‘When from the Damning Writs’: A Poem by Ted Hayes

When from the Damning Writs

When from the damning writs of men’s assize
I flee the dock of ignorance and woe
And seek my room, where walls may stifle sighs
A refuge from the slings all wounded know

And find, within that keep, a soft-bound treasure
To hold, it faintly stamped, the pages worn
Visiting again with pure, distilled pleasure
Its vistas unconstrained, unforlorn

Where dwell in timeless glory, Tennyson
And pages thence, the Bard’s high-minded note
The eternal chant of Wordsworth and of Donne
And Kipling—known by all, though few may quote

Then swiftly from bent shoulders gloom departs
And I am joined again with utterly confessed, kindred hearts.

A university faculty (PhD University of California 1967, political science) and freelancer in his early career, Ted Hayes moved into full-time journalism and is now retired.