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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GOOD CAUSE, by WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD Poet's Biography
First Line: Round the old house where lilacs bloomed and died
Last Line: Scorn, poverty, disease -- and this is best.
Subject(s): Children; Childhood
First Line: Round the old house where lilacs bloomed and died
Last Line: Scorn, poverty, disease -- and this is best.
Subject(s): Children; Childhood
Round the old house where lilacs bloomed and died,
Armed with the mimic bow my father gave,
A boy I marched and dreamed of coast and cave
And bears descending from the mountain side;
Or down dusk vistas of the arbor, wide,
And cool with scent of grapes, I sped to save
Fair ladies lost in woods, for I was brave
And sought adventure equal to my pride.
That house is down; the high hour never came;
The boy remembered but in tale and jest,
Yet the good cause, O Life, is still the same;
I see the days, the scope, of East and West;
The shapes I see are of heroic name --
Scorn, poverty, disease -- and this is best.
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THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
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COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL
THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL
A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE
THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE
TOM MOONEY by WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD
TWO LIVES: CONCLUSION. INDIAN SUMMER by WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD