A NUN'S PRAYER
[From the same]
When lilies swing their voiceless silver bells,
And twilight's kiss doth linger on the sea,
I wander silently o'er the scented lea
By brooks that murmur through the sleeping dells,
And rippling onward, chant the funeral knells
Of leaves they bear upon their breasts. On Thee,
Dear Lord, I lean! The grandest destiny
Of life is mine. Within my heart there wells
For thee a deep love, and sweetest peace
Doth glimmer star-like on the wavelet's crest.
Grant, Thou, O Christ, its gleaming ne'er may cease,
Until Death's angel makes the melody
That calls my pinioned spirit home to Thee,
Then only will it know eternal rest.
[HARRISON CONRARD]
Harrison Conrard, poet, was born at Dodsonville, Ohio, September 21, 1869. He was educated at St. Xavier's College, Cincinnati. From 1892 until the spring of 1899 Mr. Conrard lived at Ludlow, Kentucky, when he removed to Arizona to engage in the lumber business at Flagstaff, his present home. While living at Ludlow he published his first book of poems, entitled Idle Songs and Idle Sonnets (1898), which is now out of print. Mr. Conrard's second and best known volume of verse, called Quivira (Boston, 1907), contained a group of singing lyrics of almost entrancing beauty. These are the only books he has so far published. "Some day," the poet once wrote, "I shall roll up my bedding, take my fishing rod and wander back east, and Kentucky will be good enough for me." He has, however, never come back. A new volume of his verse is to be issued shortly.
Bibliography. Letters from Mr. Conrard to the Author; Poet-Lore (Boston, Fall Issue, 1907).
IN OLD TUCSON[59]
[From Quivira (Boston, 1907)]
In old Tucson, in old Tucson,
What cared I how the days ran on?
A brown hand trailing the viol-strings,
Hair as black as the raven's wing,
Lips that laughed and a voice that clung
To the sweet old airs of the Spanish tongue
Had drenched my soul with a mellow rime
Till all life shone, in that golden clime,
With the tender glow of the morning-time.
In old Tucson, in old Tucson,
How swift the merry days ran on!