The Spray of Kentucky Pine


O! James Whitcomb Riley!
This Man From Down On The Farm--one-while
your constant Companion, in work most
Congenial, all-while your Faithful Friend--rejoices.
and is exceeding Glad, That All Is Well With You!
For no one knew, better than you,
the Wisdom, the Beauty, of Death!
No one the more fully realized
the Folly, the Futility, of human Grief!
You firmly believed, that he, who follows The Christ;
that he, who, in all Humility, bears the Cross; that
he, who, in all Gratitude, wears upon his unworthy brow,
the imprint of the Kiss Divine!--the Kiss of Forgiveness
Complete--you firmly believed, that he ought to be
brave enough, strong enough, to meet the Call,
whensoever, wheresoever, it may chance to come.
You firmly believed that the Call always
comes at the Right Moment: that Incompletion
Here, finds its Completement There: that every
human Life holds--like the Palace of Aladdin--its
unfinished Window: that the finite mind,
hampered by its mortality, is a clog to any
Completion, to any Earthly Perfection.
Therefore, feeling, believing, as you did Here,
now knowing, as you must _know_ There,