Georgia Towns
Deep in the Georgia night when all The crickets have hushed their notes And silence lies upon the needles Of pines and on the feathered throats Of sparrows in the star-still boughs, Across the meadows of my mind There drift the names of Georgia towns Softly and slowly as summer wind.
O little half-hid towns I love! I hear them waking, and in sleep, And all the music of their names Like opening flowers, a tidal sweep, Rests on my heart the hand of peace. O little towns how close you lie Upon the warm red clay, how near Your sun-drenched rooftops touch the sky! Not all the violins in the world, The flutes, nor ivory keys, Could take me so triumphantly And give my soul release.
O Dewy Rose and Talking Rock, O rain-wet Rising Fawn, Social Circle where the hand Of friendship greets the dawn, O Cave Spring cool as lilies are, Ty Ty, Ringgold, Summerville Where honeysuckle haunts the air When dusk falls blue and chill— O Blue Ridge resting like a cloud, Benevolence and Kennesaw, Hiwassee, Lovelace, Darien Where four-o’clocks are law, O Daisytown and Shadydale, Across my heart you go With all a June day’s fiery breath, The grace of winter’s snow.
Deep in my last dark Georgia night When I have come to rest, Am one again with her red clay hills, May all the names I love the best Drift back, in music, over me, May each come ringing like a rhyme For one who loves each door, each lane, An old man lost in sleep and Time.