My heaven-doubting pennons feel your hands
With touch most delicate so circling round,
That for an hour I dream that God is good.
And in your shadow, Mercy's ways abound.
I thought myself the guard of your frail state,
And yet I come to-night a helpless guest,
Hiding beneath your giant Psyche-wings,
Against the pallor of your wondrous breast.
[End of original text.]
Biographical Note:
Nicholas Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931):
(Vachel is pronounced Vay-chul, that is, it rhymes with `Rachel').
"The Eagle that is Forgotten" and "The Congo" are two of his best-known poems,
and appear in his first two volumes of verse, "General William Booth
Enters into Heaven" (1913) and "The Congo" (1914).
Lindsay himself considered his drawings and his prose writings
to be as important as his verse, all coming together to form a whole.
His "Collected Poems" (1925) gives a good selection.
----
From an anthology of verse by Jessie B. Rittenhouse (1913, 1917):
"Lindsay, Vachel. Born November 10, 1879. Educated at Hiram College, Ohio.
He took up the study of art and studied at the Art Institute, Chicago,
1900-03 and at the New York School of Art, 1904-05.
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