Main Street, and Other Poems

<h2> In Memory </h2> <p>I<br/> <br/> Serene and beautiful and very wise,<br/> Most erudite in curious Grecian lore,<br/> You lay and read your learned books, and bore<br/> A weight of unshed tears and silent sighs.<br/> The song within your heart could never rise<br/> Until love bade it spread its wings and soar.<br/> Nor could you look on Beauty's face before<br/> A poet's burning mouth had touched your eyes.<br/> <br/> Love is made out of ecstasy and wonder;<br/> Love is a poignant and accustomed pain.<br/> It is a burst of Heaven-shaking thunder;<br/> It is a linnet's fluting after rain.<br/> Love's voice is through your song; above and under<br/> And in each note to echo and remain.<br/></p> <p>II<br/> <br/> Because Mankind is glad and brave and young,<br/> Full of gay flames that white and scarlet glow,<br/> All joys and passions that Mankind may know<br/> By you were nobly felt and nobly sung.<br/> Because Mankind's heart every day is wrung<br/> By Fate's wild hands that twist and tear it so,<br/> Therefore you echoed Man's undying woe,<br/> A harp Aeolian on Life's branches hung.<br/> <br/> So did the ghosts of toiling children hover<br/> About the piteous portals of your mind;<br/> Your eyes, that looked on glory, could discover<br/> The angry scar to which the world was blind:<br/> And it was grief that made Mankind your lover,<br/> And it was grief that made you love Mankind.<br/></p> <p>III<br/> <br/> Before Christ left the Citadel of Light,<br/> To tread the dreadful way of human birth,<br/> His shadow sometimes fell upon the earth<br/> And those who saw it wept with joy and fright.<br/> "Thou art Apollo, than the sun more bright!"<br/> They cried. "Our music is of little worth,<br/> But thrill our blood with thy creative mirth<br/> Thou god of song, thou lord of lyric might!"<br/> <br/> O singing pilgrim! who could love and follow<br/> Your lover Christ, through even love's despair,<br/> You knew within the cypress-darkened hollow<br/> The feet that on the mountain are so fair.<br/> For it was Christ that was your own Apollo,<br/> And thorns were in the laurel on your hair.<br/></p> <p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"></SPAN></p> <br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />