StoryTitle("caps", "Moly") ?> (mo'ly), by Edith M. Thomas (1850-), in the best possible presentation of the value of integrity. This poem ranks with "Sir Galahad," if not above it. It is a stroke of genius, and every American ought to be proud of it. Every time my boys read "Odysseus" or the story of Ulysses with me we read or learn "Moly." The plant moly grows in the United States as well as in Europe.
PoemStart() ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Traveller, pluck a stem of moly,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "If thou touch at Circe's isle,—", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Hermes' moly, growing solely", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "To undo enchanter's wile!", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "When she proffers thee her chalice,—", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Wine and spices mixed with malice,—", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "When she smites thee with her staff", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "To transform thee, do thou laugh!", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Safe thou art if thou but bear", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "The least leaf of moly rare.", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Close it grows beside her portal,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Springing from a stock immortal,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Yes! and often has the Witch", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Sought to tear it from its niche;", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "But to thwart her cruel will", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "The wise God renews it still.", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Though it grows in soil perverse,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Heaven hath been its jealous nurse,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "And a flower of snowy mark", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Springs from root and sheathing dark;", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Kingly safeguard, only herb", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "That can brutish passion curb!", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Some do think its name should be", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Shield-Heart, White Integrity.", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Traveller, pluck a stem of moly,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "If thou touch at Circe's isle,—", "") ?> PagePoem(234, "L0", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Hermes' moly, growing solely", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "To undo enchanter's wile!", "") ?>