"He the night descended on ..."

Here is a poem Cline sent from the Tolland Connecticut jail in December 1927, three months into his one year sentence for manslaughter (he had pleaded guilty to manslaughter just before a trial on charges of first degree murder would have commenced in mid-September 1927). It was sent to Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., editor of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where Cline worked in 1924-25. Some of the imagery of this poem is echoed in Cline's long poem "After-Walker" from January 1928, after his second wife deserted him, marking a very low point in his life. 

To a Friend: Dies Natalis Invicti*

To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch

He the night descended on
And whose feet the tide crept under
And whose vision seeking dawn
   Was shut with thunder:

As a cry that finds no end
Through a deathfast desert region
He that cried, and found no friend
   But a bright legion:

Knowing how serene and strong
Is your faith beyond defeating,
He sends you in his quiet song
   A thoughtful greeting.

He is well and wishes you
Bounty of the good new season:
More to laugh for, less to rue,
   True love, true reason!

Si vis divinus esse late ut Deus. . . . **

Leonard Cline
Tolland, Conn.

 

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 23 December 1927

*Birthday of the Invincible

**If you want to be divine, be as God. . . .