Thursday, December 31, 2015

Life’s Byways



Two paths go up the hill of life,
     The path of wrong, the path of right;
One path is strewn with toil and strife,
     The other strewn with flowers bright.

Inviting looks the path of wrong,
     More toilsome looks the path of right;
One sends a wave of ribald song,
     The other less of mirth and light.

But ‘tis the goal, and not the road
     The pilgrim needs must keep in view;
The path that lures the highest load
     Is not the easiest to pursue.



Dec. 31, 09




Rhyme of the Ringer



“Ring out the old, ring in the new,
     Ring happy bells across the snow;”
The village maid is on parade
     Each evening sleighing with her beau.

“Ring out the old, ring in the new,”
     Ring happy bills upon the slate;
Ring in the new, it’s up to you
     To ring the old bills out of date.



Dec. 31, ‘09


In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]

Lord Alfred Tennyson, 1809 - 1892

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
   The flying cloud, the frosty light:
   The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
   For those that here we see no more;
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
   And ancient forms of party strife;
   Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
   The faithless coldness of the times;
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
   The civic slander and the spite;
   Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
   Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
   Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.




The Angler’s Midwinter Dream



I sat in my office easy chair
     As the sun was sinking low;
I had not a single thing to do,
     And nary a place to go.
Why not go fishing I asked myself,
     So I put on my angling togs,
And soon I was out of the city’s grip,
     Out wading the marshland bogs.

An electric rolled past – ‘twas the brook I heard,
     As it gurgled o’er logs and stones;
The phone clattered long – ‘twas only my reel
     Singing out its wonderful tones.
The snow slid off from a neighboring roof,
     ‘Twas simply the splash of a trout;
And my creel grew full and my heart grew light
     And the sun it went down and out.

Thank God for the dreams that come by day,
     The same for the dreams by night,
That carry us out to the game-land home,
     Where the finny’s are fierce to bite.
It’s a joy to go on a fishing trip
     And cling to your office seat;
While snow and rain blur the window pane,
     And the price – well it can’t be beat.



Dec. 31, ‘06



Tiltup Time



It’s tiltup ttime on Lizzard Crick,
     The ice is good and strong;
The blacksmith’s shop and Stokes’ store
     Have lost their daily throng.
Hen Billings, Abe and Uncle Ez,
     And all the squatter corps,
Are down in “Pick’rel Bend” these days,
     Where tiltups hold the floor.

Jed Martin said along last fall,
     “The signs are comin’ good;
There’ll be enough uv fish this year
     For Gungy’s multitud.”
So when the crick was strong enough
     The fisher folk men were there;
And “Pick’rel Bend” was covered o’er
     With tiltups and to spare.

Under the lee of Ackley hill
     A roaring fire leaps high;
With toes and fingers thawing out,
     And mittens hung to dry.
And, seated on the friendly logs,
     The yarns of bygone years
Are poured with solemn Gungy skill
     Into our youthful ears!

Tiltups are bobbing up and down,
     Red flags flap in the breeze;
Stout hearts don’t mind the wintry winds
     In busy days like these.
Ah, tiltups time on Lizzard Crick,
     With story, song and joke,
May nothing ever come between
     You and good Gungy folk!
    
Dec. 31, 1916

                                        



Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The Things I Write



The maid I meet upon the street,
     The little, laughing, tripping sprite,
All curls, and furs, and saucy smiles,
     She doesn’t read the things I write.

The man begrimed by labor’s dust,
     Who reaches home so late at night,
Who’s proud to “earn whate’er he can,”
     He doesn’t read the things I write.

The man of wealth who whirls apast,
     With prancing steed or auto light,
Who buys his books by tens and scores,
     He doesn’t read the things I write.

Who is it then who reads my lines,
     My prose and verse so very bright?
The hard-worked editor, alas!
     ‘Tis he alone, reads what I write.



Dec. 30, 1900



Good Night



Good night,
            Sweetheart,
                      Good night.
The day has faded in the west,
     And night steals on apace
     To hide from me thy face,
Go, thou, and seek thy perfect rest;
Good night,
            Sweetheart,
                      Good night.

Good night,
            Sweetheart,
                      Good night.
Sweet dreams to thee whom I adore,
     And may the coming day
     Strew love along the way,
And love be thine forever more.
Good night,
            Sweetheart,
                      Good night.



Dec. 30, ‘04



The Easy One


                                             For Mill Ballads


O, I pity her, the easy one, who never looks beyond
The fair and smiling Present into darker By and By;
Who lives upon the cooing of an artful lover wooing
While a thoughtless path pursuing wherein gloom and sorrow lie.

Man is weak, weak, weak,
But his arguments are sleek,
He will hypnotize a woman if she doesn’t mind her eye;
             But he’d better take and slay her
             Than to ruin and betray her,
And leave her crushed and helpless on the road to hell to die.

I pity her, I pity her – she will not give an ear,
Nor listen to her elders who would save her from the bad;
She would rather take her chances at a season’s public dances,
Smiling ‘neath the hungry glances of a wine excited cad.

             Man is weak, weak, weak,
             But he’s got a lot of cheek,
Till he works a maiden’s ruin, then he whines and runs away;
             But he’d better take and slay her
             Than to ruin and betray her,
And leave her for the world to scorn until her dying day.



Dec. 30, ‘99



Sign Man



                                 I.

Hiram Plunkett was a cur’us an’ a comical ol’ scad,
Was the most eccentric codger Gungy village ever had;
Hiram didn’t b’lieve in papers, nor in human natur’, much,
Didn’t b’lieve in books or stories, or in sociables an’ such;
Didn’t b’lieve in much religion ‘cept a kind thet wuz his own,
Though we never knew he kept it frum the fact he lived alone.
Hiram didn’t b’lieve in nothin’, near ez anyone could say,
‘Ceptin’ signs, an’ he b’lieved ‘em ev’ry minute in the day.

                                 II.

Hiram Plunkitt was a b’liever in a “sign” for everything,
An’ he lived by signs entirely, for to him a sign was King!
So he steered himself accordin’, never trustin’ uv his fate
To opposin’ uv his signals, so the villagers relate.
If he heard a rooster crowin’, an’ he stopped when ha’f way through
There was somethin’ goin’ to happen to the rooster, that he knew!
If a rabbit chanced to scamper ‘crost the road a bit ahead,
He would hev to ketch the rabbit, or go home an’ go to bed.

                                 III.

If he saw geese flyin’ over, an’ they formed a letter ‘V’,
There would be a change uv weather ere they settled, argered he.
If he saw three crows a-flyin’ it was bad luck, even more,
So he’d hang around impatient till he sighted number four.
If a watchdog howled at midnight there was sure to be a death
In the neighborhood immejit ‘less the patient held his breath.
If he heard a cow a-looin’ when ‘twas dark ez it could be,
‘Twas a sign that she was lonesome an’ she wanted company.

                                 IV.

In the house he was persistent, hed a sign fur ev’rything;
Kept a box uv salt close by him right in readiness to fling.
He would throw it o’er his shoulder, or would put it in the stove,
Jest dependin’ what the sign was, an’ to thwart the devil’s move.
He would never let a caller rock an’ empty chair becuz
It would bring upon the household all the evils ever wuz;
If he ever got his shirt on wrong side out he’d leave it so
Till the time come round to wash it, else his joy would turn to woe.

                                 V.

If a brick fell off the chimbly an’ he heard it when it fell
He would grab it up immejit an’ go drop it in the well.
If he found a bird a-flyin’ in the house he’d hustle out
An' go huntin’ for a horseshoe which he’d nail somewhere about.
He had horseshoes o’er the windows, had ‘em over all the doors,
Had ‘em inside, well ez outside, had ‘em on the upper floors;
Fact his castle was a storehouse loaded full uv charms an’ such,
Just to rid him uv the witches an’ the devil’s fatal touch.

                                 VI.

Hiram Plunkett never prospered, though his father left him cash,
An’ a farm without a mortgage, so he could hev cut a dash.
But, alas! He also left him a belief in signs which took
All his time frum off his farmin’ an’ reduced his pocketbook.
So his farm went all to pieces an’ he scarcely dared to move
Lest a creakin’ uv a floorboard should a fatal omen prove.
So he died a dismal pauper an’ upon his tombstone gray
Someone chiseled, “Hiram Plunkett, All signs fail on Judgement Day!”



Dec. 30, 1912



Amos Green’s Swearin’ Off




“I’m goin’ to turn a new leaf o’er,”
Said Amos Green, in Stokes’ store;
“Now you kin talk an’ laff an’ scoff,
But I am goin’ to swear off
A thing or two, jest mark my word,”
An’ then the next thing Amos heard
Was simply a good natured roar
Around the store in Stokes’ store.

Jed Martin he took out his pipe
Which, ez pipes go, wuz purty ripe,
An’ says to Amos, ruther lame,
“What be yur goin’ to swear off, Ame?”
An’ lookin’ at the crowd, says he,
“You never stick to nothin’, gee!
You’ve swore off year by year the same,
An’ yit you’re jest the same ol’ Ame!”

Then Amos looked around the ring
Ez though truz time he hed his fling;
He cleared his throat, an’ hemmed an’ hawed,
While all the others smoked and chawed.
Says he, “I’ve swore off –” good an’ loud,
“Buyin’ terbacker fur this crowd!”
There warn’t a murmer from the score
Uv setters there in Stokes’ store.



Dec. 30, ‘09




When It’s Spring



Big change in the weather,
     Growin’ soft and mild;
Summer skippin’ hither
     Like ez ‘o’ she’s iled.
Air is hanging soft an’ meller,
     Heerd a bluebird sing,
Different feelin’ in a feller
     When it’s spring.

Big change in the weather,
     Winter’s hed his day;
Makes a feller wanter
     Sort o’ frisk an’ play.
Natur’s smile is coy an’ meller,
     Tantarlizin’ thing;
Different feelin’ in a feller
     When it’s spring.



Dec. 30, ‘96
Pub. in Little Joker,
    For March,
        ‘98



A Reformer’s Confession



New year,
     No ice;
No beer,
     No dice.
No dance,
     No date;
No chance,
     No skate.
No chew,
     No puff;
No cue,
     No stuff.
No throw,
     No pool;
No show,
     D – Fool.




Dec. 30, ‘95
Pub. in B. Courier,
Jan. 5, 1896