Each in his own Tongue

Each in his own Tongue

Original Text
William Herbert Carruth, Each in his own Tongue (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1909): 2-3. 9700.d.146 Cambridge University Library
1A fire-mist and a planet,
2     A crystal and a cell,
4     And caves where the cave-men dwell;
5Then a sense of law and beauty
6     And a face turned from the clod, --
7Some call it Evolution,
8     And others call it God.
9A haze on the far horizon,
10     The infinite, tender sky,
11The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields,
12     And the wild geese sailing high;
13And all over upland and lowland
14     The charm of the golden-rod, --
15Some of us call it Autumn,
16     And others call it God.
17Like tides on a crescent sea-beach,
18     When the moon is new and thin,
19Into our hearts high yearnings
20     Come welling and surging in:
21Come from the mystic ocean,
22     Whose rim no foot has trod, --
23Some of us call it Longing,
24     And others call it God.
26     A mother starved for her brood,
27Socrates drinking the hemlock,
29And millions who, humble and nameless,
30     The straight, hard pathway plod, --
31Some call it Consecration,
32     And others call it God.

Notes

3] saurian: dinosaur. Back to Line
25] picket: a lone soldier, a lookout, charged with watching for the approach of an enemy force. Back to Line
28] rood: cross. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1902
Publication Notes
New England Magazine
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2002
Rhyme