| Augustin S. Macdonald, comp. A Collection of Verse by California Poets. 1914. | | | | The Goblin Laugh | | By Edwin Markham |
| | | WHEN I behold how men and women grind | |
| And grovel for some place of pomp or power, | |
| To shine and circle through a crumbling hour, | |
| Forgetting the large mansions of the mind, | |
| That are the rest and shelter of mankind; | 5 |
| And when I see them come with wearied brains | |
| Pallid and powerless to enjoy their gains, | |
| I seem to hear a goblin laugh unwind. | |
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| And then a memory sends upon its billow | |
| Thoughts of a singer wise enough to play, | 10 |
| Who took life as a lightsome holiday: | |
| Oft have I seen him make his arm a pillow, | |
| Drink from his hand, and with a pipe of willow | |
| Blow a wild music down a woodland way. | | | | |
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