Poem by Ina Donna Coolbrith

Rebuke

“THE world is old and the world is cold,
And never a day is fair," I said.
Out of the heavens the sunlight rolled,
The green leaves rustled above my head,
And the sea was a sea of gold.

"The world is cruel," I said again,
"Her voice is harsh to my shrinking ear,
And the nights are dreary and full of pain."
Out of the darkness, sweet and clear,
There rippled a tender strain:

Rippled the song of a bird asleep,
That sang in a dream of the budding wood;
Of shining fields where the reapers reap,
Of a wee brown mate and a nestling brood,
And the grass where the berries peep.

"The world is false, though the world be fair,
And never a heart is pure," I said.
And lo! the clinging of white arms bare,
The innocent gold of my baby's head,
And the lisp of a childish prayer!

1. Meadowlarks
2. The Captive of the White City
3. The Day of Our Lord
4. Bret Harte (A stir of pines in the forest)
5. Unbound

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