(TO M.)
The serenade of a thousand years ago
The song of a hushed lip
Lives forever in the glass of today
Wherein we see the reflection of it
If we but brush away
The cobwebs of a doubting faith.
Published by
MACFADDEN PUBLICATIONS, Inc.
New York
1923
Copyright, 1923
BY
RUDOLPH VALENTINO
Printed
in U. S. A.
To J. C. N. G.
MY FRIENDS HERE AND THERE
INTRODUCTION
I can not tell a rondelay
In words of yesterday
I can not tell a couplet
For words come as they may.
I’ll do my best—I’ll try a bit
Of ultra-modern rhyme
And cast aside the shackles
Binding “Once upon a time.”
PREFACE
TO you, my gentle reader, I wish to say a foreword of warning before you peruse the contents of this book. I am not a poet nor a scholar, therefore you shall find neither poems nor prose. Just dreams—Day Dreams—a bit of romance, a bit of sentimentalism, a bit of philosophy, not studied, but acquired by constant observation of that greatest of masters!... Nature!
While lying idle, not through choice, but because forcibly kept from my preferred and actual field of activity, I took to dreams to forget the tediousness of worldly strife and the boredom of jurisprudence’s pedantic etiquette.
Happy indeed I shall be if my Day Dreams will bring you as much enjoyment in the reading as they brought to me in the writing.
New York—May 29th, 1923.
CONTENTS
DAY DREAMS
THE GIFT BOOK
(To J. R.)
A book is a kindly gracious thing.
Each has a particular gift to bring.
It may be the wealth
Of a wonderful life,
Or the thrilling adventure
Of Jungle strife.
Perhaps it’s a present
Of orient gold,
Tales of Aladdin
Enchantingly told.
Maybe a view
Of olden days,
Knighthood—Romance,
Flowery ways.
And again a journey
To lands afar,
Where strange things happen,
And wonders are.
All of them—Gift books
But plainly I see,
Not one of them holds
The gift for me.
I want a book
That will lazily roam
Down the dear Pathway
To Folks back home.
NATURE
Nature is the open book
Wherein the truths of the world are found
Nature is an endless story
Of never changing glory
When you study nature your teacher is God
So always let your reference be
This Greatest of Masters.
THE LOVE CHILD
(To B.)
Don Juan roamed the summer sky
A shady cloud of gray
But this dull attire
Hid a heart of fire
In quest of romance stray.