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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PREFATORY SONNET: 1 by HENRY CLARENCE KENDALL

First Line: I PURPOSED ONCE TO TAKE MY PEN AND WRITE
Last Line: MAY CATCH THE SENSE LIKE SUBTLE FOREST SPELLS.

I purposed once to take my pen and write,
Not songs, like some, tormented and awry
With passion, but a cunning harmony
Of words and music caught from glen and height,
And lucid colours born of woodland light
And shining places where the sea-streams lie.
But this was when the heat of youth glowed white,
And since I've put the faded purpose by.
I have no faultless fruits to offer you
Who read this book; but certain syllables
Herein are borrowed from unfooted dells
And secret hollows dear to noontide dew;
And these at least, though far between and few,
May catch the sense like subtle forest spells.



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