I know how we relish discovering mysterious writers, so I am sure you will enjoy this poem as much as I did.
The author's name is Harvey Wagner Flink, from Pennsylvania. He published his only book of verse in 1943, "A Mellow Horne". It is very hard to obtain some details about the writer and the only source of information can be found at this link:
Strange Bewilderment
by Harvey W. Flink
All through the day I heard the north wind blow;
All through the wintry day, at every gust,
Blue hills dissolved in clouds of pallid dust
That whirled like smoke and sighed like ghosts in woe
Until the fields became a waste of snow . . .
But now the air is still, and brown weeds thrust
Their broken spears up through the porcelain crust,
And solid drifts at sunset redly glow.
Before me lies an unfamiliar earth;
And I am filled with strange bewilderment.
The roads are gone. The chickadees complain
In tinkly silvery notes of winter's dearth;
And I recall how once, with young heart rent
By love, I sought old paths, but sought in vain.
All through the wintry day, at every gust,
Blue hills dissolved in clouds of pallid dust
That whirled like smoke and sighed like ghosts in woe
Until the fields became a waste of snow . . .
But now the air is still, and brown weeds thrust
Their broken spears up through the porcelain crust,
And solid drifts at sunset redly glow.
Before me lies an unfamiliar earth;
And I am filled with strange bewilderment.
The roads are gone. The chickadees complain
In tinkly silvery notes of winter's dearth;
And I recall how once, with young heart rent
By love, I sought old paths, but sought in vain.
I am a cousin of Harvey Wagner Flink. He and my Dad were good friends and our family ended up with copies of most of Harvey's poetry. I am not familiar with this poem, “Strange Bewilderment”, and am curious about where you found it. There were poems published in magazines that I do not have records of. So I am always looking for “new” poems of Harvey's.
ReplyDeleteI did reprint (at home) his book “A Mellow Horn” several years ago and would be happy to email a copy to you if you want to supply an address.
Ted Wagner
This is quite wonderful! Thank you very much for contacting me. For a few times I have tried to find A Mellow Horn, but without success. I have read two poems written by your cousin and I found them here:
Deletehttps://www.poetryexplorer.net/author.php?aid=FLINK%2C%20HARVEY%20W.
Immediately, I saw something very special in his writing and wanted to read more of it. Please, do send me the copy! My e-mail is wmagiccircle@gmail.com.
Merry Christmas, Mr Wagner.
Regards from Madrid.
Marina Zrnic