Poem of the Week
March 28, 2005
The Platte, long wandering, but caught at last
In old Missouri's arms, told there a tale . . .
The prairies heard: like seekers of the grail
They hurried on a quest and cleaving fast,
Wide windy golden seas of harvest, passed,
Green sandalled through Nebraska on a trail
That Kansas follows, too. It leads where pale
Virginity gives birth to snow and blast. . .
They near and fling rich flowered robes away ;
In scant grass venture, pilgrim plains are torn
And bruised, yet stumble forward. Tiptoe, they ;
Unheeding spite of stone and thrust of thorn ;
Pause on a cliff and Colorado thrills
With their exultant cry: "The hills! The hills!"
--Lilian White Spencer
Contemporary Verse (Sonnet Prize 1923).
From Anthology of Magazine Verse for1924 and Yearbook of American
Poetry. Edited by William Stanley Braithwaite. B. J. Brimmer Company,
Boston, 1924. Copyright, 1924. Reproduction by Vintage Colorado
Poetry, non-profit literary archive, for scholarly purpose: 1998 Copyright
Term Extension Act [last 20 year rule].
Previously posted: May 10, 2004