Songs, Sighs and Curses
THE
GLEBE
VOLUME 1
NUMBER 1
SEPTEMBER
1913
PRICE OF THIS
ISSUE 60 CENTS
By Adolf Wolff
Songs, Sighs and Curses
By
Adolf Wolff
SEPTEMBER 1913
Published by THE GLEBE at Ridgefield,
New Jersey
Copyright, 1913
By
Adolf Wolff.
TO LEONARD D. ABBOTT.
Dear Friend:—To whom else than to youcan I dedicate this little wreath of poems?Weeds or flowers, without you, they wouldnot have been. Your interest, your sympathy,your appreciation were the sunshine and rainthat brought them forth—to blossom for amoment or forever.
ADOLF WOLFF.
NOTE.—All the poems in this volume were written in the year 1912-13.When asked in what sequence he would arrange his poems, Wolff threwthe manuscripts in the air, saying, “Let Fate decide.” They now appearin the order in which they were picked up from the floor. This is trueof all except the proem and those comprising the group under the heading“To One Who Could Not Love,” which appear towards the end ofthe volume.
I sing and sigh and also curse,
Thus only can I give expression
To that which will not brook repression;
I am alive, I have a voice,
And so I sing and sigh and curse—
All life doth sing and sigh and curse.
The joy of love is in my song,
I sigh for pleasures yet untasted—
For things I dream—o’er moments wasted
And sometimes interrupt my song
With clenched fist to curse a wrong—
It is a joy to curse a wrong.
And so I sing and sigh and curse—
All life doth sing and sigh and curse.
I visited the Zoo one dreary day,
And in the lion’s house I watched a lion,
A great Numidian lion in his cage,
With eyes three-quarters closed, with haughty gait,
Pace up and down the limits of his cage.
Was he oblivious of the tyrant bars,
The gaze of human eyes, his captive state,
And did he blink but better thus to see
The jungle’s vast expanse?
He suddenly stood still; and, face to face,
We stood and stared into each other’s