WHAT'S HOT
Prev | Current Page 73 | Next

Lindsay, Vachel, 1879-1931

"The Congo and Other Poems"


Snared as innocence must be,
Fleeing, prisoned, chained, half-dead --
At the end of tortures dread
Roaring cowboys set you free.
Fly, O song, to her to-day,
Like a cowboy cross the land.
Snatch her from Belasco's hand
And that prison called Broadway.
All the village swains await
One dear lily-girl demure,
Saucy, dancing, cold and pure,
Elf who must return in state.


Blanche Sweet
Moving-picture Actress
(After seeing the reel called "Oil and Water".)

Beauty has a throne-room
In our humorous town,
Spoiling its hob-goblins,
Laughing shadows down.
Rank musicians torture
Ragtime ballads vile,
But we walk serenely
Down the odorous aisle.
We forgive the squalor
And the boom and squeal
For the Great Queen flashes
From the moving reel.
Just a prim blonde stranger
In her early day,
Hiding brilliant weapons,
Too averse to play,
Then she burst upon us
Dancing through the night.
Oh, her maiden radiance,
Veils and roses white.
With new powers, yet cautious,
Not too smart or skilled,
That first flash of dancing
Wrought the thing she willed: --
Mobs of us made noble
By her strong desire,
By her white, uplifting,
Royal romance-fire.


Pages:
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85