slowly revealed beneath my laboring hand...
...And peer within— Clover, under the fence, Timothy, over...
...iA Wave of Roses A wave of roses broke against a wall And on its crest the bees were jeweled spray...
...GLENN WARD DRESBACH...
...They laid their jjiulsing lives down at my feet— They died thft'lr fragrant deaths there in the heat, As steadil'^ the keen and humming blade Took tnJjil...
...In liquid emerald the satin fish Vibrate, spit bubbles, spread vaporous tails...
...Oysters weave quietly their pearls...
...And in my mind there was a meadow shorn Where once the green thoughts vigorously grew...
...And in his seat she sat and nobly read...
Vol. 6 • June 1927 • No. 8
