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Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay

revised and illustrated edition
Lindsay, Vachel (1879-1931)

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[dedication]
  
INVOCATION FOR “THE MAP OF THE UNIVERSE”
  
TO EVE, MAN'S DREAM OF WIFEHOOD AS DESCRIBED BY MILTON
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JOHNNY APPLESEED'S WIFE OF THE MIND
  
JOHNNY APPLESEED'S HYMN TO THE SUN
  
JOHNNY APPLESEED'S SHIP COMES IN
  
JOHNNY APPLESEED SPEAKS OF THE APPLEBLOSSOM AMARANTH THAT WILL COME TO THIS CITY
  
JOHNNY APPLESEED'S WIFE FROM THE PALACE OF EVE
  
JOHNNY APPLESEED SPEAKS OF GREAT CITIES IN THE FUTURE
  
HOW JOHNNY APPLESEED WALKED ALONE IN THE JUNGLES OF HEAVEN
  
PARVENU
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COLLECTED POEMS
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SECTION I NIGHTINGALES
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SECTION II ORATIONS, COLLEGE WAR-CRIES, AND OLYMPIC GAMES
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SECTION III LITANY OF THE HEROES
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SECTION IV VERSES OF AN ESPECIALLY INSCRIPTIONAL CHARACTER
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SECTION V MOON-POEMS
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SECTION VI INCENSE AND PRAISE, AND WHIM, AND GLORY
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SECTION VII RUNES OF THE ROAD
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SECTION VIII HOME TOWN
  
AFTER READING THE SAD STORY OF THE FALL OF BABYLON
  
TO REFORMERS IN DESPAIR
  
THE CORNFIELDS
  
KING ARTHURS'S MEN HAVE COME AGAIN
  
DRINK FOR SALE.
  
[SAID THIRST TO HUNGER ONE DAY]
  
ON READING OMAR KHAYYAM
  
FOREIGN MISSIONS IN BATTLE ARRAY
  
A RHYME ABOUT AN ELECTRICAL ADVERTISING SIGN
  
AN ARGUMENT
  
THE NORTH STAR WHISPERS TO THE BLACKSMITH'S SON
  
THE PRAIRIE BATTLEMENTS
  
THE DREAM OF ALL THE SPRINGFIELD WRITERS
  
THE HEARTH ETERNAL
  
THE TOWN OF AMERICAN VISIONS
  
THE SPRINGFIELD OF THE FAR FUTURE
  
OUR GUARDIAN ANGELS AND THEIR CHILDREN
  
THE EMPTY BOATS
  
HOW I WALKED ALONE IN THE JUNGLES OF HEAVEN
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ALEXANDER CAMPBELL
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THE TALE OF THE TIGER TREE
  
THE SOUL OF A SPIDER
  
THE SOUL OF A BUTTERFLY
  
HEART OF GOD
  
SEW THE FLAGS TOGETHER
  
I HEARD IMMANUEL SINGING
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SECTION IX POLITICS
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SECTION X SONGS BASED ON CARTOONS, BILL-BOARDS, AND AMERICAN HIEROGLYPHICS, AND MOTION-PICTURES
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SECTION XI A SONG BASED ON EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS:

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209

THE ANGEL AND THE CLOWN

I saw wild domes and bowers
And smoking incense towers
And mad exotic flowers
In Illinois.
Where ragged ditches ran
Now springs of Heaven began
Celestial drink for man
In Illinois.
There stood beside the town
Beneath its incense-crown
An angel and a clown
In Illinois.
He was as Clowns are:
She was snow and star
With eyes that looked afar
In Illinois.
I asked, “How came this place
Of antique Asian grace
Amid our callow race
In Illinois?”
Said Clown and Angel fair:
“By laughter and by prayer,
By casting off all care
In Illinois.”
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