No More Learning

poetry.








DREAMS AND DAYS

POEMS


BY

GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP




To ROSL




CONTENTS


I


STRIKE HANDS, YOUNG MEN!

"O JAY! "

THE STAR TO ITS LIGHT

"THE SUNSHINE OF THINE EYES"

JESSAMINE

THE BOBOLINK

SAILOR'S SONG, RETURNING

FIRST GLANCE

BRIDE BROOK

MAY-ROSE

THE SINGING WIRE

THE HEART OF A SONG

SOUTH-WIND

THE LOVER'S YEAR

NEW WORLDS

NIGHT IN NEW YORK

THE SONG-SPARROW

I LOVED YOU, ONCE----


II


THE BRIDE OF WAR

A RUNE OF THE RAIN

BREAKERS

BLACKMOUTH, OF COLORADO

THE CHILD-YEAR

CHRISTENING

THANKSGIVING TURKEY

BEFORE THE SNOW


III


YOUTH TO THE POET

THE SWORD DHAM

"AT THE GOLDEN GATE"

CHARITY

HELEN AT THE LOOM

THE CASKET OF OPALS

LOVE THAT LIVES


IV


BLUEBIRD'S GREETING

THE VOICE OF THE VOID

"O WHOLESOME DEATH"

INCANTATION

FAMINE AND HARVEST

THE CHILD'S WISH GRANTED

THE FLOWN SOUL

SUNSET AND SHORE

THE PHOEBE-BIRD

A STRONG CITY

THREE DOVES


V


ARISE, AMERICAN!

THE NAME OF WASHINGTON

GRANT'S DIRGE.

BATTLE DAYS

KEENAN'S CHARGE

MARTHY VIRGINIA'S HAND

GETTYSBURG: A BATTLE ODE


NOTES





STRIKE HANDS, YOUNG MEN!


Strike hands, young men!
We know not when
Death or disaster comes,
Mightier than battle-drums
To summon us away.
Death bids us say farewell
To all we love, nor stay
For tears;--and who can tell
How soon misfortune's hand
May smite us where we stand,
Dragging us down, aloof,
Under the swift world's hoof?

Strike hands for faith, and power
To gladden the passing hour;
To wield the sword, or raise a song;--
To press the grape; or crush out wrong.
And strengthen right.
Give me the man of sturdy palm
And vigorous brain;
Hearty, companionable, sane,
'Mid all commotions calm,
Yet filled with quick, enthusiastic fire;--
Give me the man
Whose impulses aspire,
And all his features seem to say, "I can! "

Strike hands, young men!
'Tis yours to help rebuild the State,
And keep the Nation great.
With act and speech and pen
'Tis yours to spread
The morning-red
That ushers in a grander day:
To scatter prejudice that blinds,
And hail fresh thoughts in noble minds;
To overthrow bland tyrannies
That cheat the people, and with slow disease
Change the Republic to a mockery.
Death bids us say farewell
To all we love, nor stay
For tears;--and who can tell
How soon misfortune's hand
May smite us where we stand,
Dragging us down, aloof,
Under the swift world's hoof?

Strike hands for faith, and power
To gladden the passing hour;
To wield the sword, or raise a song;--
To press the grape; or crush out wrong.
And strengthen right.
Give me the man of sturdy palm
And vigorous brain;
Hearty, companionable, sane,
'Mid all commotions calm,
Yet filled with quick, enthusiastic fire;--
Give me the man
Whose impulses aspire,
And all his features seem to say, "I can! "

Strike hands, young men!
'Tis yours to help rebuild the State,
And keep the Nation great.
With act and speech and pen
'Tis yours to spread
The morning-red
That ushers in a grander day:
To scatter prejudice that blinds,
And hail fresh thoughts in noble minds;
To overthrow bland tyrannies
That cheat the people, and with slow disease
Change the Republic to a mockery.
Your words can teach that liberty
Means more than just to cry "We're free"
While bending to some new-found yoke.
So shall each unjust bond be broke,
Each toiler gain his meet reward,
And life sound forth a truer chord.

Ah, if we so have striven,
And mutually the grasp have given
Of brotherhood,
To work each other and the whole race good;
What matter if the dream
Come only partly true,
And all the things accomplished seem
Feeble and few?
At least, when summer's flame burns low
And on our heads the drifting snow
Settles and stays,
We shall rejoice that in our earlier days
We boldly then
Struck hands, young men!






"O JAY! "


O jay--
Blue-jay!
What are you trying to say?
I remember, in the spring
You pretended you could sing;
But your voice is now still queerer,
And as yet you've come no nearer
To a song.
In fact, to sum the matter,
I never heard a flatter
Failure than your doleful clatter.