Of might and men and giant things
Or repasts set for lordly kings
In all of this I disavow
These luxuries but one allow
To bide with me and be content
My life in joy thus it be spent.
With man’s best morsel to indulge
That life its good, time will divulge.
Of kind and gentle beings see
Grow with its own posterity.
Enlikened to sage words and true
The calmer days thus to pursue,
Within life’s rise be satisfied
With conquests met and love implied.
To bear the yoke, humanity
To strive with pride and vanity
And not be bested by the two
Keep heart within the mind’s eye view
To count the days within recall
Wherein love’s gentle tear did fall
And not forget the times long past
When kindness shew’d its tender cast.
Let man be such among all men
The bearer of but good omen,
A friend to all, in deed a friend
For all to sadden at his end,
Yet none lament his passing ways
Dwell he among the lost we praise.
This be the will I grave for me
May friends as these but number three
My mother who now gray and old,
Retains the will to chide and scold
As often did in times gone by,
Yet loving me she would e’en die,
A mate with whom years swiftly pass
As shadows in the looking glass
Who’ll walk with me on God’s green earth
Accept me for my human worth,
( Breathe not a word about my faults)
Whose tender smile my heart exalts,
The little child with loving care
That God has deemed my life to share.
For awkward though the times may prove
And grief my eyes to sadness move,
Yet still a song to gladness sing
For all the joy life mayhaps bring,
What need have we but nought to fare
With courage strong, and so declare
Within the gates of this recluse
Here lives the gift men fear to lose.
It wills the beggar scorn a crown
And molds a smile of each man’s frown,
One strives to buy with Midas’ gold
Once bought a gift one cannot hold,
Elusive nymph where do you flee
Why dwell thou in such poverty?
Of all the gems for which we’ve paid
And all the plans that man has made,
( Too many ofttimes gone astray)
Of all of this man cannot say
Within his soul, if truth compel
That life with him in fullness dwell
And fear he not a lonely end,
Nor peace abide without a friend.
For all the goods that man shall strive
To keep him warm and safe, alive
Are but to ease his body’s need,
The will of which to supersede
That man is more than gainful goal,
He’s heart and mind and kindred soul.
Claire V. Bogdanos 