The Gaslight Hotel

One American poet we must remember as well
as we remember the Alamo and the Maine--

that poet is William Jennings Bryant(1794-1925).
In the early 1800's he was a poet; later he was an
editor. Americans know this poet better for the
famous "Cross of Gold" speech he delivered to the
Democratic National Convention in 1896.

Also, the speech was so great, Bryant won his
party's presidential nomination. In fact, the man
ran for the highest office in the land three times
before old age and the process of evolution
caught up.

When he died in 1925 only Clarence Darrow and
TS Eliot were happy.

Most readers are familiar with Bryant's famous
poem, "To A Waterfowl," about a man who re-
news his faith in God by watching a duck.

But it was a starling that gave to William Cullen
Bryant lasting fame—but the poem as it reads
in American Poetry anthologies is not the poem
the great poet first wrote.

Here is that first draft, the poem in its entirety
(all of it).

**

Perched aloft, head back and wings outspread
Thou dost to earth a treasure-trove bequeath,
Which, coming from thy tail and not thy head
Makes it dangerous to stand beneath.
Ah, bird. My utmost patience thou dost try—
America was not thy native zone,
Go back to England, and there multiply!
Leave my suet and sunflower seeds alone.

Yet, from the winds, thy heart has caught
A mighty moral. And to we mortals given
Harmonious renderings of this solemn thought—
The lowliest soul is loved by God in Heaven.

Yes, he who made the lamb, likewise made you.
Which goes to show God can fuck-up, too.
##
William Jennings Bryant