DEAD AVIATOR FOR A. H. It was a sea uncharted that you sailed, It was a field of sunlight and of air, Oh, rider, that your magic steed roamed over,- It was a land of nothingness and space, It was a stairway that the foot of Man Had never through the ages long ascended But toward the sun, oh, Child, you laughed and ran, Until your playtime ended. It was a tryst you went unto, oh, Lover! With Death, your Bride,-who prays you fare no more To quench the sun with song! To thee the sky Was home, the winds that laugh so sweet on high Gave eager welcome to thy kindred soul And thou, as Heaven itself had been thy goal, Wast wont to circle. Who can ever guess What blithe companionship with voiceless space What jocund converse with the sun by day When thou wouldst seek for stardust at its source So dear that nothing but eternity Could tempt thee from it. Now thy flight is o'er. ALFRED RAYMond Bellinger. From "Spires and Poplars," Yale University Press, by kind permission of the Author and the Publishers. A TOAST TO POETS To you alone our shivering souls confess, Magi! whose wizardries Shake star-dust in our eyes For all Life's hurts and hazards ye have lent Ointment and alabaster. Rest content! LAURA SIMMONS. From Harper's Magazine, March, 1924. |