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SING SONGS

and Some That Don't

by Jo Labadie

BUBBLING WATERS THE LABADIE SHOP WIXOM, MICH., U. S. A, 1925

The Labadie Booklets

JO LABADIE, Author, Printer, Binder

What is Love and Other Fancies; The Red Flag it Other Verses; Doggerel for the Under Dog; I Welcome Disorder; Workshop Rimes; My Song of Self; Essays; Songs of the Spoiled. These are printed in very limited numbers, are not for sale in the stores, but sent to those who want them at their own price. The work is done by the family, —type set by hand in the old-fashioned way: printed on an old Washington press, and we .bind them at our leisure, in the Shop at Bubbling Waters, in the wilderness, one mile north of Grand River Road, on the Oakland-Livingston counties line, 35 miles from Detroit.

The Shop is intended to demonstrate cooperation without the loss of personal responsibility, the weakness in all co-operative enterprises heretofore attempted for industrial or commercial purposes. What is everybody's business is done efficiently by nobody. vThis is why even democracy in politics always fails to perform social functions to the advantage of society it) general. Politicians bear no economic loss for their inefficiencies. The Labadie Shop bids for your support only when it does the job that suits you. The taxes are voluntary . See the point? The price of each booklet is what you want to contribute to the support of this modest little enterprise. No dun is sent anybody. Unless a book is ordered no contribution is expected. So far the income has been ample, the individual favors ranging from a few cents to hundreds of dollars. Do you want to co-operate? Address: Wixom, Mich.

FOR THE WILD WOODS ()h ! for the wild ^nd wanton woods l hat laugh and sing and dance, with

glee! - -

()li! for the careless life they give, Which fills my soul with gayety ! The flowers smile into minfc^fes, The saplings bow in buoyafft^

strength,

The brooks sing songs unto my heart

And mosses lure to lie at length; The birds seem glad to welcome me, And chattering chipmunks seem to sav:

^{4 4} Come on, dear comrade, join with us

In lawless romp and wild wood play!''

Oh! for the cool and tempting

woods,

Like sighing lovers fond and free, That coax hie from the sweltering

3 town

To court mv muse in reverie,

V w ⁷

Where, free from fashion's foolish

forms,

She sits in royal vineclad vales, Humming the tunes that suit her

songs

And weaving the words that tell her

tales.

The forest sprites within my reach Lay pregnant thots which they produce,

The trees, the shrubs, the vines, the

ferns

Bring varied shades for fancy's use..

Oh ! for the rhyming, echoing

woods,

Where songbirds twitter overhead, Where dwells the soul of Liberty, Which proudly strides with a freeman's tread ! There close I creep to Nature's heart,

There ^?neath the blu^.devoid ofgrime, There with my fellow birds and beasts I joy in living in mine own time!

Awav from the ruthless wheels of

¥

trade,

Far from the grubbing, grinding

croud,

I climb and run and plunge like

mad,

And revel in freedom, crying aloud!

TO THOSE WHO HAVE DONE ME

HURT

You mortal weakness who slighted me for spineless cause.

You who pretended friendship and hurt my heart with insult;

You who loved me with a wealth of words and hated me in your heart;

You whose white words turned black as sloe in meaning-;

You who smiled as a sunny morning into my friendly face and scowled like a stormy night at my 'fenseless back;

You who fondled me with silken hands and cut my honor with venomed claws;

You who pleaded sweet forgiveness and aped vindictive Nemesis in vengeance;

You who were fanatical for freedom in fancy, but fierce for fetters in fact;

You who honeyed words for my ears and bittered them for listening ones;

You who promised me golden loyalty and gave me tarnished perfidy.

You who were brave as an ocean breeze in fondness for me in the calm of approval, and faint from fear in the storm of criticism;

You \v':o counted me a Solomon to my face cad addlepate to inclining ears;

You who vote me honest to my friends an^ damn with doubt to those who .kiiow me not,

Think you I love you less in the large because of this?

Think you I clutter my heart with trashy hate and gloat in it?

Think you the alchemy of your wretched baseness turns my red heart black?

Think you I cannot see your wicked weakness weakens yourself most? ^y

Think you I do not know that more than ever you need the good that I can do?

Think you I have on hand wherewith to pay you back in kind?

The Fates forbid!

And so -I wish with a whopping wish the warmth of wisdom will warm your heart.

I pray to prudence to prick your pride and keep you safe in the path of peace.

I long for the light that leads to joy to pierce the cloud that shades your soul.

I yearn for the time the spirit of love will lead you to ponder in candor's spell.

The sails of malice ne'er reach my port, nor resentment cargoes go from me.

Are the woes of the world not weighty enough without weighing them down with senseless spleen, and crook our backs with the rheum of wrath?

Xo festering pride prevents me praying forgiveness for fancied wrong or real harm I've done to you.

And gladly I give the key to my heart where seek you may for evil aim.

Who asks forgiveness absolves his guilt, and the unforgiving condemn themselves.

Unload yourselves, beloved ones!

Throw off resentment, spleen, animosity, revenge, bad thoughts, unkindness and frown and fume

And see how light your heart will grow;

How buoyant then will be your step;

How smiles will lace your brightening face and joyness lift your grounded eyes;

How stiff your back will soon become and straignt ycur shoulders set across;

How welcome hands will eagerly greet your welcome hands;

How brighter the sun will surely shine,

How more beautiful the moon will be;

How more bracing the salubrious air;

How more glorious the witching world.

Resentment breeds tormenting bile, and gloomy offspring curse their guilty parentage.

I'm wistfully waiting word from you that all is well.

THERE'S ALWAYS A WELCOME

FOR YOU

Come in the morii when the dewdrops gleam As the pearls in your heart so dear;

Come at the noon when the herds a-dream In the shade by the brooklet's cheer;

Come when the shadows grow in length While the day bids the eve adieu;

Come in your weakness,come in your strength, There's always a welcome for you.

Come when the clouds in their anger roar, And the lightnings fiercely flash;

Come when the waves rush the heedless shore And the suds far inland splash;

Come when the fold bells softly trill O'er the lea and the upland view;

Come in your sweetness, come when you will, There's always a welcome for you.

Come when the heart is a yearning for me, When love is a calling aloud;

Come when the loneness produces ennui, When gayety welcomes a shroud^

Come when aweary and wanting a rest, When your wearing worries accrue;

Come to the wildwoods. your cares to divest, There's always a welcome for you.

Come with your friendship, your love and your song, We'll make them grow lusty the while;

Come with your hates, bring your grouches along,

We'll lose them afield with a smile; Come where the clock has no work on its hands,

Where hunger alone bids you chew; Come where Morpheus alone bed commands. There's always a welcome for you.^fr

Bubbling Waters, June, 1916.

A MAY DAY SONG

How fresh and fragrant, florid, fair; How bright and gay and free from care, Sweet 'blossoms strewing rich and rare, Is blushing, blooming May.

To bask all day in your soft smile, To warm the heart In your sweet guile, Bring joy and peace and bliss the while, Bright, blushing, blooming May.

The languid streams more eilent still, The woodland lulls more quiet fill, The wild birds' songs are now less shrill— 'Tis blushing, blooming May!

Ah! could you often come each year And life absorb your atmosphere And fill us with your charming cheer, Blest, blushing, blooming May!

IO

AT WALHALLA

How cruel do the wild winds blow Over the creak)', crispy snow

At Walhalla! How enchanting the uncult scene; How Arctic-like, how saintly clean; How wooly the clouds and blue the sky;

The winds for shelter sorely cry Over the stretches wide and far, With naught of ugliness to mar, At Walhalla !

Tho icy cold outside as death, Warm within as a lover's breath

At Walhalla. The cheerful blaze on the hearth is glad,

Leaping and flaring, gayly m^d, Daring the winds, the snow, the cold, Tho so savage, tho ever so bold, At Walhalla.

/ \

While far away the noisy crowd On Hertzian waves we hear aloud

At Walhalla. Grim Boreas walks with frigid mien, Seeking a place, with desire keen, To enter in and bask in ease, His icy limbs in warmth to appease, While animate life is housed and warm,

Sheltered humanely from cold and

%

storm *

At Walhalla.

One eats and sleeps as a human should,

And lives in kindly brotherhood

At Walhalla. " Walhalla, January 14, 1924.

MY SWEETHEART TRUE

The liquid years, with current fleet, Bring to your dear discerning head The silken skeins of silvered thread Which bind my heart to yours so sweet

How softly stout these gentle cords That strongly join my love to you, Sun of my day, my sweetheart true, Whose gracious smile my love rewards. ^%

K

How rarely joined is liberty With love that's lasting and sincere! The thot to which base churls adhere

Is love must mate in slavery.

How sad I am when you are sad, How glad when you are blithe

and gay! And how I wish grief would for ay

•Be comrade of the wilful bad.

*

i i

Your tears are brine upon a sore, Into my peace eat painfully, And eagerly I'll gainfully The causes seek and give the door.

The flood of years may ebb and flow And things grow dim with yellowed age,

But you and I will still engage In love's young dream nor aged grow.

*

JOHN R ALTGELT Great soul!

Full-hearted I stand in the ray of

thy comradeship, Grieving that the fates were not

kinder to us And prolonged thy pregnant stay

where need were pressing To inspire thy fellows with thy gracious hope, Thy lofty aims, thy iron faith in welldoing.

Thou wert a mighty stream, Enriching your winding way with

noble deeds, With liquid words weighted with wisdom,

With gentleness alloyed with firmness With the vanguard voice of valor, With the foresight of a seer, And a red-red heart beating with justice and mercy.

O golden-mouthed oracle!

How keen as a woli's tooth thy intellect,

How soft as a lover's "woo thy sympathy,

How sparkling as the sheen of the sun thy rippling phrases !

May the songs of the mighty Michi gan'sjulling waves

Soothe thy rugged spirit,

Nor disturb in its gayest jollity thy peaceful dreams!

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