Selections of Poetry written in summer ’11
How good to be, the sophist said
Alive and well in one’s own head
A complex world in one’s own bed
A complete life as good as dead
The Shadow Queen
The great ideal, the shadow queen
Is real to me and near to me
I can’t escape her leering gaze
Which governs and looms over me
And all the earth compared to this
It’s natures firm, its loves and dreams
Fall short and seem a solid mist
Compared to this, my shadow queen
And if I find to hold on to
A living love for creatures real
It must become or else destroy
The shadow queen, the great ideal
Boys and Girls
Boys and girls come out to play
Boys and girls enjoy the day
Boys and girls will run about
And cry and scream and shout
Boys and girls chase round the bend
Boys and girls pull at the ends
Boys and girls will soon fall down
And roll upon the ground
Boys and girls play look and show
Boys and girls do lines of blow
Boys and girls will close the door
And roll upon the floor
Boys and girls enjoy the night
Boys and girls turn out the light
Boys and girls will soon fade out
And cry and scream and shout
The War to End all Wars
They lined up like a pair of walls
Rolled forward like approaching waves
One overcomes the other falls
Upon the land, down into graves
They’re black and white and white and black
And soon only a mess of gray
Each friend an enemy attacks
The friends of enemies to slay
A line ‘tween good and evil drawn
But on which side does evil dwell
Which dead rise to a higher lawn
Which dead are taken down to hell
And when the victor is proclaimed
A crown to claim where good resides
Has evil finally been tamed
Will the next war at last decide
They line up line appraching waves
And more are sent into their graves.
