Page:The Poet in the Desert.djvu/94



TRUTH: "Only in utter Liberty of Life and Love shall souls be

bom."

XVII. POET: All the sounds of Earth come sad to my ears ; The music of Spring and of Summer; Of birds, frogs and incessant insects; Of rain and running water; Of blue skies and the mysterious assemblage of distinct

worlds. Mingled with all of these, melancholy and insistent, I hear the appeal of the children ; Robbed of all the beauty of the world Before ever they were called through the portal ; Beauty, infinite, everlasting, Ever-changing and eternally renewed. I know that I am one with this beauty, And my starved brother is one, For we, too, are of Nature.

We are one with each other and with the raindrops, Diamonds threaded on the slender twigs. One with the bright-winged butterfly, new lighted on a

rose, Slowly waving its wings of marvel. I am one and my defrauded brother is one With the fragrant peach which indolently sways On the cradling stem; the lance-headed peach-leaves

which Seduce the air with aromatic passion. We are one with the rains which move stately Out of the hills and march across the valleys. Refreshing the earth with benevolence ; Or the snow of perfect whiteness. Hovering and protecting; covering and preserving, Like a fond nurse above her sleeping babes. Saying, "Hush." One with the grass, which with gentle fingers,

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