The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-27

claim him as jealously ~ It claims Pos.
Great was CooaLER; MOORE, tho Poet
of the Bogs,' is gifted; but DICK Is
world-poet and beyond competition.
EMMA EAMEs visited the bower in Pill
duzer the other day. Music met music.
Before putting any money on the Men,
phis MOORE, the Nashville American
should commit to memory Mr.. DICKS
chant and carol to the Yankee singer:
I. who am poet
OF manned lutte.
And who sing here. tied TO bitter dust and frus-
trate lays.
SIN my querulous pipe may hft
To you. the consummate artist with the Song,
And beautiful among women
You, the lcsatee OF lsRATiL-
The sweetest In voice Of all GODS creatures.
Sovereign OF raptures sr,lculAte.
or the lullng OF reeds by soothing streams.
OF all iullabies and ancient even songs.
OF all the caprcious notes Of wood and held.
And martial s,,rrinrs Of shields and swords. Of
plumes and trimpets.
And EMPRESS of all the thumphing swerves and
soarinss Of iarks.
OF all the songs OF oil delights. blown perfumedly
About the world.
The breeze of salt crested seas on free strands.
The woe worn legends Of banished kinGs.
Love dittles and tho swan songs OF sundereo
hearts.
And the sensuous high -clashing vocables OF Joy
and rage
Laugh rapidly In your voice
To what compare YOU
Did not the Day.
Abashed. demur.
Tentlvely putting forth rose and then violet'
While the Sun. cloudins Itself. was ware
Ola greater radiance.
And all the birds were mute for envy and despair;
Comparisons. rvals what arc theyf
When beauty. art and music blends
But the Night. subtle a. old Egypt
And shrunk back into the bowl OF dark,
Unveiled In partial contntlon.
In silence and shy confidence
Venus. the beautiful Evening Star
A sister. songless sister. OF you"
CooGLERs and MooREs, SAYLERs and
ELMoREs, all skalds and songwriters,
have to take a back seat in the choir.
Compared with DICK, they are as a
squash-pipe to BACH, as mouse 8 squeak
to the music Of the spheres. Yet the Poet
of the Boys is meritorious enough in his
way. His most famous stanza muir
murs like the dove. and gentle languor
drips from its two feminine rhymes,
while manly decision sparkles in their
masculine followers:
In their days Of adolescence
He would often In her presence
Press his tempted manly arm around
Her Venus. willing waist"
In her presence, mind you. Even in
the heat and fury Of his imagination the
Poet Of the Boys is exact. The tempting
waist is there, physically present, and
the tempted arm does its duty. What
memory Of strange, forgotten, far-off
things is revived in these wonderful
lines?
In their days OF adolescence
He would often In her presence"
From some subliminal chamber flashes
that other divine distich:
"on January second.
II was generally reckoned."
Mr.. MOORE perfect stanza sings itself.
The last two lines are really one linked
sweetness. one long candypull, one deep
jar of honey. But Mr.. MOORE will
have to build moro than four-liner to
prove his fitness to stand among the
bards sublime. ABEL SINKENzooPER,
now of Mexico, Mo-, and beloved in the
Southwest as the Silver Singer of the
Ozarks, has painted this same familiar
scene OF adolescence in words which
may be put by the side Of or above those
Of MOORE OF Memphis:
Ny ELLA o my ELLA. with your feet Of c,NpEl.
ELLA,
With your wood doves gentle eyes,
Ny ELLA. my ELLA. o may I be your iella"
Snow soft. she cooed: Thou mayM:
Ny arm dew round her waist"
Noble lines. The substitution OF
fella for Teller may be justified
under the terms Of Mr.. S1NKENzoopER's
license. Can MOORE OF Memphis tie
these lines?