VIMU

UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA

James G. Clarke

66

Miss Leona Smith says: 'Poetry and Song,' written by James G. Clarke, for many years a resident of Grants Pass, Oregon, does not possess all the elements necessary to world-wide renown, but it will undoubtedly continue to be an inspiration to many throughout this Nation. The poems have a sweet, soft, sad melody which reveal to us the suffering of the author. They are not the hopeless longings of a soul unsatisfied, but they are the expression of one who is sure of a place in his Father's home. He even fancies that

He catches the sweet strains of songs
Floating down from distant throngs
And can feel the touch of hands
Reaching out from angel bands.

"Purity is one of the prominent traits of his writings. He wrote some very tender love poems, but they are all on the strain of 'I cannot live without you.' Many of his poems are of childhood; in one he says:

Friends of my childhood

Tender and loving,

Scattered like leaves over a desolate plain;
Dreams of childhood, where are you roving,
Never to gladden my pathway of pain.

"The poem 'Look Up' is representative of his work; it is

Look up, look up, desponding soul!
The clouds are only seeming,
The light behind the darkening scroll
Eternally is beaming.

There is no death, there is no night,
No life nor day declining,

Beyond the day's departing light.
The sun is always shining.