Some Broken Twigs | Page 3

the self-same wine.
OKLAHOMA
Hail Oklahoma land! O prairie plain,?There is no state more dearly loved.--All hail!?Where grassy hills and sheltered cove and vale?Rest quietly in peace--and in refrain?Our voices lift in praise and joy again;?We sing of Oklahoma land.--All hail!?Of sunny skies and even windy gale,?And wealth of growing corn and flowing grain;?Where black gold gleams and roses bloom in spring.?Here long roads stretch and grazing cow-herds roam.?We build in faith great churches and our state?With many schools, where children gaily sing.?We love our loamy fields and prairie home?And struggle onward upward, soon and late.
Hail Oklahoma land! O grassy plain,?There is no state more dearly loved.--All hail!
OUR MORNING PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,?Drive from the soul the hopelessness,?Fill it with charity and faith,?And fire the heart with kindliness,?For Jesus sake, amen.
WE THANK OUR GOD
We thank our God for this glad Christmas day,?For health and freedom, peace and hope today.?We float our flag on every hill and trail;?All Hail! The red and white and blue, all hail!?Again upon the board a feast is spread,?And God now guards and blesses our good bread.?Our turkey's big and fat and pudding brown,?And we will smile all day and wear no frown.?Once more our bins are filled with corn and wheat,?The bread we break is good, so light and sweet,?Cranberries, pumpkin pies and walnut meats.?We bow to thank our God for these good eats.?This land America! To God give thanks.?Our men are strong and brave in all the ranks.?All Hail America! Our hope and pride.?God bless our home and now with us abide.
WAITING
The waiting minutes?Tick on but never ending?To eternity.?The years do not wait.?So stealthily do they move,?Like deep swift water.
THAT HAPPY COMPANIONSHIP
Remembering friends of the not long ago,?Their laughter a gay bubbling song.?The whispering of secrets, the rapture of show.?The mounting of spirits lit the peak aglow?And lifted the heart up along
The forgetting of wrong in a moment of joy,?Quite erased the hurt and the scar,?With music of kindness and naught to annoy,?And gold of the friendship refusing alloy.?Thus comrades in their happiness are.
I WATCHED MY FLOWERS
I watched my flowers grow and brighten barren places;?They smiled at me the whole day long with brilliant faces The blues and reds, the white and yellow in morning dews?Drove out the hurt of bitter grief and other bruise,?But now the drought will blight the tender buds and leaves. And parch the earth as the winds blow on scorching sprees, 'Til July's heat and August sun are duly past,?Yet many things are fine and good at weary last?For if the rain should come, good seed would surely die.?In truth, I should be thankful for a cloudless sky?To ripen seed that sprout and grow in barren places.?And wink at me next year with bright and smiling faces
BEES OF HATRED
The bees of hatred hover?Above and around us.?A good crop will be hatched?To torment and sting us.
THIS AFTERNOON
This afternoon, an angry heart and crude?Consoled himself with an unkindly deed.?Within his soul was hate like garden weed,?That choked the buds and bulbs. In childish feud,?His glee, like noisy urchins brash and rude,?Who trample flowers, pay no thoughtful heed.?The careless acts bring harm and pain with speed.?And sin-scarred hearts deceive themselves, delude?No one. Such souls will have few friends at last.?When life is hard, no one will bear his care?Unless a kindly one, who looks about?To help, to pull and clear. The field is vast!?O weary man! Unhappy world! "Unfair?Is life" men say, "The whole is full of doubt."
SHE RETURNED IT
She borrowed a lump of sugar?To sweeten a cup of tea.?I felt so very silly?When she brought it back to me.
TO MY FRIENDS
On Christmas day, let happy dreams?Sparkle and flow like bubbling streams.
A MAIDEN'S DREAM
I often think and dream and ponder?Of things that I have seen,?And twist the real into a wonder?When men and birds convene.
If I could reach that star up yonder,?My soul would lift and preen;?If Summertime would always stay?My yard would be more green.
I see the airplane rise and soaring?On all bright days and fair;?The tiny specks go roaring out?Across the hills from care.
If my good pilot friend is landing?On some star world up there.?He might bring back some silver?Or flowers for my hair.
PROMISES
On New Year's day?Mankind makes promises?Of gossamer film.
IN BOASTFUL PRIDE
He walked quite proudly on the rocky ledge?And shouted, "I am standing here so high!?How fine the valley and the flowing rye,?I see the barn that's near the osage hedge;?Come look--it's splendid from this shaly edge!"?He leaned far out and slipped--the foolish guy.?Where he had stood was only murky sky.?To face great danger is a privilege.?Don't dare for show, my boy, the rock might slide.?For worthy cause the brave will stand or fall,?But watch the stepping where the bluff is steep;?Remember too when flushed with boastful pride,?Men take most careless risks--don't reckon all;?And then--a life goes out in just one