Thursday, August 26, 2010

Terre Haute - Max Ehrmann

What place is lovelier than Terre Haute:
The foliage of her many trees,
That trembles as the cooling breezes float
Across the grain fields' yellow seas?

The gentle river that caressing sings
Past shop and mill waving corn
Each day some happy inspiration brings;
Each day a thousand hopes are born.

Here workers wend their way to pleasant homes;
And students spend romanticdays.
Here lofty spires and gilded domes
Reach up to touch the sun's first rays.

Here many a youth and maid their faith have kept,
Labored, lived happily, grown gray.
Here bolder ones with keener eyes have crept
To paths where fame and fortune lay.


Vast growing fields and treasures in the ground,
Art, learning, too, here find abode;
And many a forward-looking son has found
The gifts the gods have here bestowed.

What various aspirations man pursues!
It matters not what visions lure,
Here many ambition all its talents use;
Here is the world in miniature.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting this poem, Brian! It's the only place my feeble internet-searching skills can find it on the internet.

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  2. I am poet, artst an author that grew up in Terre Haute in the 50s and 60s. Here's a short simple poem as a tribute to Terre Haute.

    A simple memory,
    easy to make or keep
    But where we grow up
    withinn our souls resides
    forever deep.

    lbt.

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