Arthur V. Kent. The Wild Honey of Wisdom. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

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

The Wild Honey of Wisdom

By Arthur V. Kent


To E. L. L. BETTER a thousand times is my friend than the nuts of knowledge to me.
She is wise with the wisdom the flower gives to the honey-gathering bee.
The ways of her mind are free to the winds that circle infinity.

My friend is a gardener of joy, and her radiant thoughts are seeds
That soon or late will be blossoming in the green of their destined meads—	5
She has sown in my heart a music that was sighed through moon-lit reeds.

Frail are her songs from fairydom, and so surpassing sweet
That in them is the laugh of leaves and the gleam of green-shod feet,
And in and out thread flights of wings with soft and rhythmic beat.

She holds a great enchantment in each white, lovely hand;	10
The days run through her fingers like bright escaping sand,
And all but grains of loveliness her sanctuary are banned.

Her feet, so used to wind-sweet ways, for rest were never meant.
’Tis on a wonder-seeking quest their tireless steps are bent.
Her soul must be a nomad star with all the heavens for bent.	15