Charles deGuire Christoph. Improvisation. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Improvisation

By Charles deGuire Christoph


From “Reflections” TELL me the singing glory of my woe,
Poet who can hold the pen to paper, for I go
Silently down the neuter-tinted pathways of old streams
Lazily frowning, waiting still the beams
Of suns extended in some dazzling secret sky	5
To show me beauty on my heart before I die—
Great Beauty shrouded in her multi-colored pall
With kisses for my lips, and sweetness for the gall
That stings them. So some have always gone;
My burden’s but a little flowery load upon	10
Old monks and lovers smiling in their graves,
And singing kings somewhere who once were slaves
Like me. Why scan so long? O poet, say,
“He wandered and he waited till he found where Beauty lay.”