“Chopin’s Melody,” by Selena Butler

Butler, Selena. “Chopin’s Melody.” “Young Authors’ Section: Poet’s Corner.” Winnipeg Free Press (4 Feb. 1939): 6.

Another contribution to the Winnipeg Free Press Young Authors’ Section, established to publish “contributions by young people from the age of 13 years and upwards.” A remarkable number of later-to-be well-known poets started their days in these pages.

Of this poem, “Poet’s Corner” editor W.E.I. comments that “[a] poem on Chopin’s Melody might be called second-hand inspiration, but it is after all a grand kind of second-hand inspiration. That is the title of a contribution by Selena Butler. Upon reading this poem by Selena, however, we see that it is not really second-hand inspiration at all but inspiration of the kind Keats got from listening to the Nightingale. The Nightingale originated its chant, but never put the melody into words, and Keats did. Chopin, in a similar way, originated the music of the theme Selena uses as her source of inspiration, but he never put it into words, and Selena did. We think this is a very fine way of getting poetic inspiration, and it all goes to show how almost numberless are the sources from which verse-writers may draw. We are sure Selena’s lines and their origin will breed bright ideas in the minds of many of the Page poets. Look how listening to Chopin has wrought a kind of beautiful television before Selena’s inward eye.”

“The Eclipse,” by Myra Lazeczko

Lazeczko, Myra. “The Eclipse.” “Young Authors’ Section: Poet’s Corner.” Winnipeg Free Press (18 Feb. 1939): 6.

Another contribution to the Winnipeg Free Press Young Authors’ Section, established to publish “contributions by young people from the age of 13 years and upwards.” A remarkable number of later-to-be well-known poets started their days in these pages.

“Sorcery,” by Mona Gould

Gould, Mona. “Sorcery.” Poems for the Interim: A Selection of Twenty-four Poems by Nineteen Canadian Authors Published during 1945-46 in “Saturday Night.” Toronto: Consolidated, 1946. n.p.

Sorcery

What is this shock of sweet delight
That puts all sober thought to flight
On hearing someone speak your name?
This little candle in my heart
That glows and burns, and warms each part
Of day and night? This friendly thing
That stirs in me till I must sing
Your look and voice—the enchanting way
You pin a flower on my day!

“Snow!” by Jennie E. Haight

Haight, Jennie E. “Snow!” Selections from Canadian Poets. Ed. Edward Hartley Dewart. [Montreal], 1864.

“The Peace,” by R. H. Grenville

Grenville, R. H. “The Peace.” Poems for the Interim: A Selection of Twenty-four Poems by Nineteen Canadian Authors Published during 1945-46 in “Saturday Night.” Toronto: Consolidated, 1946. n.p.

The Peace

At the peace-makers’ table these, too, must be heard;
Dull, earth-muffled voices, each terrible word
Edged like a sword.

Peace for the living is not enough,
Though fields where the murdered fell like wheat
Grow fat with barley and tall with corn,
The bread will choke us that we eat.

Peace is a greater lure than gold…
From blade to ploughshare we beast the sword,
But the dead have something to say to us
And they must be heard.

They were slain in litters along the way,
They were jerked to death while their hands were tied;
If we are to fashion a way of life,
We must remember how they died.

Paying our debt through our children’s sons,
Withholding none of the just increases,
Or seeking to balance their hard new gold
With the old familiar silver pieces.

“Christmas, 1899,” by Margaret Yarker

Yarker, Margaret G. “Christmas, 1899.” Echoes of Empire. Toronto: Briggs, 1900. 16-17.

“War Christmas,” by Annie Glen Broder

Broder, Annie Glen. “War Christmas.” In The Unsilenced Song: Sonnets of the War and After. Calgary, AB: Author, 1918. 13. Chapbook.

This is from the only poetry Annie Glen Broder published in book form. Although she contributed poetry to the Calgary Herald and other newspapers, her fame rested far more solidly on her musical abilities. In addition to being an accomplished accompanist, she was the musical reviewer for the Calgary Herald for over 25 years, and is held to be largely responsible for bringing the Arts to Calgary in the early years of the last century.

War Christmas

O happy ye whom hearth and home invite
To Christmas joys afar from scenes of war
Where many thousand helpless wanderers are
Banished from home, bereft of all delight
With scanty shelter or in cruel plight
Of cold and hunger, robbed of all their store.
Yet blest are they, the Lord whom ye adore
Sounded of the world’s woe the depth and height.
Homeless the Christchild came, and homeless plied
His ministry of love, till lifted high
He drew the hearts of men to their eternal goal
And down the ages moves His friends beside,
Swifter than mother at her infant’s cry
His loving arms enfold the fainting soul.

“Beyond,” by Phyllis Hussey

Hussey, Phyllis. “Beyond.” 1933. An Anthology of Y. C. Verse: A Volume of Selections from the Verse Contributed by the Young Co-Operators and Published in the Western Producer from 1932-1936. [Saskatoon, SK]: [Western Producer], 1937. 30.

Beyond

Beyond that Westward sloping hill
Is a trail that has oft been trod,
And that trail lead on through a coulee green
And a deep ravine where the sunflowers lean
   Towards the great sun god.

Beyond that brightly sunlit vale
Is a westward turn in the road,
And that road goes on o’er the prairie wide
By a river side where the eagles cried,
   And where the Indians rode.

And on over mountains winding steep
May still that path be found,
And to follow all those winding turns
My wild heart burns while my spirit yearns
   And longs to go—beyond!

“As Ever Young,” by Constance Barbour

Barbour, Constance. “As Ever Young.” Poems for the Interim: A Selection of Twenty-four Poems by Nineteen Canadian Authors Published during 1945-46 in “Saturday Night.” Toronto: Consolidated, 1946. n.p.

As Ever Young

As ever young to us as new grass growing
On the lawn;
Or as the flight of eager swallows winging
Toward the dawn.

As ever lovely as the white rose sleeping
Through the night,
And covered only with the moon’s pale blanket
Made of light.

Part of our dreams, and of our thoughts in striving;
All our best
Is of them, and within their sacred keeping
While they rest.

“Winter Trees,” by Bonnie Dafoe

Dafoe, Bonnie. “Winter Trees.” 1934. An Anthology of Y. C. Verse: A Volume of Selections from the Verse Contributed by the Young Co-Operators and Published in the Western Producer from 1932-1936. [Saskatoon, SK]: [Western Producer], 1937. 44.

Winter Trees

O trees so bare and desolate
That lift your scarred arms to the sky,
Are you not cold when strong winds blow,
And rain drops scurry by?

Like ghosts of summer days you stand,
Your voices stilled, your beauty lost,
Do you await the gentle snows,
The welcome touch of frost?

Perhaps you dream of other days,
When skies were bright and birds did keep
Their evening trysts within your boughs,
Or are you fast asleep?

You have no need to fear, my friends,
For nature never fails to bring
You loveliness when meadowlarks’
Glad tunes recall the spring.