Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1916-12-15

AO sec IL SOllAy lOUCH ueI IdC6,
AS loverlike, with fond embrace,
1t folded round her like husk:
But when the glitter of her hand,
Like wasted glory, beckoned me,
My eyes grew blurred and dull and
dim
My vision failed-I could not see
| could not stir-I could but stand,
Till, quivering in every limb,
flung me prone. as though to swim
The tide of grass whose waves of
green
Went rolling ocean-wide between
My helpless shipwrecked heart and
her
Who claimed me for a worshiper.
and writing thus in my despair,
heard a weird, unearthly sound,
That seemed to lift me from the
ground
And hold me floating in the air.
/ looked, and To- / saw her bow
Above a harp within her hands;
A crown of blossoms bound her brow,
And on her harp were twisted
strands
OF ssilken starlight, ripping DER
With music never heard before
BY mortal ears; and, at the strain,
felt my spirit snap rs chain
And break away, and could see
1t as it turned and fed from me
To greet its mistress, where she smiled
To see the phantom dancing wild
And wizardlike before the spell
Her mystic fingers knew so WELL"
sat throughout it all as though I'M
der the strange influence of an eastern
drug. My fancy was so wrought upon
I only saw the reader mistily, and
clothed, as it were. in bedragoned
costume of the Orient. My mind
seemed idle-steeped in browse and
languor, and yet peopled with thou
sand shadowy fancies that came troop
ing from chaotic hiding places, and
mingling in revelry of such riotous
extravaganza it seemed a holiday of
selfish thought.
| shook my head, / rubbed my eyes,
arose bewildered, and sat down again !;
arose again and walked across the
room, my strange companion following
every motion with an intensity of gaze
almost mesmeric.
"You fail to comprehend it?" he
queried.
l shook my head.
"You can almost grasp it, can't
your"
YES" I answered.
"But not gutter"
| mot quite"
"Does it worry your
"Yes."
think it will cling to you, and fret
you, vex you, haunt you?"
81 know it will"
Think you'll ever fully comprehend
it?"
81 can't say" replied, thoughtfully.
Perhaps 1 may in time. win you al
low me to copy it?"
"What do you want with it2"
"I want to study it," replied.
"And you're sure you don't under
stand it, and it worries you, and frets
you, and yexeS you, and haunts you
Goodl I'll read you the final clause
now that may throw a light of some
kind on it; and, opening the scroll,
again he read:
"What is it? Who will rightly guess
If it be aught but nothingness
That dribbles from a Maynard pen
To spatter in the eyes of men?
} What matter! l will call it mine,
And / will take the ehangeling home
And battle its face with morning-shine
And comb it with a golden comb
Till every tangled tress of rhyme
WIN fairer be than summer time:
And will nurse it on my knee,
And dandle it beyond the clasp
OF hands that grip and hands that
grasp,
Through life and all eternity
'Now what do you think of it?" he
asked with a savageness that startled
me.
81 am more at sea than ever" re-
piled.
well. wish you a prosperous voy-
age! Here's the poem; I've another
copy. Read and reflect as the rail.
road poster says, but don't you pub.
Iish it-at least while I'm alive, for
I've no thirst for literary fame-I only
write for home use; but you're a good
fellow, and like you for your weak