Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff

"You, Beloved, are the silvery lake shimmering in the desert of my youth."

"She stands, a guardian of the endless sea, Her garb is golden, and her lips are flame, She is the portal of Eternity And Beauty is the realm from whence she came! She is the voice of many bleeding lands— America, she calls! To Arms! Arise! For like a shimmering sabre in the skies In scarlet glow she stands A guardian of the earth and sea— Liberty!"

"Bring me a languid woman, perfumed, young, Her dusky body hung with dazzling gems And strange, exotic iridescent stuffs — Her wanton eyes like thirsty summer moons."

"Bring me a pale flower-boy, White-limbed like a young heifer in a field, His lips a-quiver with unknown desire.... His soft throat virgin beneath my kiss, His bosom like a bower of stars."

"There is a little place in me That cries like any child, To be as forest things are, free, Lonely, and strange and wild!"

"All paths lead to you Where e'er I stray, You are the evening star At the end of day. All paths lead to you Hill-top or low, You are the white birch In the sun's glow. All paths lead to you Where e'er I roam. You are the lark-song Calling me home!"

"I shall go smiling Into the great beyond, Looking upon the silence as release, Looking upon the darkness as a dream, Looking upon the deep unknown as rest."