From the Poets

Southland Times, Issue 20831, 20 July 1929, Page 22

From the Poets

A SPIDER’S WEB. Two delicate, fine-spun cables, With webbing of silver sheen Bespangled with dew, are swaying The tips of the firs between. Two cables a touch would shatter, Yet firmly they hold in place A marvel of engineering, A bridge of tenuous lace. A small brown insect, unaided, Spun silk for the gleaming thing, And fashioned the airy structure, Which hangs here lightly a-swing. Ancient and beautiful secret, This art that the spider knows; She weaves without plan or pattern, And a thing of beauty grows! —Blanche A. Sawyer. PLEASANT BAY. Sunset: and the Bay Seems one huge vat of molten gold, Or copper! shimmering—glistening! Ready to be poured into gigantic mould In form of a bronzed Indian, Whose massive, shining head Could pierce the sky And watch the moon And twinkling stars go by. Or, peering o’er the edge Where sea and sky Together seem to meet, See each new swift dawn Approach on rosy feet! —Emma M. Doane. WHEN SPRING COMES UP THE SHENANDOAH. When Spring comes up the Shenandoah It is a rush, a sally; Swift as a blush on beauty’s cheek She flushes up the Valley! She passes as in royal state, Tire rivers rush to meet her, The mountains smile as she goes by, The orchards bloom to greet her. All beauty’s cohorts, lining up, Salute their sovereign, passing; The vagrant breezes mobilize, Their fragrant forces massing. The birds make music for her march. The hoarse bees add their humming; The joyful cattle on the hills, Deep-throated, hail her coming. The dogwood flings white banners out To greet her every turning, And high on steep, blue mountain sides, Are redbud beacons burning. —Roselle Mercier Montgomery. THE ESCORT. We have a heavy escort • Seeing us through the wood, Great Heart and Don Quixote Richard and Robin Hood. Others of equal valor, Versed in the villian’s law; Thus do the dragons quiver — Trembles the lion’s paw. Sometimes the wood is darker Even than Egypt’s spell; That is the hour for Jason, Gareth and William Tell. Anyone seeking an escort,_ Anyone needing a knight, We but hint of our heroes Having observed, their migh’ ' —Nathalia Crane.