To the maiden The sea was blue meadow, Alive with little froth-people Singing. To the sailor, wrecked,

Tradition, thou art for suckling c… Thou art the enlivening milk for b… But no meat for men is in thee. Then— But, alas, we all are babes.

A slant of sun on dull brown walls… A forgotten sky of bashful blue. Toward God a mighty hymn, A song of collisions and cries, Rumbling wheels, hoof-beats, bells…

A man went before a strange God— The God of many men, sadly wise. And the deity thundered loudly, Fat with rage, and puffing. “Kneel, mortal, and cringe

You tell me this is God? I tell you this is a printed list, A burning candle, and an ass.

If I should cast off this tattere… And go free into the mighty sky; If I should find nothing there But a vast blue, Echoless, ignorant—

Forth went the candid man And spoke freely to the wind— When he looked about him he was in… Forth went the candid man And spoke freely to the stars—

“It was wrong to do this,” said th… “You should live like a flower, Holding malice like a puppy, Waging war like a lambkin.” “Not so,” quoth the man

A man toiled on a burning road, Never resting. Once he saw a fat, stupid ass Grinning at him from a green place… The man cried out in rage,

In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it.

There was a land where lived no vi… A traveller at once demanded: ‘Wh… The people told him: ‘Once the violets of this place sp… ’Until some woman freely gives her…

Yes, I have a thousand tongues, And nine and ninety-nine lie. Though I strive to use the one, It will make no melody at my will, But is dead in my mouth.

“Truth,” said a traveller, “Is a rock, a mighty fortress; Often have I been to it, Even to its highest tower, From whence the world looks black.…

THOU art my love And thou art the peace of sundown When the blue shadows soothe And the grasses and the leaves sle… To the song of the little brooks

I explain the silvered passing of… The sweep of each sad lost wave, The dwindling boom of the steel th… The little cry of a man to a man, A shadow falling across the greyer…