The Home Book of Verse
Chapter 358 : I have broadened my hand to the cinch and the axe, I have laid my flesh to the rain; I

I have broadened my hand to the cinch and the axe, I have laid my flesh to the rain; I was hunter and trailer and guide; I have touched the most primitive wildness again.

I have threaded the wild with the stealth of the deer, No eagle is freer than I; No mountain can thwart me, no torrent appall, I defy the stern sky.

So long as I live these joys will remain, I have touched the most primitive wildness again.

Hamlin Garland [1860-

DO YOU FEAR THE WIND?

Do you fear the force of the wind, The slash of the rain?

Go face them and fight them, Be savage again.

Go hungry and cold like the wolf, Go wade like the crane: The palms of your hands will thicken, The skin of your cheek will tan, You'll grow ragged and weary and swarthy, But you'll walk like a man!

Hamlin Garland [1860-

THE KING'S HIGHWAY "El Camino Real"

All in the golden weather, forth let us ride to-day, You and I together, on the King's Highway, The blue skies above us, and below the s.h.i.+ning sea; There's many a road to travel, but it's this road for me.

It's a long road and sunny, and the fairest in the world-- There are peaks that rise above it in their snowy mantles curled, And it leads from the mountains through a hedge of chaparral, Down to the waters where the sea gulls call.

It's a long road and sunny, it's a long road and old, And the brown padres made it for the flocks of the fold; They made it for the sandals of the sinner-folk that trod From the fields in the open to the shelter-house of G.o.d.

They made it for the sandals of the sinner-folk of old; Now the flocks they are scattered and death keeps the fold; But you and I together we will take the road to-day, With the breath in our nostrils, on the King's Highway.

We will take the road together through the morning's golden glow, And we'll dream of those who trod it in the mellowed long ago; We will stop at the Missions where the sleeping padres lay, And we'll bend a knee above them for their souls' sake to pray.

We'll ride through the valleys where the blossom's on the tree, Through the orchards and the meadows with the bird and the bee, And we'll take the rising hills where the manzanitas grow, Past the gray tails of waterfalls where blue violets blow.

Old Conquistadores, O brown priests and all, Give us your ghosts for company when night begins to fall; There's many a road to travel, but it's this road to-day, With the breath of G.o.d about us on the King's Highway.

John S. McGroarty [1862-

THE FORBIDDEN LURE

"Leave all and follow--follow!"

Lure of the sun at dawn, Lure of a wind-paced hollow, Lure of the stars withdrawn; Lure of the brave old singing Brave perished minstrels knew; Of dreams like sea-fog clinging To boughs the night sifts through:

"Leave all and follow--follow!"

The sun goes up the day; Flickering wing of swallow, Blossoms that blow away,-- What would you, luring, luring, When I must bide at home?

My heart will break her mooring And die in reef-flung foam!

Oh, I must never listen, Call not outside my door.

Green leaves, you must not glisten Like water, any more.

Oh, Beauty, wandering Beauty, Pa.s.s by; speak not. For see, By bed and board stands Duty To s.n.a.t.c.h my dreams from me!

Fannie Stearns Davis [1884-

THE WANDER-LOVERS

Down the world with Marna!

That's the life for me!

Wandering with the wandering wind, Vagabond and unconfined!

Roving with the roving rain Its unboundaried domain!

Kith and kin of wander-kind, Children of the sea!

Petrels of the sea-drift!

Swallows of the lea!

Arabs of the whole wide girth Of the wind-encircled earth!

In all climes we pitch our tents, Cronies of the elements, With the secret lords of birth Intimate and free.

All the seaboard knows us From Fundy to the Keys; Every bend and every creek Of abundant Chesapeake; Ardise hills and Newport coves And the far-off orange groves, Where Floridian oceans break, Tropic tiger seas.

Down the world with Marna, Tarrying there and here!

Just as much at home in Spain As in Tangier or Touraine!

Shakespeare's Avon knows us well, And the crags of Neufchatel; And the ancient Nile is fain Of our coming near.

Down the world with Marna, Daughter of the air!

Marna of the subtle grace, And the vision in her face!

Moving in the measures trod By the angels before G.o.d!

With her sky-blue eyes amaze And her sea-blue hair!

Marna with the trees' life In her veins a-stir!

Marna of the aspen heart Where the sudden quivers start!

Quick-responsive, subtle, wild!

Artless as an artless child, Spite of all her reach of art!

Oh, to roam with her!

Marna with the wind's will, Daughter of the sea!

Marna of the quick disdain, Starting at the dream of stain!

At a smile with love aglow, At a frown a statued woe, Standing pinnacled in pain Till a kiss sets free!

Down the world with Marna, Daughter of the fire!

Marna of the deathless hope, Still alert to win new scope Where the wings of life may spread For a flight unhazarded!

Dreaming of the speech to cope With the heart's desire!

Marna of the far quest After the divine!

Striving ever for some goal Past the blunder-G.o.d's control!