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Joyce Kilmer

American poet, editor, literary critic, soldier

Alfred Joyce Kilmer (6 December 1886 – 30 July 1918) was an American journalist and poet.

The only sort of book I care to write about the war is the sort people will read after the war is over — a century after it is over.
At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier.

Quotes

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To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in so far as writing is the expression of something beautiful…
  • At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier. To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in so far as writing is the expression of something beautiful … The only sort of book I care to write about the war is the sort people will read after the war is over — a century after it is over.
    • A letter home, included in Joyce Kilmer, Poems, Essays and Letters (1918) edited by Robert Holliday
  • In a wood they call the Rouge Bouquet,
    There is a new-made grave today,
    Built by never a spade nor pick,
    Yet covered with earth ten meteres thick.
    There lie many fighting men.
    Dead in their youthful prime
    Never to laugh nor love again
    Nor taste the Summertime.
    • "Rouge Bouquet" (1918)

Trees and Other Poems (1914)

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I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
 
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
 
When you think of love and fame
And all that might have come to pass,
Then don't you feel a little shame?
And don't you think you were an ass?
 
Every nation kneels to hail
The Splendour shining through Its veil.
 
He bears a sword of flame but not to harm
The wakened life that feels his quickening sway...
 
Tiny gongs with cruel fervor ring
In many a high and dreary sleeping place.
  • I think that I shall never see
    A poem lovely as a tree.
    A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
    Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
    A tree that looks at God all day,
    And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
    A tree that may in Summer wear
    A nest of robins in her hair;
    Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
    Who intimately lives with rain.
    Poems are made by fools like me,
    But only God can make a tree.
    • "Trees" - This poem was first published in Poetry: A Magazine of Verse Vol. 2 (August 1913). The first two lines were first written down on the 2nd of February 1913.
  • Yes, God forgives and men forget,
    And you're forgiven and forgotten.
    You might be gaily sinning yet
    And quick and fresh instead of rotten.
    And when you think of love and fame
    And all that might have come to pass,
    Then don't you feel a little shame?
    And don't you think you were an ass?
    • "To A Young Poet Who Killed Himself"
  • The bugle echoes shrill and sweet,
    But not of war it sings to-day.
    The road is rhythmic with the feet
    ⁠Of men-at-arms who come to pray.

    The roses blossom white and red
    ⁠On tombs where weary soldiers lie;
    Flags wave above the honored dead
    ⁠And martial music cleaves the sky.

    Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel,
    ⁠They kept the faith and fought the fight.
    Through flying lead and crimson steel
    ⁠They plunged for Freedom and the Righteousness.

    May we, their grateful children, learn
    ⁠Their strength, who lie beneath this sod,
    Who went through fire and death to earn
    ⁠At last the accolade of God.

    In shining rank on rank arrayed
    They march, the legions of the Lord;
    He is their Captain unafraid,
    The Prince of Peace . . . Who brought a sword.

    • "Memorial Day"; this poem was later published in The Army and Navy Hymnal (1920)
  • There is no strange and distant place
    That is not gladdened by His face.
    And every nation kneels to hail
    The Splendour shining through Its veil.
    • "Citizen of the World"
  • An iron hand has stilled the throats
    That throbbed with loud and rhythmic glee
    And dammed the flood of silver notes
    That drenched the world in melody.
    • "To a Blackbird and His Mate Who Died in the Spring"
  • I have no vision of gods, not of Eros with love-arrows laden,
    Jupiter thundering death or of Juno his white-breasted queen,
    Yet have I seen
    All of the joy of the world in the innocent heart of a maiden.
    • "Vision"

  • When Dawn strides out to wake a dewy farm
    Across green fields and yellow hills of hay
    The little twittering birds laugh in his way
    And poise triumphant on his shining arm.
    He bears a sword of flame but not to harm
    The wakened life that feels his quickening sway
    And barnyard voices shrilling "It is day!"
    Take by his grace a new and alien charm.

    But in the city, like a wounded thing
    That limps to cover from the angry chase,
    He steals down streets where sickly arc-lights sing,
    And wanly mock his young and shameful face;
    And tiny gongs with cruel fervor ring
    In many a high and dreary sleeping place.

    • "Alarm Clocks"

Delicatessen

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Here is a shop of wonderment.
From every land has come a prize...
 
He is the lord of goodly things
That make the poor man's table gay,
Yet of his worth no minstrel sings
And on his tomb there is no bay.
 
Have pity on our foolishness
And give us eyes, that we may see
Beneath the shopman's clumsy dress
The splendor of humanity!
  • Here is a shop of wonderment.
    From every land has come a prize    ;
    Rich spices from the Orient,
    And fruit that knew Italian skies,
    And figs that ripened by the sea
    In Smyrna, nuts from hot Brazil,
    Strange pungent meats from Germany,
    And currants from a Grecian hill.
  • He is the lord of goodly things
    That make the poor man's table gay,
    Yet of his worth no minstrel sings
    And on his tomb there is no bay.
  • Perhaps he lives and dies unpraised,
    This trafficker in humble sweets,
    Because his little shops are raised
    By thousands in the city streets.
    Yet stars in greater numbers shine,
    And violets in millions grow,
    And they in many a golden line
    Are sung, as every child must know.
  • For, once he thrilled with high romance
    And tuned to love his eager voice.
    Like any cavalier of France
    He wooed the maiden of his choice.
    And now deep in his weary heart
    Are sacred flames that whitely burn.
    He has of Heaven's grace a part
    Who loves, who is beloved in turn.
  • The scene shall never fit the deed.
    Grotesquely wonders come to pass.
    The fool shall mount an Arab steed
    And Jesus ride upon an ass.
  • This man has home and child and wife
    And battle set for every day.
    This man has God and love and life;
    These stand, all else shall pass away.
  • O Carpenter of Nazareth,
    Whose mother was a village maid,
    Shall we, Thy children, blow our breath
    In scorn on any humble trade?
    Have pity on our foolishness
    And give us eyes, that we may see
    Beneath the shopman's clumsy dress
    The splendor of humanity!

Main Street and Other Poems (1917)

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Full text online at Wikisource · Full text online at Project Gutenberg
 
Some folks call it a Silver Sword, and some a Pearly Crown,
But the only thing I think it is, is Main Street, Heaventown.
 
It's a rough road and a steep road and it stretches broad and far,
But at last it leads to a golden Town where golden Houses are.
  • God be thanked for the Milky Way that runs across the sky,
    That's the path that my feet would tread whenever I have to die.
    Some folks call it a Silver Sword, and some a Pearly Crown,
    But the only thing I think it is, is Main Street, Heaventown.
    • "Main Street"
  • They say that life is a highway and its milestones are the years,
    And now and then there's a toll-gate where you buy your way with tears.
    It's a rough road and a steep road and it stretches broad and far,
    But at last it leads to a golden Town where golden Houses are.
    • "Roofs"
  • Unlock the door this evening
    And let your gate swing wide,
    Let all who ask for shelter
    Come speedily inside.
    What if your yard be narrow?
    What if your house be small?
    There is a Guest is coming
    Will glorify it all.
    • "Gates and Doors"
  • There is no rope can strangle song
    And not for long death takes his toll.
    No prison bars can dim the stars
    Nor quicklime eat the living soul.
    • "Easter Week"

A Blue Valentine

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It seems appropriate to me to state
According to a venerable and agreeable custom,
That I love a beautiful lady.
 
Loving her, Monsignore,
I love all her attributes...
  • It seems appropriate to me to state
    According to a venerable and agreeable custom,
    That I love a beautiful lady.
    Her eyes, Monsignore,
    Are so blue that they put lovely little blue reflections
    On everything that she looks at,
    Such as a wall
    Or the moon
    Or my heart.
  • Her soul's light shines through,
    But her soul cannot be seen.
    It is something elusive, whimsical, tender, wanton, infantile, wise
    And noble.
  • Loving her, Monsignore,
    I love all her attributes    ;
    But I believe
    That even if I did not love her
    I would love the blueness of her eyes,
    And her blue garment, made in the manner of the Japanese.
  • But, of your courtesy, Monsignore,
    Do me this favour:
    When you this morning make your way
    To the Ivory Throne that bursts into bloom with roses
    because of her who sits upon it,
    When you come to pay your devoir to Our Lady,
    I beg you, say to her:
    "Madame, a poor poet, one of your singing servants yet on earth,
    Has asked me to say that at this moment he is especially grateful to you
    For wearing a blue gown.    "

In Memory

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Love is made out of ecstasy and wonder;
Love is a poignant and accustomed pain.
 
It was grief that made Mankind your lover,
And it was grief that made you love Mankind.
  • The song within your heart could never rise
    Until love bade it spread its wings and soar.
  • Love is made out of ecstasy and wonder;
    Love is a poignant and accustomed pain.
    It is a burst of Heaven-shaking thunder;
    It is a linnet's fluting after rain.
  • Because Mankind is glad and brave and young,
    Full of gay flames that white and scarlet glow,
    All joys and passions that Mankind may know
    By you were nobly felt and nobly sung.
    Because Mankind's heart every day is wrung
    By Fate's wild hands that twist and tear it so,
    Therefore you echoed Man's undying woe,
    A harp Aeolian on Life's branches hung.
  • Your eyes, that looked on glory, could discover
    The angry scar to which the world was blind:
    And it was grief that made Mankind your lover,
    And it was grief that made you love Mankind.

Apology

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For reckless leaps into darkness
With hands outstretched to a star,
There is jubilation in Heaven
Where the great dead poets are.
 
Is Freedom only a Will-o'-the-wisp
To cheat a poet's eye?
Be it phantom or fact, it's a noble cause
In which to sing and to die!
  • For blows on the fort of evil
    That never shows a breach,
    For terrible life-long races
    To a goal no foot can reach,
    For reckless leaps into darkness
    With hands outstretched to a star,
    There is jubilation in Heaven
    Where the great dead poets are.
  • There is joy over disappointment
    And delight in hopes that were vain.
    Each poet is glad there was no cure
    To stop his lonely pain.
    For nothing keeps a poet
    In his high singing mood
    Like unappeasable hunger
    For unattainable food.
  • Lord Byron and Shelley and Plunkett,
    McDonough and Hunt and Pearse
    See now why their hatred of tyrants
    Was so insistently fierce.
    Is Freedom only a Will-o'-the-wisp
    To cheat a poet's eye?
    Be it phantom or fact, it's a noble cause
    In which to sing and to die!

The Proud Poet

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It is stern work, it is perilous work, to thrust your hand in the sun
And pull out a spark of immortal flame to warm the hearts of men...
  • When you say of the making of ballads and songs that it is woman's work
    You forget all the fighting poets that have been in every land.
  • The title of poet's a noble thing, worth living and dying for,
    Though all the devils on earth and in Hell spit at me their disdain.
    It is stern work, it is perilous work, to thrust your hand in the sun
    And pull out a spark of immortal flame to warm the hearts of men:
    But Prometheus, torn by the claws and beaks whose task is never done,
    Would be tortured another eternity to go stealing fire again.

The Robe of Christ

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At the foot of the Cross on Calvary
Three soldiers sat and diced,
And one of them was the Devil
And he won the Robe of Christ.
  • At the foot of the Cross on Calvary
    Three soldiers sat and diced,
    And one of them was the Devil
    And he won the Robe of Christ.
  • Oh, he can be the forest,
    And he can be the sun,
    Or a buttercup, or an hour of rest
    When the weary day is done.
    I saw him through a thousand veils,
    And has not this sufficed?
    Now, must I look on the Devil robed
    In the radiant Robe of Christ?
  • He comes, and his face is sad and mild,
    With thorns his head is crowned;
    There are great bleeding wounds in his feet,
    And in each hand a wound.
    How can I tell, who am a fool,
    If this be Christ or no?
    Those bleeding hands outstretched to me!
    Those eyes that love me so!
  • O Mother of Good Counsel, lend
    Intelligence to me!
    Encompass me with wisdom,
    Thou Tower of Ivory!
    "This is the Man of Lies," she says,
    "Disguised with fearful art:
    He has the wounded hands and feet,
    But not the wounded heart."

The Thorn

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