Page 8 - Contrast1964Spring

VASTUS

I went to the shore Was the sole thought in my head,
Where the waves once rolled,
I went to the shops "Where are the people?"
Where men once sold.
I went to the pastures But I knew -- It need not be said.
Where sheep once laid,
I went to the church In the mountains and hills
Where people once prayed.
Then to the forest And the fields once with grain,
Where birds sang,
To the old clock tower I saw with my eyes .
Where bell s rang. The ultimate, inevitable,
I went to the park man-madestaw.
Where love had yearned
To the school The rivers one time flowing
Where children had learned. Now rugged and crude,
To the blue-white mountains Th esoil one time fertile
Once draped with moss, Would bear no more food.
To the still-calm lakes The face ~f the world
Once with a mirror like gloss.
I crossed o'er the plains Once noisy and glad,
In the past, a pigmented scene, Is et ernall y scared
On to the mountains Silent and sad.
Formerly green.
In all of these travels Ah! Did innocents suffer
Everywhere,
The sound was silence They payed the toll,
The scene was bare. For what others made
The streets I walked
Once dotted with folk, And could not control.
Are now untrodd en The prayers, the thoughts
Cracked and broke. The books-v- good--- all,
The houses I saw Why, for what reason
Once whitened with lime, Did they have to fall.
Are now u ndwel t in
And covered wi thslime. The question asked
The lawns that adorned them And repeated with pain,
With grass thin as hair, Has been asked before
Ah! Look now! But never again.
Eroded and bare. God made the trees
"And where, where are the people" The rivers and sands,
He made the birds and the beastS
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And then made man.
And man made fire
Wheels, boats, tools of Oak,
Man made laws
And laws man broke.
Man found copper, silver, and gold

Man made vase wealth,
But wai t-w ai t- wait
He couldn't control himself!
For man was vain