Posted by admin on Aug 20, 2012 in Books, Poetry |
The poems in The Green Leaf range in length from quatrains to the long narratives “Morning in Iowa” and “Dunkirk.” They contain the qualities of fantasy, philosophy, humor, love, and nature, in essence, the human insight that has long endeared Robert Nathan to his loyal readers.
For Still the Heart Now from the world the light of God is gone, And men in darkness move and are afraid, Some blaming heaven for the evil done, And some each other for the part they played; And all their woes on Him are strictly laid, For being absent from these earthly ills, Who set the trees to be the noonday shade, And placed the stars in beauty on the hills. Turn not away, and cry that all is lost; It is not so, the world is in His hands As once it was when Egypt’s mighty host Rode to the sea and vanished in the sands. For still the heart, by love and pity wrung, Finds the same God as when the world was young.
CRITICS REVIEW
“Mr. Nathan is perhaps our master stylist, but it is something more than that. It has power and earthiness; it speaks boldly and plainly. The novels are like stained glass, richly colored with fantasy; the poems are plate glass, thru which the reader sees plainly.”
Russell MacFall
Chicago Sunday Tribune
