Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WRITER OF MANY BOOKS, by JAMES OPPENHEIM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WRITER OF MANY BOOKS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The writer of many books was weary
Last Line: Nor the master that sent ye out in the barren fields.
Subject(s): Writing & Writers


THE WRITER of many books was weary:
"Enough of ink!" said he, "Enough of words!
Would I were a builder of bridges or a breaker of stones ...
Then at least something real were done ..."

Out on a lonely farm in Montana, at the close of day,
The woman brooding toward insanity,
Lit a lamp, and looked in his book: and the tears came:
And the ice-pack round her heart melted down in a torrent ...
Blessed release!

Far in Texas a tubercular boy was plotting a marriage,
But he read the tale, and his heart broke in his breast ...
"I shall not send my blight on the unborn babe,"
So he wrote the author,
"No: I am off to Arizona tomorrow."

In a New York hall room a girl was dreaming of suicide,
She read his words, and as to a call of trumpets her soul rose and went forth ...

A seed so small that the eye misses it
Starts in the womb the growth of a human child ...
Ye that scatter the seed of words, scorn not the sowing,
Nor the Master that sent ye out in the barren fields.





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