Poetry Friday: Robert W. Stevens

Happy135th birthday Robert W. Stevens! Given that we are celebrating Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday and the inauguration of a new president, it seemed only fitting to select a writer described as “the people’s poet.” He is best known for immortalizing the Yukon gold rush, but I think this selection is more appropriate for the occasion. It is called, “Let Us Believe,” and it was published in 1950.

Let Us Believe
(1950)

Let us thank God for this translucent time,
This crystal tide of peace between two wars,
When we can hear the bells of beauty chime,
And build our homes anew and lick our scars.
Let us give praise for each dawn-birth joy,
Each day in sunniness serenely spent;
Let no dark boding grievously annoy
Our quietude and trouble our content.

Let us not seek to weigh our happiness,
But take the moment for its passing worth;
Let no dark memories of strain and stress
Come now between us and our easy mirth.
Let us be one with happy, heedless things,
With lisping leaves and singing mountain rills,
Green fire of ferns, and lilting linnet wings,
Delight in children’s eyes – and daffodils.

Let us forget our memories of War,
And in this gentling interlude of peace
Take hope and comfort from the joys that are,
And hold the humble hope of their increase.
Let no fear of the future bring dismay;
Let no pain of the past our gladness grieve,
But with our hearts high-heavened let us say:
“There will be no more wars – believe , BELIEVE.”

This week, Karen Edmisten is hosting Poetry Friday.