DORTHEA LAWRENCE MANN
DRAGON
Some saw a dragon eating up the light,
Oho! Oho! Oho, ho, ho!
Some heard a lost bird riding out the night,
Oho! Oho! Oho, ho, ho!
But I saw:
A low dark hill with its twisted back
Two wings of flame from the green cloud rack,
A sprawling flank overlaid with leaf
Glitter and gleam and shine like steel,
Crackle and lash like a serpent’s tail!
And I heard:
The wind draw out of the west and wail,
Dance and stagger and jig and reel!
With the long low sound of a life in grief!
I saw a life in grief
Oho! Oho! Oho, ho, ho
Dance and stagger and jig and reel!
Oho! Oho! Oho, ho, ho!
JEANNETTE MARKS
“THE BOOKMAN.”
GREEN GOLDEN DOOR
Green golden door, swing in, swing in!
Fanning the life a man must live,
Echoes and airs and minstrelsies,
Love and hope that he called his,
Fear and hurt and a man’s own sin
Casting them forth and sucking them in,
Green golden door, swing out, swing out!
Green golden door, swing in, swing in!
Show me the youth that will not die,
Tell me the dream that has not waked,
Seek me the heart that never ached,
Green golden door, swing out, swing out!
Green golden door, swing in, swing out!
Long is the wailing of man’s breath,
Short is the wail of death.
JEANNETTE MARKS
SLEEPY HOLLOW, CONCORD
Four graves there are upon the wooded crest,
Each one a shrine to pilgrims ever dear.
Uncovered, mute, are those who tarry here.
Romance’s dreaming master lies at rest
Beneath the cedars. Near is one whose breast
Held Mother Nature’s lore. Beyond, the seer
And sage. There, one who saw her duty clear,
Her name by little men and women blessed.
Four friends who walked in Concord’s pleasant ways
Long years ago. They dwelt and worked apart,
But now the world has crowned them with its bays,
And holds them close forever to its heart.
O, sacred hill! There Genius, guarding stays,
And from its slopes shall never Love depart!
JOHN CLAIR MINOT