Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Voices from the Past: Guy Herne


Don't know much about Guy Herne, only that he contributed occasionally to the outdoor journals of the late nineteenth century. This poem, from The American Angler (1892) is one of my favorites.

The Music of the Multiplying Reel

By Guy Herne


They tell us of the music of the spheres, 

How the morning stars together sang so well;

How Orpheus bravely overcame his fears 

And fiddled his fair lady out of hell; 

How David smote his harp so tunefully 

That he drove the black-blue devils out of Saul. 

How the Siren's song came sweetly o'er the sea 

And tempted all the seamen to their fall.

They tell of Wagner's wondrous harmonies, 

How with joy they strike their hearers deaf and dumb;

Of the singing of the songbirds in the trees, 

Of the spirit-stirring military drum; 

They all are very fine, I do not doubt, 

But to me they don't so potently appeal

As the dashing of the brook and the splashing of the trout, 

And the music of the multiplying reel.


-- Dr. Todd

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