Golden Stars And Other Verses Following "The Red Flower"

Excerpt

The Valley of Vision
Fighting for Peace
The Unknown Quantity
The Ruling Passion
The Blue Flower

Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land
Days Off
Little Rivers
Fisherman's Luck

Poems, Collection in one volume

Golden Stars
The Red Flower
The Grand Canyon, and Other Poems
The White Bees, and Other Poems
The Builders, and Other Poems
Music, and Other Poems
The Toiling of Felix, and Other Poems
The House of Rimmon

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

GOLDEN STARS

AND OTHER VERSES

BY

HENRY VAN DYKE

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1919

Copyright, 1918, 1919, by Charles Scribner's Sons

Published February, 1919

Copyright, 1918, BY THE OUTLOOK COMPANY
Copyright, 1918, BY THE NEW YORK HERALD CO.
Copyright, 1917, BY NEW YORK TIMES CO.
Copyright, 1918, BY NEW YORK TRIBUNE, INC.
Copyright, 1917, BY LAND & WATER PUB. CO.
Copyright, 1918, BY THE PUBLIC LEDGER
Copyright, 1918, BY THE PRESS PUBLISHING CO.

The only reason for printing this little book is that many people have expressed a desire to have the memorial poem, "Golden Stars," in a permanent form.

The other verses are included simply because they are a wayside record of some of the varied feelings of an old lover of peace who was willing to fight for it,—feelings which may find a response in other American hearts.

Henry van Dyke.
Avalon, January 6, 1919.

CONTENTS

I have no joy in strife,
Peace is my great desire;
Yet God forbid I lose my life
Through fear to face the fire.
A peaceful man must fight
For that which peace demands,—
Freedom and faith, honor and right,
Defend with heart and hands.
Farewell, my friendly books;
Farewell, ye woods and streams;
The fate that calls me forward looks
To a duty beyond dreams.
Oh, better to be dead
With a face turned to the sky,
Than live beneath a slavish dread
And serve a giant lie.
Stand up, my heart, and strive
For the things most dear to thee!
Why should we care to be alive
Unless the world is free?

May, 1918.

THE WINDS OF WAR-NEWS

The winds of war-news change and veer
Now westerly and full of cheer,
Now easterly, depressing, sour
With tidings of the Teutons' power.

But thou, America, whose heart
With brave Allies has taken part,
Be not a weathercock to change
With these wild winds that shift and range.

Be thou a compass ever true,
Through sullen clouds or skies of blue,
To that great star which rules the night,—
The star of Liberty and Right.

Lover of peace, oh set thy soul,
Thy strength, thy wealth, thy conscience whole,
To win the peace thine eyes foresee,—
The triumph of Democracy.

December 19, 1917.

There are many kinds of hatred, as many kinds of fire;
And some are fierce and fatal with murderous desire;
And some are mean and craven, revengeful, sullen, slow,
They hurt the man that holds them more than they hurt his foe....