Long may the Flag of Freedom wave
above our beauteous land!
And may the “Guiding Light” e’er save
us, from the tyrant’s hand.
Let kings and queens and emperors reign
across the wide deep sea!
We need not fear the galley’s chain,
‘Neath the Banner of the Free.
How tears would fall; how hearts would break,
To see the Flag cast down!
How sad to follow in the wake
Of ermine robe and crown.
But in my sweetest dreams I see,
A wise and lovely Queen.
She is the “Goddess Liberty”;
And rules with gracious mien.
Long may the Flag of Freedom wave
Above our beauteous land!
Long may we praise for strength it gave;
And long united stand.
Nouns are names the grammar tells us;
Houses, chairs, a book, a table.
Adjectives describe the nouns, thus:
Dark and sullen, sweet and able.
Pronouns take nouns’ place they tell us,
He and his and you and me.
He did, they did, who does? she does.
Mine and thine, and we and thee.
Verbs are almost always acting,
I am running; How she works!
Very much he was reacting.
Clara studies; Charlie shirks.
I am tired of learning grammar,
You know well it’s most distracting?
Girls are lisping; boys just stammer.
Parts of speech are so exacting.
Still how could one be a poet,
If not for grammar so distracting?
He’d not write; and well you know it.
Poetry is so exacting.
From little thoughts, come weighty words;
From words, come mighty deeds.
Everything the world affords,
Sprang from very tiny seeds.
Thoughts are impressed; and words are heard;
Thoughts travel through the air.
A thought is an unspoken word,
With power to declare.
I am tired of telling stories;
And tired of singing rhyme.
I am tired of petty worries
Annoying all the time.
I long to fly away from here,
To where I do not know;
But now a thought makes it most clear,
From self I ne’er can go.
Not long ago I knew a man,
And most unhappy he;
As each day the gauntlet ran,
Resolved, “Free I shall be.”
One day he cut the chain that binds;
And now across that sea;
In great astonishment, he finds
From self he’ll ne’er be free.
In years gone past I had a friend;
And loving was her heart;
At all times anxious to defend,
And gracious love impart.
One day she said, “I’ll end it all;
For I wane with failing health.”
I said, “Be wise and do not fall;
You ne’er can go from self.”
Friend, do not think you e’er can go
Away from self so great;
Even though you faint beneath the blow,
And very sad your state.
Even though yourself you little prize,
Do not your life betray.
To hate yourself is most unwise;
With self you’ll always stay.
I’ll keep on telling stories;
And keep on singing rhyme;
Not caring for the worries
Annoying all the time;
And if I fly away from here,
To where I do not know;
I’d see in bold letters clear,
“From self you ne’er can go.”
“knowledge is power.” So says the sage,
We grow in wisdom we do not age.
We grow each day from small to great,
Step by step from state to state.
We cannot loiter by the way,
We must press on from day to day.
We cannot bid Old Time to wait,
He’s never early, never late.
We must all work while it is light;
For too soon will come the darksome night.
Not a minute can we throw away,
So let us seek pearls while we may.
The time misspent we cannot recall;
But must render an account for all;
For every wrathful deed and word,
By lowly man, high angels heard.
The book of knowledge is so great,
It’s worth we cannot estimate;
And as we learn the lesson true,
We’ll know the years are all too few.
Then let us mark each passing hour,
By praising wisdom’s might power.
Then let us mark each fleeting day,
By basking beneath its radiant ray.
After the sun has sunk to rest,
And before the stars appear,
I seem to love this time the best;
The hour of twilight dear.
A beautiful and holy calm
Comes stealing o’er the land,
It breathes to me a reverent psalm,
The eloquence I understand.
O then I love to meditate
On life’s deep mysteries;
This truth and that to contemplate
And grasp them by degrees.
I know so little and need so much,
I feel like some mere worm,
Whose great humility is such
That it clings alone to form.
My thirst for knowledge is so great;
And the Universe is so vast,
I daily bemoan my mean, low state;
My poor and inferior caste.
The tasks and duties of each day,
How worthless they all seem!
And as each day soon flirts away,
The toil I useless deem.
But Wisdom’s such a mighty thing,
I cannot name its worth;
Of its beauty I can only sing,
And its power o’er all the Earth.
The foolish man will hurl me down;
While the sage will raise me to the heights.
From Wisdom I will gain renown;
But by Folly lose my rights.
After the sun has sunk to rest,
And after the night descents,
Comes the twilight hour, so sweet and blest,
When enchanting beauty blends.
Then Twilight sings her songs of peace,
Most grateful to my ears.
With her song, all petty troubles cease;
“Twilight’s Psalm” my soul reveres.
One evening I stood by the river;
The waters were calm and still.
And, as I thought of the “Bountiful Giver”,
I was filled with a deep, thankful thrill.
The sun had just sunk in its glory;
A soft glow covered o’er the place,
Like the spell of a beautiful story,
Or a picture no pen could trace.
In the distance towered the mountain;
With its dazzling, snow-capped crest.
And as I watched the play of a fountain,
I thought, “Earth is gorgeously dressed.”
A soft wind stirred the branches,
And whispered in the trees.
And I said, “Each thing enhances,
To help earth’s grandeur increase.”
And while I meditated,
The stars came one by one;
As if they were delegated,
To finish work left undone.
O come to the land of the Silence!
Come to the land of sweet dreams!
Come and inhale fragrant incense;
And rest under mystical beams.
Come to this sweet merry dreamland!
And sweep all your thoughts away!
Come join this witching, carefree band;
Come and be happy today.
Come to the cool shady arbors!
Come to the banquet of peace!
You will be safe in the harbors,
You’ll find here contentment and ease.
Come away from the world and its pressures!
Come away from its sorrow and pain;
The silence will bring you great treasures;
It calls you again and again.
Come listen to music enticing!
Come hear the entrancing, pure sound!
Enchantment; – alluring devising;
Waves her magic wand all around.
Come and commune with nature!
Come hear the song of the soul!
Come to lake, mountain, and green pasture,
And the mystical beauty extol.
The voice of the Silence e’er calls you.
Yes, now you can hear its soft speech!
Be thankful you’re one of the favored few,
That the voice of the Silence can reach.
The rarest gem that ever shown;
Raised from the land; raised from the sea,
No matter how in worth it’s grown:
How easy it could tarnished be!
The fairest flower that ever grew;
Could, by storm, be cast down;
And thus, would lose its vivid hue,
And lose the hope with which ’twas sown.
The greatest thought that was ever sent;
However slightly misconstrued,
Would lose the thread of what was meant;
The wisest souls delude.
The sweetest song we ever wrote;
Highly inspired; of high degree,
By leaving out a single note;
Could lose its dulcet melody.
The rarest gem, the fairest flower;
The inspired thought, th melody;
Without the care within our power;
Might all lose their reality!
Away far back in the misty past.
Then and there my dream began.
Then and there my destiny was cast;
My part in this great plan.
O then was marked my path of joy;
My path of pain as well;
The trials that would my peace destroy,
The love to grief dispel.
Could I escape my path in life,
Or change the great law’s course;
The toil, the pain, the petty strife,
Willed by Majestic Force?
And I am too a wondrous force;
Although unimportant do I seem.
For with the power from this great source,
How much I can redeem!
Away far back in the misty past,
Then and there my dream began.
Then and there my destiny cast;
My part in this great plan.
Mary Cushing's Poetry 