Legacy

He looked around the room and saw his ten--

A few short hours was all he had to live--

He smiled, "Six stately women, four tall men!

To you I leave no lands or gold but give

An honored name on which you each may build

Your cherished castles, live your dreams and find

No breath of scandal that must needs be stilled--

No specters that can haunt your peace of mind;

For though I have but walked the lowly road

My thoughts have been as high as yonder star.

My love has lightened every heavy load;

And I have watched you climb to where you are

Pride in my heart--Now my short trek is ended.

Continue choosing pathways, broad and splendid."

I Am the Pilot

Standing before myself I cannot hide
Behind the mountains if and might have been;
Wear robes of false pretense or erring pride;
Self-righteous sandals ease my feet, for then
My soul is nude and knows--perhaps in tears--
I am the pilot of my ship of years.

Inviolate Eden

The albatross of discord--should it light--
Casts far its gloomy shadow. While the choice,
Gay-plumaged birds with sweeter song take flight
Before its somber spell, its raucous voice
Brings castles crashing. (When the mute batons
Of aspens twirl while from the lark's glad throat
There spills a star-splashed fountain in the bronze,
Hushed hour of dawn, a magpie's zither note
Shatters the fragile moment.) The retreat
Illumined by love's tapers knows the dread,
Dark, heavy wings of gloom, the gray web-feet--
No  haven which they have not visited.
Yet man may keep, if he will guard the gate,
The Eden of his mind inviolate.

First in MFCP Sonnet Contest, Spring 1953

I Must Choose

I cannot mend the heart that I have broken
By thoughtless, cruel words my lips have spoken;
Retrace the path my errant feet have taken
Leaving me wounded and my spirit shaken.
Before I start, not when the trek is ended,
I must choose roadways that are broad and splendid.