Poem by Vachel Lindsay

The Proud Farmer

[In memory of E. S. Frazee, Rush County, Indiana]

Into the acres of the newborn state 
He poured his strength, and plowed his ancient name, 
And, when the traders followed him, he stood 
Towering above their furtive souls and tame. 

That brow without a stain, that fearless eye 
Oft left the passing stranger wondering 
To find such knighthood in the sprawling land, 
To see a democrat well-nigh a king. 

He lived with liberal hand, with guests from far, 
With talk and joke and fellowship to spare, — 
Watching the wide world’s life from sun to sun, 
Lining his walls with books from everywhere. 
He read by night, he built his world by day. 
The farm and house of God to him were one. 
For forty years he preached and plowed and wrought — 
A statesman in the fields, who bent to none. 

His plowmen-neighbors were as lords to him. 
His was an ironside, democratic pride. 
He served a rigid Christ, but served him well — 
And, for a lifetime, saved the countryside. 

Here lie the dead, who gave the church their best 
Under his fiery preaching of the word. 
They sleep with him beneath the ragged grass... 
The village withers, by his voice unstirred. 

And tho’ his tribe be scattered to the wind 
From the Atlantic to the China sea, 
Yet do they think of that bright lamp he burned 
Of family worth and proud integrity. 

And many a sturdy grandchild hears his name 
In reverence spoken, till he feels akin 
To all the lion-eyed who built the world — 
And lion-dreams begin to burn within.

1. What the Sexton Said
2. Sweet Briars of the Stairways
3. The Leaden-Eyed
4. The Booker Washington Trilogy
5. With a Bouquet of Twelve Roses

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