Collected Poems (31 page)
Authors: William Alexander Percy
That all my songs are sung into the air,
Like the rich-throated trees’, unlistened to,
Would cost me but a summer-cloud of care
Except for you.
But you, whom time is beckoning, would go
More happily if garlands you could see
Laid at my feet; which I’d at yours bestow
How happily.
LANTERNS
ON THE LEVEE
Recollections of a Planter’s Son
“The deep South, the old South, a New South, several Souths, move across Will Percy’s autobiography. If the writing of one who has learned the craft counts, if candor and honesty and forthright confession count, if a heart and mind haunted by some of the most ancient issues of justice and charity count, this rates among the autobiographies requisite to understanding America.”
—CARL SANDBURG
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF