TO NEW YORK
For maid and lad New York is fairy land,
Delightful charms in gorgeous brilliant lure!
Our youth do struggle on ambition's tour.
They meet life's challenge with true heart and hand.
Forgotten trails are marked with scar and wand;
A blasted rock and broken twigs assure
The traveler that others fought the moor,
And sailed the stormy breakers, crossed the sand
To build the city on a granite slab.
They tamed the wilderness, a sturdy clan!
Retracing paths recall the glory made,
Lays bare the secrets of the field and lab.
Such tours give hope for future life and plan.
Brave men have set the torch with ax and spade.
MEET THE CHALLENGE
The coddled youth, like greenhouse plant
Will wilt and die in desert sand,
Can never meet the storms of life,
Untried and mild and soft his hands.
He walks within the favored nooks,
Protected there much more than those,
Who meet the challenge face ahead,
And struggle on to conquer foes.
They learn to take the gaff and thrust,
And from an inner courage gain
A faith in toil and love of truth;
They pray to God to ease the pain.
WINTER
A glow of life shines from the leaf-stripped limbs,
In sheltered nooks snowbirds are singing hymns.
The sycamore shafts gleam and shine afar,
Down by the river where the black oaks are.
The goldenrod now droops his fuzzy head;
There by my fence, leaves make a fluffy bed.
They mulch my flower seed down in the loam;
Beyond below the tall sedge grasses moan.
Seared grass curls firmly over tender sprigs,
And my rose bush there curves its brown thorned twigs.
Beneath my window, tulip bulbs lay snug,
Quite safe and warm in earthy winter rug.
All nature resting for a springtime gain,
And quiet gray tones soothe an inner pain.