Part 4 (2/2)

We offer choice ascription--our loyal tribute bring, In this the new Olympiad in which thou reignest king.

POET of the present age, and of aeons yet to be, In this the chosen homestead of those who would be free-- Free from feudal usage, from courtly sham and cant; Free from kingcraft, priestcraft, with all their rot and rant!

PROPHET of a race redeemed from all conventual thrall, Espouser of equal s.e.xs.h.i.+p in body, soul, and all!

PRIEST of a ransom'd people, endued with clearer light; A newer dispensation for those of psychic sight.

We greet thee as our mentor, we meet thee as our friend, And to thy ministrations devotedly we lend The aid that comes from fealty which thou hast made so strong, Thro' touch of palm, and glint of eye, and spirit of thy song.

We magnify thy mission, we glorify thy aim, Unfalteringly adhered to through ill-report and blame-- The fretting of the groundlings, the fumings of the pit, The jibes and jeers and snarls and sneers which men mistake for wit.

We knew the rising splendor of thy sun could never wane Until, the earth encompa.s.s'd, it sank in dazzling flame.

In faith a.s.sured we waited as in patience thou didst wait, Knowing full well the answer must sooner come or late.

And come it has, sufficingly, the discord disappears Until today again is heard the music of the spheres Proclaiming thee the well-beloved, peer of the proudest peers.

--_Henry L. Bonsall_

He fell asleep when in the century's skies The paling stars proclaimed another day-- He, genial still, amidst the chill and gray, With smiling lips and trustful, dauntless eyes; He, the Columbus of a vast emprise, Whose realization in the future lay; He, who stepped from the well-worn, narrow way To walk with Poetry in larger guise.

And fortunate, despite of transient griefs, The years announce him in a new born age; The s.h.i.+p of his fair fame, past crags and reefs, Sails bravely on, and less and less the rage Of gainsaying winds becomes; while to his phrase The world each day gives ampler heed and praise!

--_William Struthers_

Here health we pledge you in one draught of song, Caught in this rhymster's cup from earth's delight, Where English fields are green the whole year long-- The wine of might, That the new-come spring distills, most sweet and strong, In the viewless air's alembic, that's wrought too fine for sight.

Good health! we pledge, that care may lightly sleep, And pain of age be gone for this one day, As of this loving cup you take, and, drinking deep, Are glad at heart straightway To feel once more the friendly heat of the sun Creative in you (as when in youth it shone), And pulsing brainward with the rhythmic wealth Of all the summer whose high minstrelsy Shall soon crown field and tree, To call back age to youth again, and pain to perfect health.

--_Ernest Rhys_

I loaf and invite my soul And what do I feel?

An influx of life from the great central power That generates beauty from seedling to flower.

I loaf and invite my soul And what do I hear?

Original harmonies piercing the din Of measureless tragedy, sorrow and sin.

I loaf and invite my soul And what do I see?

The temple of G.o.d in the perfected man.

Revealing the wisdom and end of earth's plan.

--_Elizabeth Porter Gould_

He pa.s.sed amid the noisy throngs, His elbow touched with theirs; They grumbled at their petty wrongs, Their woes and cares;

They asked if ”Princeton stood to win”; Or what they should invest; They told with gusto and with grin Some futile jest.

They jostled him and pa.s.sed him by, Nor slacked their eager pace; They did not mark that n.o.ble eye, That n.o.ble face.

So carelessly they let him go, His mien they could not scan,-- Thinker whom all the world would know, Our greatest man.

_Max J. Herzberg_

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