Poem of the Week -- June 13, 2005

Vintage Colorado Poetry for Father's Day June 19

Damon Runyon, Pueblo's bad boy, is most remembered for Guys and Dolls, the Broadway musical based on his New York short stories. "The Song of the Exiles" draws on the last years of his father Alfred's battle with tuberculosis. In better times, the senior Runyan (with an "a") had worked for the Pueblo Chieftain.

The Song of the Exiles                                  Arizona -- 1912 Our dreams are dreams of the big white lane, and            the glories of glittering lights ; Our themes are themes of crowds we knew and our            stories of brilliant nights ; And our minds dwell long on the star-set hours, and the            things that we used to do As we muse on the time of our health and youth and           pray that our dreams come true ---      And we chant a prayer at eventide      As we watch the stars in their splendor ride      Over the world for which we've sighed ---                   " Lord, be with us,                   Stay with us! " We march by the Sunset Limited and we camp at the                 Mission Inns --- Our flag is the Red Cross flag of hope and our hope that                 the best man wins ; So we spend our time in the house tent kraals, with our                 thin lines faced to the foe And we greet the night as the time of dreams of the days                 that we used to know.        Yet we pray as we face the rising sun        And the hours of the day begin to run :        " Lord, Oh, Lord, Thy will be done ---                     Be with us,                     Stay with us! " Our doctor-generals have kept our camps flung wide                 'neath the Southwest skies ; And we've fought our batteries of great resolve with a                 courage that never dies ; So we spend our time on the sun-splashed plain that the                 healing South Wind sweeps --- And each morning that marshals our thin reserves finds                 our dreams lying dead in heaps!        So we kneel when darkness comes, and pray ---        (There's very little that we can say ;)        " Lord, Oh, Lord, Give us this day ---                     Be with us,                     Stay with us! "                                            --Damon Runyon Reprinted from Rhymes of the Firing Line by Damon Runyon.                        New York: Desmond FitzGerald, 1912.

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