Old Charon had momentous freight that day. I wonder if the twilit Stygian calm Was stirred when his approach was heralded; If those who gathered at the landing place Talked and surmised, and shouldered close to look At him of nobler bearing, kindlier eye And graver smile than most. Do they, perhaps Whose souls have thinner shrouding, recognize With their accustomed shadow-piercing glance That inner flame our eyes so dimly see? To write a book; To see a thing, and show it forth in print; To put our fellows on the living page; It is a life work worthy of the best -- The best in us, the best in those who read. Always there have been those whose keener eyes Saw more; and they, seeing more, put what they saw In book, in marble, painting, or clear note. For those so visioned, life can never hold A song, a mood, a placidly drawn breath Without an added overtone of pain, The pain that works like leaven in the soul: Bringing forth something for the world to see, To hear, to grace with comment -- to forget. No threat will serve; who has will surely give. No threat will serve; the vision must be told. The ferry touched the shore. The shades approached, And looked, and turned away, with smile and shrug. Some, it may be, drew near and greeted him With hail and salutation, comradely. I like to think that one came close; that there In that gray moment, Soames and his creator Met and with diffident good-will clasped hands. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONATA IN PATHOS by CONRAD AIKEN I LOOKED FOR LIFE AND DID A SHADOW SEE by JAMES GALVIN CALLING DREAMS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON O SOUTHLAND! by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ITALIAN PICTURES: COSTA MAGIC by MINA LOY |