The Violets - lyrics

Here among the dusty red paths and green moss –
Youth can still find a clean and good world
Untouched by the “strictured bulls” * called modern man.

These boys will soon be men
And live in the rutted world of the strictured bulls.
But perhaps they will fleetingly remember –
The cleanly washed air and the smooth dark leaves of the violets
And think before they kill their brothers
Of a different nation
And rob dignity from brothers
Of their own.

*John Steinbeck – Cannery Row

Winner of the Poetry Award, “The Glen” was published in 1960 in Elm Leaves
by the State University College at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. Used by permission.