The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945 Page: 339
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Sage of Cedar Bayou
skies he loved, but serene in the quietude of his simple farm
home, the Sage of Cedar Bayou commented only:
Tonight the light from the big town
Shines on the far-off sky;
While here the twinkling stars look down
And meet me eye to eye,
As they pass by.
Yes, here the stars keep twinkling down,
As they go marching by;
But, oh! there seems to be a frown
Around the town-lit sky.
I wonder why?16
The man who wrote those lines might have won fame and fortune
in the city; he might have become a great editor, even a great
poet, but fortunately for Texas he chose the simple life and
became its most eloquent interpreter.
His free spirit could not tolerate walls that hedged him about,
and his appreciation for the magnificence of God's handiwork
in nature was far more intense than his regard for the man-
made artificialities, however great and impressive.
For man-made gods more cruel are than ever man dared be,
And Moloch never yet revoked what once he did decree.17
Texas had few poets in the period of Sjolander's prime, but
he was the uncrowned poet laureate to a generation, the most
widely read, the best beloved of his time. There was a genuineness
about him and a deep spiritual response to his Texas environment;
he was a man who sent his roots deep into the Texas soil. His
monument, rising from its base of Texas pastoral literature,
should grow.
'6"Skies," ibid., 34.
S7"The Song of Moloch," "the man-made god of God-made man." Ibid., 57.339
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 48, July 1944 - April, 1945, periodical, 1945; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146055/m1/379/?rotate=90: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.