The Faith That Fashioned Me

The Faith That Fashioned Me

 

Having Reread Parts of “The Song of Hiawatha”

I Contemplated Longfellow’s Amazing Empathy

And Wrote Several Poems Pertaining to Him,

The Last of Which Is Presented Below.

 

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I do not scorn the sentiment

That brings a prism to the eye

Upon the reading of those lines

That cause old tears to multiply

 

Oh, how I swoon within the swell

Of hopes that never seem to fade

Within the man who comes of age

But does not lose the love he made

 

Oh, how I cherish tender words

That comfort me when I embark

Upon my journey to the stars,

 

Where light is light,

And dark is dark!

 

Oh, then, I take the tendered hand

That touches mine when time assays

The faith that fashioned me in love

And made me love in loving ways.[1]

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[1] This tribute to Longfellow, with its simple language and tight line structure, is typical of the poems Paris wrote during the last weeks of his creative life. The poet thought highly of Longfellow’s work, particularly his mastery of trochaic meter.  But more than that, Paris admired Longfellow’s scholarship and envied the astounding empathy he expressed for others.