Page:General William Booth enters into Heaven, and other poems.djvu/127

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Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
111

A GOSPEL OF BEAUTY

I recited these three poems more than any others in my late mendicant preaching tour through the West. Taken as a triad, they hold in solution my theory of American civilization.

THE PROUD FARMER

[In memory of E. S.. Frazee, Rush County, Indiana]

INTO the acres of the newborns state
He poured his strength, and plowed his ancient name,
And, when the traders followed him, he stood
Towering above their furtive souls and tame.

That brow without a stain, that fearless eye
Oft left the passing stranger wondering