English Poems Conrad Aiken
Elegy
The cur foretells the knell of parting day;
The loafing herd winds slowly o’er the lea;
The wise man homewards plods; I only stay
To fiddle-faddle in a minor key.
Conrad Aiken
………….
To the Bartholdi Statue:
O Liberty, God-gifted–
Young and immortal maid–
In your high hand uplifted,
The torch declares your trade.
Its crimson menace, flaming
Upon the sea and shore,
Is, trumpet-like, proclaiming
That Law shall be no more.
Austere incendiary,
We’re blinking in the light;
Where is your customary
Grenade of dynamite?
Where are your staves and switches
For men of gentle birth?
Your mask and dirk for riches?
Your chains for wit and worth?
Perhaps, you’ve brought the halters
You used in the old days,
When round religion’s altars
You stabled Cromwell’s bays?
Behind you, unsuspected,
Have you the axe, fair wench,
Wherewith you once collected
A poll-tax for the French?
America salutes you–
Preparing to ‘disgorge.’
Take everything that suits you,
……………
Rimer:
The rimer quenches his unheeded fires,
The sound surceases and the sense expires.
Then the domestic dog, to east and west,
Expounds the passions burning in his breast.
The rising moon o’er that enchanted land
Pauses to hear and yearns to understand.
…………..
English Poems Conrad Aiken
How blest the land that counts among
Her sons so many good and wise,
To execute great feats of tongue
When troubles rise.
Behold them mounting every stump,
By speech our liberty to guard.
Observe their courage–see them jump,
And come down hard!
‘Walk up, walk up!’ each cries aloud,
‘And learn from me what you must do
To turn aside the thunder cloud,
The earthquake too.
‘Beware the wiles of yonder quack
Who stuffs the ears of all that pass.
I–I alone can show that black
Is white as grass.’