Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPIRIT OF THE SMOKIES, by MABELLE RUTHERFORD MURDOCK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SPIRIT OF THE SMOKIES, by                    
First Line: Slowly drifting from the campfires
Last Line: Benediction to our prayer.
Subject(s): Smoky Mountains


Slowly drifting from the campfires
Of a thousand council rings,
Swirling haze of misty blue smoke
Shrouds the mountain's purpling wings.
Shadows of the braves are dancing
To the rhythmic war-drum's beat,
Scenes a million years behind us
Rise in grandeur at our feet.
Spirits of papoose and maiden
Intermingle with the dawn,
Phantom wigwams in the distance
Hold their souls in sacred pawn.
Aborigines and moderns
Meet in this Cathedral Shrine
At the Altar of the Smokies,
Drink the beauty, as old wine;
Drink, and feel intoxication,
Feel the ecstasy -- like pain --
Grip the senses, the nostalgia
Bringing wanderers home again.
Sacred ground, we tread in reverence,
Lift our hearts in simple prayer
To The Spirit of the Smokies
Beckoning, its gifts to share.
Mystical and beauty-laden,
Siler's Bald and Chimneys, there,
Lift their ageless heads above in
Benediction to our prayer.





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