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Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay

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

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[section]
  
[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
  
A Song in July
  
I WANT TO GO WANDERING
  
BY THE SPRING AT SUNSET
  
ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE
  
THE BEGGAR'S VALENTINE
  
THE WOULD-BE MERMAN
  
HONOR AMONG SCAMPS
  
WHY I VOTED THE SOCIALIST TICKET
  
GALAHAD, KNIGHT WHO PERISHED
  
THE TRAP
  
THE GAMBLERS
  
IN THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHURCH
  
STAR OF MY HEART
  
LOOK YOU, I'LL GO PRAY
  
A PRAYER TO ALL THE DEAD AMONG MINE OWN PEOPLE
  
AT MASS
  
THE DANDELION
  
THE CITY THAT WILL NOT REPENT
  
THE VOICE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
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THE GOLDEN WHALES OF CALIFORNIA
  
I WENT DOWN INTO THE DESERT
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POEMS SPEAKING OF BUDDHA, PRINCE SIDDARTHA
  
THE COMET OF PROPHECY
  
THE TRAMP'S REFUSAL
  
THE FLOWER OF MENDING
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SECTION VIII HOME TOWN
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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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250

The Censer-Moon

(What the Hermit Said)

The moon is but a censer swung
By angel hands unseen.
The earth has breathed the incense,
She is the angel queen.
The censer makes her drunk with hope,
She sees within the sky
A wild dominion she shall cross
Riding a chariot high.
Such hands as swing the censer
Shall grip the conquering steel
And hew and slay 'mid demon stars
But at the last shall heal.
They'll cast the crowns of conquered stars
On the proud queen's chariot-floor
And cry: “The whole sky loves you
And the great deep shall adore.”
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