Aspiration by Henrietta Cordelia Ray

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend August 31, 2014   Aspiration   Henrietta Cordelia Ray

We climb the slopes of life with throbbing heart, And eager pulse, like children toward a star. Sweet siren music cometh from afar, To lure us on meanwhile. Responsive start The nightingales to richer song than Art Can ever teach. No passing shadows mar Awhile the dewy skies; no inner jar Of conflict bids us with our quest to part. We see adown the distance, rainbow-arched, What melting aisles of liquid light and bloom! We hasten, tremulous, with lips all parched, And eyes wide-stretched, nor dream of coming gloom. Enough that something held almost divine Within us ever stirs. Can we repine?            This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem   “Aspiration” was originally published in Ray’s collection Poems (Grafton Press, 1910).   Henrietta Cordelia Ray was born in New York City in 1849. She published a collection of sonnets in 1893 and another collection of poetry in 1910. In 1876 Ray’s poem “Lincoln” was read at the unveiling of the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, D.C. Ray died in 1917. Poetry by Ray   Sonnets (Nabu Press, 2010) "The Debt" by Paul Laurence Dunbar "blessing the boats" by Lucille Clifton "Famous" by Noami Shihab Nye Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038