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 Tlie Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/poems01hemp 
 
POET LAUREATE OF FREEMASONRY 
 
POEMS 
 
 BY 
 
 FAY HEMPSTEAD 
 
 Poet Laureate of Freemasonry 
 
LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 DEC 29 1908 
 
 ,fV Copyrlirnt Entry ^ 
 
 CLASS OL XXc No. 
 COPY I. ^ 
 
 Copyright 1908 
 
 by 
 
 FAY HEMPSTEAD. 
 
 T 5 -^ S\C 
 
Poem at Laureation 
 Chicago 
 '^Laurel Crown that Camest to Me'* 
 
>'.^'i^ 
 
 Poem at Laureation 
 
 TRIKE hands with me, O Brethren mine; 
 And hear me, each, with hand in thine, 
 I If yet that grace reside in me. 
 Make promise for the time to be. 
 
 If that the Muse, of measure true. 
 Doth not, in listless fashion, through 
 The slow decease of high desire. 
 Sit silent by a faded fire; 
 If yet there comes, in finer hour. 
 Some lingerings of that Spirit*s power, 
 That creeps within the inner soul. 
 Her gems of beauty to unroll; 
 O, then, I trust, if even slight. 
 Some ray of that ungoverned light, 
 Upon my waiting soul may stream. 
 And light it with her clearest beam; 
 May wake to life this feeble tongue. 
 To sing deep lays, as yet unsung; 
 Then would my Spirit joy amain. 
 As thirsting plants drink grateful rain. 
 
If so, O then, I dedicate 
 Whatever strength that, soon or late. 
 May come to me, to this fair Cause, 
 Wrought otrt through scope of higher laws; 
 That all that beareth Beauty's name. 
 Be hailed with welcome and acclaim; 
 The Good be ever forward set: 
 The cause of Truth be stronger yet. 
 
 So may it be. That grace abide 
 In gentle measure by my side. 
 God grant my life, imperfect here. 
 Some essence from that higher sphere. 
 
 Octobers, J 908. 
 

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Chicago 
 
 ITY by the inland sea, 
 Fair thy borders seem to me; 
 As memory, backward taming, gleans 
 
 A fr«itf«I harvest from thy scenes. 
 
 Long hath my vision wandered through 
 
 Yon water's trembling fields of bitte; 
 
 And watched the feathered waves that break 
 
 By the walk-way, wrested from the lake. 
 
 Fair lie thy terraced hillocks, hard 
 
 By miles of level boulevard; 
 
 Where scarce for speed mine eyes descry 
 
 The forms that flit like arrows by. 
 
 Ah me! The Parks, with verdure strewn; 
 
 The lawns of velvet, smoothly mown; 
 
 The trees, with branching arms outspread. 
 
 With long leaves quivering overhead; 
 
 The statued forms, that lordly stand; 
 
 The buds; the blooms, on every hand; 
 
 The Palaces, with gardens fair; 
 
 The towering structures, high in air; 
 
 The long streets, stolen from the Night, 
 
 With the dazzling glow of their changing light; 
 
 All these come back, and more unnamed. 
 
 Like a pleasing picture, golden-framed. 
 
But yet, Qtyt more than this. 
 
 Aye, more than all thy splendor is, 
 
 I hold that high fraternal care, 
 
 That fills the breasts of the brethren there. 
 
 The kindly word, the grasp of hand; 
 
 The thrill that the soul can understand. 
 
 Fiill well I know, O Brethren, ye 
 
 Gave a brother's greeting unto me; 
 
 In words whose kind uplifting cheers 
 
 My heart through the waste of the fleeting years; 
 
 In deeds of which the sweetness folds 
 
 Over all for me that the Future holds. 
 
 City by the inland Sea, 
 
 Ever will I cherish thee. 
 
 As the homestead of Fraternity. 
 
 And long may this gentle spirit grace 
 The Craft in each abiding -place ; 
 And Joy bestow on all her crown. 
 To last as long as the stars shine down. 
 
 October 21, 1908 
 
\.*^ 
 
 I, 
 
 
 
 The statued forms that lordly stand 
 
^ 
 
 ** Laurel Crown that Camest to Me" 
 
 AUREL crown that camest to me, 
 As least among the favored three; 
 Look down the while my soul receives 
 
 The lesson of thy gleaming leaves. 
 
 What counsel dost thou bring to me, 
 
 Thoti emblem of Eternity; 
 
 In that tho«, circle-wise, doth bend, 
 
 With not beginning, nor with end? 
 
 A charge, with deepest meaning fraught, 
 
 Is in thy twisted branches taught 
 
 In that thou standest unto me 
 
 As the voice of a great Fraternity; 
 
 A voice that spake from shore to shore; 
 
 And by the message that it bore, 
 
 Hath made me debtor, evermore* 
 
 But deeper yet thy worth shall be, 
 
 O circlet fair, if unto me 
 
 Thou bringest back, through kinder ways, 
 
 The Summer warmth of earlier days; 
 
 Of days when Life was fresh, and through 
 
 It's varied changes Pleasure drew; 
 
When Fancy, wakened, wandered far; 
 
 And Hope shone like a rising star; 
 
 When Nature gave, in accent fine, 
 
 Her solace in the sighing pine; 
 
 When Autttmn held her riches spread 
 
 In oaken branches, splotched with red; 
 
 Days when, ttnvexed with passing harm. 
 
 Each hour was bright, and brought it's charm; 
 
 Days lying in a fairy land. 
 
 When Youth and Warmth went hand in hand. 
 
 Nay, nay. Thou can'st not. Nor can*st bring 
 
 To Autumn's chill the flush of Spring. 
 
 Thy power to do is dwarfed and strait. 
 
 The Past is past, and sealed of Fate. 
 
 I can but turn mine eyes to rest 
 
 On yon light, fading in the West; 
 
 And see, below the purpling skies. 
 
 It's glow die out, no more to rise. 
 
 Stead me, laurel crown, to be 
 
 Strong and loyal unto thee. 
 
 And lift me, by some potent spell, 
 
 To heights wherein the Muses dwell; 
 
 That there some sacred spark may roll, 
 
 Like lightning-flash upon my soul; 
 
And wake some b«rst of melody. 
 To make its way from sea to sea; 
 Like wind-blown seeds to find a place 
 To grow in vigor and in grace* 
 
 Laurel crown, henceforward be 
 G«ide and guerdon ttnto me# 
 
 November I, 1908. 
 
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 Jewel of 33° presented to Fay Hempstead by the Scottish Kite 
 Bodies of the Valley of Little Rock, commemorating his 
 Coronation as Poet Laureate of Freemasonry. Oct. 21st, 1908 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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