Poem by Vachel Lindsay

The Alchemist’s Petition

Thou wilt not sentence to eternal life
My soul that prays that it may sleep and sleep
Like a white statue dropped into the deep,
Covered with sand, covered with chests of gold,
And slave-bones, tossed from many a pirate hold.

But for this prayer thou wilt not bind in Hell
My soul, that shook with love for Fame and Truth—
In Such unquenched desires consumed his youth—
Let me turn dust, like dead leaves in the Fall,
Or wood that lights an hour your knightly hall— 

Amen.

1. The Merciful Hand
2. To Buddha
3. The Black Hawk War of the Artists
4. The Haughty Snail-King
5. The Sorceress!

Print

1395 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version