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DREAMS & DUST
POEMS BY DON MARQUIS
TO
MY MOTHER
VIRGINIA WHITMORE MARQUIS
CONTENTS
PROEM
DAYLIGHT HUMORS
THIS IS ANOTHER DAY
APRIL SONG
THE EARTH, IT IS ALSO A STAR
THE NAME
THE BIRTH
A MOOD OF PAVLOWA
THE POOL
"THEY HAD NO POET"
NEW YORK
A HYMN
THE SINGER
WORDS ARE NOT GUNS
WITH THE SUBMARINES
NICHOLAS OF MONTENEGRO
DICKENS
A POLITICIAN
THE BAYONET
THE BUTCHERS AT PRAYER
SHADOWS
HAUNTED
A NIGHTMARE
THE MOTHER
IN THE BAYOU
THE SAILOR'S WIFE SPEAKS
HUNTED
A DREAM CHILD
ACROSS THE NIGHT
SEA CHANGES
THE TAVERN OF DESPAIR
COLORS AND SURFACES
A GOLDEN LAD
THE SAGE AND THE WOMAN
NEWS FROM BABYLON
A RHYME OF THE ROADS
THE LAND OF YESTERDAY
OCTOBER
CHANT OF THE CHANGING HOURS
DREAMS AND DUST
SELVES
THE WAGES
IN MARS, WHAT AVATAR?
THE GOD-MAKER, MAN
UNREST
THE PILTDOWN SKULL
THE SEEKER
THE AWAKENING
A SONG OF MEN
THE NOBLER LESSON
AT LAST
LYRICS
"KING PANDION, HE IS DEAD"
DAVID TO BATHSHEBA
THE JESTERS
"MARY, MARY, QUITE CONTRARY"
THE TRIOLET
FROM THE BRIDGE
"PALADINS, PALADINS, YOUTH NOBLE-HEARTED"
"MY LANDS, NOT THINE"
TO A DANCING DOLL
LOWER NEW YORK--A STORM
AT SUNSET
A CHRISTMAS GIFT
SILVIA
THE EXPLORERS
EARLY AUTUMN
"TIME STEALS FROM LOVE"
THE RONDEAU
VISITORS
THE PARTING
AN OPEN FIRE
REALITIES
REALITIES
THE STRUGGLE
THE REBEL
THE CHILD AND THE MILL
"SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI"
THE COMRADE
ENVOI
PROEM
"SO LET THEM PASS, THESE SONGS OF MINE"
So let them pass, these songs of mine,
Into oblivion, nor repine;
Abandoned ruins of large schemes,
Dimmed lights adrift from nobler dreams,
Weak wings I sped on quests divine,
So let them pass, these songs of mine.
They soar, or sink ephemeral--
I care not greatly which befall!
For if no song I e'er had wrought,
Still have I loved and laughed and fought;
So let them pass, these songs of mine;
I sting too hot with life to whine!
Still shall I struggle, fail, aspire,
Lose God, and find Gods in the mire,
And drink dream-deep life's heady wine--
So let them pass, these songs of mine.
DAYLIGHT HUMORS
THIS IS ANOTHER DAY
I AM mine own priest, and I shrive myself
Of all my wasted yesterdays. Though sin
And sloth and foolishness, and all ill weeds
Of error, evil, and neglect grow rank
And ugly there, I dare forgive myself
That error, sin, and sloth and foolishness.
God knows that yesterday I played the fool;
God knows that yesterday I played the knave;
But shall I therefore cloud this new dawn o'er
With fog of futile sighs and vain regrets?
This is another day! And flushed Hope walks
Adown the sunward slopes with golden shoon.
This is another day; and its young strength
Is laid upon the quivering hills until,
Like Egypt's Memnon, they grow quick with song.
This is another day, and the bold world
Leaps up and grasps its light, and laughs, as leapt
Prometheus up and wrenched the fire from Zeus.
This is another day--are its eyes blurred
With maudlin grief for any wasted past?
A thousand thousand failures shall not daunt!
Let dust clasp dust; death, death--I am alive!
And out of all the dust and death of mine
Old selves I dare to lift a singing heart
And living faith; my spirit dares drink deep
Of the red mirth mantling in the cup of morn.
APRIL SONG
FLEET across the grasses
Flash the feet of Spring,
Piping, as he passes
Fleet across the grasses,
"Follow, lads and lasses!
Sing, world, sing!"
Fleet across the grasses
Flash the feet of Spring!
Idle winds deliver
Rumors through the town,
Tales of reeds that quiver,
Idle winds deliver,
Where the rapid river
Drags the willows down--
Idle winds deliver
Rumors through the town.
In the country places
By the silver brooks
April airs her graces;
In the country places
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