In Praise of Songs that Die

After having read a Great Deal of Good Current Poetry in the Magazines and Newspapers

Ah, they are passing, passing by,

Wonderful songs, but born to die!

Cries from the infinite human seas,

Waves thrice-winged with harmonies.

Here I stand on a pier in the foam

Seeing the songs to the beach go home,

Dying in sand while the tide flows back,

As it flowed of old in its fated track.

Oh, hurrying tide that will not hear

Your own foam-children dying near:

Is there no refuge-house of song,

No home, no haven where songs belong?

Oh, precious hymns that come and go!

You perish, and I love you so!