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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
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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 TRIAL OF THE DEAD CLEOPATRA IN HER BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL TOMB
  
[prologue]
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I. She Becomes a Soul, Flowering Toward Egyptian Resurrection, B.C. 29
  
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B.C. 2. Nine years later.
  
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Anno Domini 1.
  
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Anno Domini 10. Nine years later.
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II. She Becomes a Goddess.
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III. She is Lifted with the Old Gods into the Western Sky

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435

THE PEARL OF BILOXI

Proudest pearl of the wide world,
Haughtier than an Inca's plume,
You and I, near this Biloxi,
Long were laid in a shell tomb.
There we slept like white blind kittens
Curled in a warm kitchen box,
While the friendly fist of the sea
On our roof made humorous knocks
Without breaking the shell box.
Grandest pearl of the whole world,
And so vain you are twice dear,
Kin to dragon flies and dragons,
Kin to larks and kin to larkspurs,
Kin to gold and white snapdragons
And hot bees that drink such flagons
You grew whiter year by year,
You grew slender, like a dawn ray
To the plume, and flower, and torch I find you here.
Plume, upon the sunrise crest,
Pride of the beach, and set apart,
Hearing me, if not concurring—
Do we not have one horizon?
Is there not a secret stirring,
Yes, a deep-sea-kitten purring,
Then the slow thump of the ocean,
Deep in your heart, and my heart?
Oh, your heart is sky and ocean!
Each fond heart a world-wide heart ...
To a new religion set apart ...
Set apart,
Set apart.
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