



Produced by Judith Boss









  DREAMS & DUST

  POEMS BY DON MARQUIS




  TO
  MY MOTHER
  VIRGINIA WHITMORE MARQUIS









  CONTENTS


  PROEM


  DAYLIGHT HUMORS

  THIS IS ANOTHER DAY
  APRIL SONG
  THE EARTH, IT IS ALSO A STAR
  THE NAME
  THE BIRTH
  A MOOD OF PAVLOWA
  THE POOL
  "THEY HAD NO POET"
  NEW YORK
  A HYMN
  THE SINGER
  WORDS ARE NOT GUNS
  WITH THE SUBMARINES
  NICHOLAS OF MONTENEGRO
  DICKENS
  A POLITICIAN
  THE BAYONET
  THE BUTCHERS AT PRAYER




  SHADOWS

  HAUNTED
  A NIGHTMARE
  THE MOTHER
  IN THE BAYOU
  THE SAILOR'S WIFE SPEAKS
  HUNTED
  A DREAM CHILD
  ACROSS THE NIGHT
  SEA CHANGES
  THE TAVERN OF DESPAIR


  COLORS AND SURFACES

  A GOLDEN LAD
  THE SAGE AND THE WOMAN
  NEWS FROM BABYLON
  A RHYME OF THE ROADS
  THE LAND OF YESTERDAY
  OCTOBER
  CHANT OF THE CHANGING HOURS


  DREAMS AND DUST

  SELVES
  THE WAGES
  IN MARS, WHAT AVATAR?
  THE GOD-MAKER, MAN
  UNREST
  THE PILTDOWN SKULL
  THE SEEKER
  THE AWAKENING
  A SONG OF MEN
  THE NOBLER LESSON
  AT LAST


  LYRICS

  "KING PANDION, HE IS DEAD"
  DAVID TO BATHSHEBA
  THE JESTERS
  "MARY, MARY, QUITE CONTRARY"
  THE TRIOLET
  FROM THE BRIDGE
  "PALADINS, PALADINS, YOUTH NOBLE-HEARTED"
  "MY LANDS, NOT THINE"
  TO A DANCING DOLL
  LOWER NEW YORK--A STORM
  AT SUNSET
  A CHRISTMAS GIFT
  SILVIA
  THE EXPLORERS
  EARLY AUTUMN
  "TIME STEALS FROM LOVE"
  THE RONDEAU
  VISITORS
  THE PARTING
  AN OPEN FIRE


  REALITIES

  REALITIES
  THE STRUGGLE
  THE REBEL
  THE CHILD AND THE MILL
  "SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI"
  THE COMRADE
  ENVOI





  PROEM

  "SO LET THEM PASS, THESE SONGS OF MINE"

  So let them pass, these songs of mine,
  Into oblivion, nor repine;
  Abandoned ruins of large schemes,
  Dimmed lights adrift from nobler dreams,

  Weak wings I sped on quests divine,
  So let them pass, these songs of mine.
  They soar, or sink ephemeral--
  I care not greatly which befall!

  For if no song I e'er had wrought,
  Still have I loved and laughed and fought;
  So let them pass, these songs of mine;
  I sting too hot with life to whine!

  Still shall I struggle, fail, aspire,
  Lose God, and find Gods in the mire,
  And drink dream-deep life's heady wine--
  So let them pass, these songs of mine.





  DAYLIGHT HUMORS





  THIS IS ANOTHER DAY

  I AM mine own priest, and I shrive myself
  Of all my wasted yesterdays.  Though sin
  And sloth and foolishness, and all ill weeds
  Of error, evil, and neglect grow rank
  And ugly there, I dare forgive myself
  That error, sin, and sloth and foolishness.
  God knows that yesterday I played the fool;
  God knows that yesterday I played the knave;
  But shall I therefore cloud this new dawn o'er
  With fog of futile sighs and vain regrets?

  This is another day!  And flushed Hope walks
  Adown the sunward <DW72>s with golden shoon.
  This is another day; and its young strength
  Is laid upon the quivering hills until,
  Like Egypt's Memnon, they grow quick with song.
  This is another day, and the bold world
  Leaps up and grasps its light, and laughs, as leapt
  Prometheus up and wrenched the fire from Zeus.

  This is another day--are its eyes blurred
  With maudlin grief for any wasted past?
  A thousand thousand failures shall not daunt!
  Let dust clasp dust; death, death--I am alive!
  And out of all the dust and death of mine
  Old selves I dare to lift a singing heart
  And living faith; my spirit dares drink deep
  Of the red mirth mantling in the cup of morn.


  APRIL SONG

  FLEET across the grasses
    Flash the feet of Spring,
  Piping, as he passes
  Fleet across the grasses,
  "Follow, lads and lasses!
    Sing, world, sing!"
  Fleet across the grasses
    Flash the feet of Spring!

  _Idle winds deliver
    Rumors through the town,
  Tales of reeds that quiver,
  Idle winds deliver,
  Where the rapid river
    Drags the willows down--
  Idle winds deliver
    Rumors through the town._

  In the country places
    By the silver brooks
  April airs her graces;
  In the country places
  Wayward April paces,
    Laughter in her looks;
  In the country places
    By the silver brooks.

  _Hints of alien glamor
    Even reach the town;
  Urban muses stammer
  Hints of alien glamor,
  But the city's clamor
    Beats the voices down;
  Hints of alien glamor
    Even reach the town._


      THIS EARTH, IT IS ALSO A STAR

  WHERE the singers of Saturn find tongue,
    Where the Galaxy's lovers embrace,
  Our world and its beauty are sung!
    They lean from their casements to trace
    If our planet still spins in its place;
  Faith fables the thing that we are,
    And Fantasy laughs and gives chase:
  This earth, it is also a star!

  Round the sun, that is fixed, and hung
    For a lamp in the darkness of space
  We are whirled, we are swirled, we are flung;
    Singing and shining we race
    And our light on the uplifted face
  Of dreamer or prophet afar
    May fall as a symbol of grace:
  This earth, it is also a star!

  Looking out where our planet is swung
    Doubt loses his writhen grimace,
  Dry hearts drink the gleams and are young;--
    Where agony's boughs interlace
    His Garden some Jesus may pace,
  Lifting,