Orrick Johns. Dilemma. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Dilemma

By Orrick Johns


From “Country Rhymes” WHAT though the moon should come
With a blinding glow,
And the stars have a game
On the wood’s edge …
A man would have to still	5
Cut and weed and sow,
And lay a white line
When he plants a hedge.

What though God
With a great sound of rain	10
Came to talk of violets
And things people do …
I would have to labor
And dig with my brain
Still to get a truth	15
Out of all words new.