Vachel Lindsay (Вэчел Линдсей)
In Praise of Songs that Die
AFTER HAVING READ A GREAT DEAL OF GOOD CURRENT POETRY IN THE MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERSAh, they are passing, passing by, Wonderful songs, but born to die! Cries from the infinite human seas, Waves thrice-winged with harmonies. Here I stand on a pier in the foam Seeing the songs to the beach go home, Dying in sand while the tide flows back, As it flowed of old in its fated track. Oh, hurrying tide that will not hear Your own foam children dying near Is there no refuge-house of song, No home, no haven where songs belong? Oh, precious hymns that come and go! You perish, and I love you so!
Vachel Lindsay’s other poems:
- The Potatoes’ Dance
- Our Mother Pocahontas
- I Heard Immanuel Singing
- When Gassy Thompson Struck It Rich
- Incense
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