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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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THE WOULD-BE MERMAN

Mobs are like the Gulf Stream,
Like the vast Atlantic.
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In your fragile boats you ride,
Conceited folk at ease.
Far beneath are dancers,
Mermen wild and frantic,
Circling round the giant glowing
Sea-anemones.
“Crude, ill-smelling voters,—
Herds,” to you in seeming.
But to me their draggled clothes
Are scales of gold and red.
Ah, the pink sea-horses,
Green sea-dragons gleaming,
And knights that chase the dragons
And spear them till they're dead!
Wisdom waits the diver
In the social ocean—
Rainbow shells of wonder,
Piled into a throne.
I would go exploring
Through the wide commotion,
Building under some deep cliff
A pearl-throne all my own.
Yesterday I dived there,
Grinned at all the roaring,
Clinging to the corals for a flash,
Defying death.
Mermen came rejoicing,
In procession pouring,
Yet I lost my feeble grip
And came above for breath.
I would be a merman.
Not in desperation
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A momentary diver
Blue for lack of air.
But with gills deep-breathing
Swim amid the nation—
Finny feet and hands forsooth,
Sea-laurels in my hair.
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