Monochiomes: A Poem
Improvement Era, vol. 8, no. 11, September 1905, pp. 847 to 848
Townsend, J. L.
DO IT NO W.—B UT HO W? 847
system of quiet, well-ordered duties. Such a life gives freedom, peace, and constantly increasing capacity. And when, in contemplation of these things, one is led out to observe nature in all her orderly methods, do not the thoughts then quickly rise to that God who orders the course of the stars, and whose existence is one eternal, perfectly rounded circle of peace, laboi and love!
Salt Lake City, Utah.
MONOCHROMES.
(For the Improvement Era.)
I love to sit with half closed eyes And study lights and shades of shrub and tree; And as an artist finds high lights, deep shades, In glorious monochromes of hill and lea, So do I find the light and shade of skies, • Of pastures, fields and woods and mountain glades, And paint with words what, to me, ever seems A world of dreams.
And as I love the neutral tint Of clouds, low laid upon the mountain sides; The gray December, with its leaden hues, The deep, dark canyon, where the streamlet hides; So do I love the lights, and hues, that glint From stream, or fall, or gorgeous autumn views, With all the brighter things that earth can give For these I live!
The earth is all a wonderland Of changing shades and shadows day and night, As restless as the tides; o'er all the face Of nature's broad expanse, there plays the light
848 IMPROVEMENT ERA.
And darkness of a limner's skillful hand That teaches art, till art must pause and trace The monochromes of ever-varying shade So deftly made.
hold both art and sculpture dear; Let each interpret what the other gives: The artist best can tell what sculpture is, The sculptor best where art most truly lives. But I to Nature give my eye, my ear, I ask of her, nor need I ask amiss, Her art, her sculpture and her minstrelsy, Belong to me! J. L. Townsend. Payson, Utah.
THE RIGHT WAY AND THE WRONG.
Oh, the right way and the wrong way With each one goes abreast; But the wrong way often claims that It is the one that's best.
The right pursues so modestly The way that leads to peace; While the wrong way leads to endings That sorrow doth increase.
And while it seems that, in this world, Both are always needed, We'll realize in future time,