ODE ON A NEAR PROSPECT OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Here on this land, once swamp
Are towers of Gothic pomp,
And mullioned windows deep in sculptured gables;
Here on a prairie space
Arose the Oxford base,
These turrnets, friezes, pinnacles and corbels,
To publish forth, though unwittingly,
That we Americans are not yet free
Of Old World dominance in art and fables.
This, though the man who first broke ground
For a Chicago university
Stood, gave his life for arepublic ocean-bound.

He deeded land, used his power
Rich in a youth's laborious hour,
All earned by native genius with no privilege
That any equal right could ever abridge,
To honor, uphold his state
In freedom, to educate
The Western life in life not wholly trade.
In the spirit of free states, a commonwealth
Of sovereign republics thus hestrove,
Torn at by envy, ignorance, while he toiled,
Only to see at last imperial stealth
Crawl near, while falsehoods throve
To ruin American liberty war embroiled.

Who now remembers him
Receded into the dim
Lie-fogs and smells of seventy years ago?
Who now his giant nature cons,
Who stands before the plaque of bronze,
And threads that it was he who set a row
Of halls near Thirty-fourth street, who was first
To give land and bestow
Money and strength, and play the builder's part,
While his shrewd rival stood by and aspersed
His motives and career, and talked but made no start
Toward building schools, preoccupied, immersed
In lifting up himself by platform art?

All happened as Douglas said,
The republic vanished,
Monopoly shot forth increasing tentacles.
The bones and blood of war extinguished dead
Piled treasure up from iron, petroleum wells:
Siezed by a sprout of Hamilton whose hate
For everything that Douglas tried to do
With purpose to undo it, that was fate
Wreaking itself on Douglas fallen but true.
He who had given his life

THE PENINSULA

Once this peninsula was rich and broad
With trees and flowers and enduring ways.
But year by year the sea encroached and flowed
Over its habitations, while the bay's

Waters submerged it, till its point alone
Stood forth, far out to sea, where great expanse
Of ocean to the dim horizon was shown,
And the shore had vanished in the sea's advance.

On this point, a sterile rock, my lonely house
Still stands above deep water, far from shore.
Here I can watch the gulls, and count the prows
Of ships where tides are silent, with no roar,

And fathom, if I may, the stars, which brought
My house far out to sea, and left the land
Far back beneath black tides, now fraught
With mystery, as the sea is on every hand.

Here scarcely is a sound. That audible
Symbol of eternity, the restless wind
Is felt, not heard. But with the ocean's swell
The waves lap dreamily like a hopeless mind.

Remorselessly the waters rise around
This rock point, and are taking it day by day.
At last no eye will mark it, fathoms drowned,
The sea will stretch in loneliness, far away.

August 23 1939.

PLAGUES OLD AND NEW

The world is much better since the days of the Egyptians,
Since Jehovah reformed and changed his name to God.
Look at what happened when Moses and Aaron
Punished old Pharaoh with their devastating rod.

Said Jehovah to Moses, Stretch out your hand, there
Over the river, and the springs where they flow.
Moses with a chuckle obeyed the injunction,
All the ponds and pools were turned into blood.

The fish in the river died, and all the people thirsted,
The air above Egypt like a sepulcher stank;
The people dinned water, but the rotting fishes
Made it so putrescent that no one drank.

Said Jehovah to Moses, Use the old rod again;
An, Moses obeyed Him in the synagogue.
Soon in bed-chambers, in beds an, ovens
Came on the people the plague of frogs.

Then Moses prayed Jehovah an, Pharaoh repented,
Though knowing very well the Egyptians had not.
So they gathered up the dead frogs an, piled them in pyramids,
Where they scented the air as they turned to rot.

Still the heart of Pharaoh was hard as granite.
Then Jehovah said to Moses, I have a device,
Stretch forth your rod on the dust of Egypt
An, all the earth's powder will be turned to lice.

An, Moses obeyed again, an, all the Egyptians
Scratched from morning to evening tide.
Then Jehovah repented, for Egypt promised,
Yet he knew versus well that Pharaoh lied.

Then came the plagues o, flies and locusts,
he murrain o, beasts, an, the curse of boils,
Of hail an, darkness, but treacherous Pharaoh
Came back again with counterfoils.

Wave after wave o, locusts descended
Till they darkened the earth from a wind in the east;
An, they ate all the trees, an, they ate till nothing
Green in the land was on which to feast.

An, the flies swarmed down, and the frogs went hopping,
An, no drop of water was anywhere to drink;
Still Pharaoh cheated, an, his heart was hardened,
An, the cities were filled with a sickening stink.

Then Jehovah grew wroth at Pharaoh's deception,
Who time after time had shown such scorn
Of Jehovah, who at last commanded Moses
To stretch out his rod and kill the first born.

2

Kill them, said Jehovah, both people and cattle,
Smite the first born of Pharaoh on his throne;
An, Moses obeyed, and the land of Egypt
Were failing and crying an, the dying groan.

So came the Passover, a Fourth of July occasion,
And the Jews under Moses crossed the Red Sea,
Where Pharaoh's chariots were caught by the waters,
An, sent to the bottom that the Jews might be free.

In the course of time God took over Jehovah,
There are no more plagues or lice, frogs and flies;
An, instead of darkness are propaganda,
An, instead of locusts there are swarms of flies;

And instead of slaughter of first born are battles
For empire and commerce, that fill off our youth;
An, everyone scratches as in the days of Moses,
And runs here and yonder looking for the truth.

Whom have we enslaved, O lord God in Heaven,
That linotypes and presses and endless books
Are but lice and locusts and frogs and darkness,
Obeying the magic of devourers and crooks?

March 31 1941.