In _Winona_ I have "tried my hand" on a new hexameter verse. With what
success, I leave to those who are better able to judge than I. If I have
failed, I have but added another failure to the numerous attempts to
naturalize hexameter verse in the English language.
It will be observed that I have slightly changed the length and the
rhythm of the old hexameter line; but it is still hexameter, and, I
think, improved.
I have not written for profit nor published for fame. Fame is a coy
goddess that rarely bestows her favors on him who seeks her--a phantom
that many pursue and but few overtake.
She delights to hover for a time, like a ghost, over the graves of dead
men who know not and care not: to the living she is a veritable _Ignis
Fatuus_. But every man owes something to his fellowmen, and I owe much.
If my friends find half the pleasure in reading these poems that I have
found in writing them, I shall have paid my debt and achieved success.
H.L. GORDON.
Minneapolis, November 1, 1891.
PRELUDE
THE MISSISSIPPI
The numerals refer to _Notes_ in appendix.
Onward rolls the Royal River, proudly sweeping to the sea,
Dark and deep and grand, forever wrapt in myth and mystery.
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