Bugle Call

O pilot now your ship of days or years

Unerringly to reach a promised goal.

The Master Helmsman will allay your fears

And still the tempests that would scar your soul.

You leave the haven of a citadel

Which greed would now destroy; so let a song

Rise from your heard that you may break the spell

Of avarice that moves a Judas-throng.

Wearing white armor, go and give release;

Brave terror's henchmen on the death-strewn plain;

Bid earth to sing a canticle of peace,

Become a sanctuary--love's domain.

Your shield is youth's clean strength which you have won--

God's arm is long to reach to you, my son.

The Improvement Era

To Fulfill a Dream

We who have heard the singing of the stars,

The symphony from lilting robin-throats,

The laughter of the hills devoid of scars,

Now hear the laugh of avarice that gloats.

The atavistic mirth that chills the soul

From mouths of grasping men with claws uncurled

To still the pulse of love--make earth unwhole,

Drowns out the Master's lyric in the world.

Yet as we listen to the ruthless tongues

We see ethereal candles brightly gleam,

And strive to climb the higher on the rungs

Reaching to Heaven to fulfill a dream.

We toil to heal the gaping greed-made scars--

We who have heard the singing of the stars.

Keep Your Eyes on the Stars

Keep your eyes on the stars, my child, and wear

Their silvery pollen

In your hair.

Keep your eyes on the stars and you will hail

Beauty along

The rugged trail.

Keep your eyes on the stars, my child, and see

The ascending path

To Eternity.

Fashion a Star

Sorrow and tears
Shadow the years--
Lift your eyes far.

Dark is the height
Mocking your sight--
Fashion a star.