There sat two glasses, filled to the brim,
On a rich man's table, rim to rim.
One was ruddy and red as blood,
And one was clear as the crystal flood.
Said the glass of wine to his paler brother,
"Let us tell tales of the past to each other;
I can tell of banquet, and revel, and mirth,
Where I was a king, for I ruled in might;
For the proudest and grandest souls on earth
......
The sun may be clouded, yet ever the sun
Will sweep on its course till the cycle is run.
And when onto chaos the systems are hurled,
Again shall the Builder reshape a new world.
Your path may be clouded, uncertain your goal;
Move on, for the orbit is fixed for your soul.
And though it may lead into darkness of night,
The torch of the Builder shall give you new light.
......
SPONTANEOUS me, Nature,
The loving day, the mounting sun, the friend I am happy with,
The arm of my friend hanging idly over my shoulder,
The hill-side whiten'd with blossoms of the mountain ash,
The same, late in autumn--the hues of red, yellow, drab, purple, and
light and dark green,
The rich coverlid of the grass--animals and birds--the private
untrimm'd bank--the primitive apples--the pebble-stones,
Beautiful dripping fragments--the negligent list of one after
another, as I happen to call them to me, or think of them,
......
GREAT are the myths--I too delight in them;
Great are Adam and Eve--I too look back and accept them;
Great the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages,
inventors, rulers, warriors, and priests.
Great is Liberty! great is Equality! I am their follower;
Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft! where you sail, I sail,
I weather it out with you, or sink with you.
Great is Youth--equally great is Old Age--great are the Day and
Night;
......
An olive fire's a lovely thing;
Somehow it makes me think of Spring
As in my grate it over-spills
With dancing flames like daffodils.
They flirt and frolic, twist and twine,
The brassy fire-irons wink and shine. . . .
Leap gold, you flamelets! Laugh and sing:
An olive fire's a lovely thing.
An olive fire's a household shrine:
......
My gaze is turned above.
Trees fall down and streets elope and face follows a frown,
Of straight along and circly roads won't further mark my path,
So step for step just past the grass and you there somewhere dad
But the light that fills my eyes is still so rare and so delight,
Why as I reach the follow rise and walk to watch her dream,
The slide gathers like a woven thread just knitted by the beam
......
MULBERRY TREES AND BUTTERFLIES
Don’t go back to heavy sleep
dwell in wakefulness
of I AM THAT I AM
here mulberries and butterflies
beckon across filtered fences
which you can comely climb
for a bountiful bestowing
pick, a Sunday spongy
......
Soon dawn at plum morn
though pearly moon still keeps watch,
for the golden end.
Afternoon's recalled in dreams
adorned in wild color schemes.
Memory Lane sleeps
as orange noon is coming,
after dusk scarlet.
Lemon-lime hours revisit
......
Hues of pink and purple tuck the day,
Now fading into gray—
A fragile husk, an empty shell,
Now quiet in the dusk.
Soft, wispy clouds of fluff drift low and slow,
Their curves kissed by a golden glow.
They blush and hush, then pale with grace,
As dusk begins to take their place.
They cradle your silent ache,
The weight you never dared to wake.
......
The elderly Elmer Brown dwelled alone, like a solitary tree on a hill,
Loving quiet, glazed life still, in burgundy, sunset moments of until.
A widower, Elmer Brown had generations of offspring, living far away,
Feeling fresh, foreign breezes, in fruitful terrains, younger than today.
Though retired, Elmer had his hobbies, which gave much satisfaction;
Like a storm of sudden, scathing terror, afore a red hot sun reaction.
Elmer's friends told tales, of truth and fiction; like dream chronicles.
......