Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1914 — Gems In Verse [ARTICLE]

Gems In Verse

THE INVITATION. COME oil, brother! Take it easy tor a day. Let’s be truants, blithe and breezy, out for play. Here's a spot for pleasant dreaming Where the slender birches sway. Here’s a i>Ool wher'e trout are gleaming If your thoughts for fishing stray. Rest a bit from toll and scheming and we’ll play; TTERE the air is soft and hazy. It’s a *-*■ crime Not to linger and be lazy for a time. So while summer skies are warming And the heart beats all in rime Let us stea.l a day from farming. From our daily grit and grime. Let us stop where life is charming for a time. . fpHEN when we have rested, neighbor. Loafed and loitered for a day, We’ll go back again to labdr All the better for our play. —Berten Braley. OLD SHIPS. BY wharves that droop to voiceless tides > The faded ships remain. On creaking spars the north wind rides < And weeps the winter rain. Gray, battered veterans of the sea. They swing with listless sway, Aroused no more by storm wind's glee Or upward splashing spray. But in the night when all the din Of life around is still Their voices rise in accents thin. High with the old glad thrill. They dream of billowing, bellied sail. Of whitecaps' gay salute, Of faroff comrade's cheery hail. Of seagull's raucous hoot. Of voyage far, when wind and wave Called gently from the sea; Of mates who in a gloomy grave Shall sleep eternally. Beside the wharves they strain and swing; Gray dreamers of the tide; No more to hear the breakers sing Or brave the sea wastes wide. —Arthur Wallace Peach.