The Tomb of Thomas Jefferson

ONE of the most hopeful features of contemporary poetry is its return to the simple subjects which have inspired poets all down the ages: the sweetness and strength of natural and elemental things, and the inspiration to be drawn from the great men and great deeds of the past. These are the subject matter of this volume, and they are treated with great dignity and simplicity. Lawrence Lee is a man of today, and he knows the plight of the world of today: —

The heart is full as the udders of cows
And aches to feel all well, but knows
Our time is enemy of good.

But he turns our eyes towards the faith which has sustained leaders and reformers of the past; and in the poem which gives its name to the book, in sculptured lines of quiet reserve and of moving and unblurred purity, he recalls the expression of that ‘one clean will ‘: —

Once flesh and spirit woke
At such an hour as this,
And spirit spoke;
So we have set
This needle lest man miss
True north or else forget.