Poem by Lola Ridge

Dedication

  I would be a torch unto your hand,
  A lamp upon your forehead, Labor,
  In the wild darkness before the Dawn
  That I shall never see...

  We shall advance together, my Beloved,
  Awaiting the mighty ushering...
  Together we shall make the last grand charge
  And ride with gorgeous Death
  With all her spangles on
  And cymbals clashing...
  And you shall rush on exultant as I fall--
  Scattering a brief fire about your feet...

  Let it be so...
  Better--while life is quick
  And every pain immense and joy supreme,
  And all I have and am
  Flames upward to the dream...
  Than like a taper forgotten in the dawn,
  Burning out the wick.

1. Scandal
2. Dispossed
3. East River
4. A Worn Rose
5. Broadway

Stephen Benet Dedication ("To W. R. B.")

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