The Poet

Why hast thou breathed , O God, upon my thoughts

and tuned my pulse to thy high melodies,

Lighting my soul with love, my heart with flame,

Thrilling my ear with songs I cannot keep

Only to set me in the market-place

Amid the clamor of the bartering throng,

Whose ears are deaf to my impassioned plea,

Whose hearts are heedless of the word I bring?

 

And Yet – dear God, forgive! I will sing on.

I will sing on until that shining day

When on perchance – one only it may be –

Shall turn aside from out the sordid way,

List’ning with eager ears that understand.

Until that day – thy day- help me to bear

The hurt of cold indifference and the pain

Of seeing all the multitude rush by,

Drowning thy music with their cry for gold!

Angela Morgan, The Poet. From Utterance and Other Poems.1916

 

Angela Morgan was a poet who did some of her best work in the early 1900’s.  She wasn’t known for banking nor being bankrupt although she did end up filing for bankruptcy in her life time. Her story  is the familiar one,  a poet trying to make their way in a world that doesn’t care half as much for words as it does for food and shelter. Even today if you step inside a bookstore and visit the poetry section you will be found squinting your eyes. Throughout history Poetry has never been that marketable and  many a starving poet has complained about it.

I believe she lived an incredible life.

Later in her years she had to support both herself and her mother  and occasionally  had to send money to her father. which is no small  feat for an American female  in that time period and how she struggled!  In the end she would live out her remaining years as   many  poets  have before her. Living with friends.

I remember her for her words and admire her efforts. What a beautiful mind!