In a Belgian Garden and Other Poems

Frank Oliver Call (1878 - 1956)

These magnificent poems written by a lover of the natural splendor of untrodden lands are both thrilling and exhilarating. Visions and observations of the wonders of creation are gradually unlocked and elegantly illustrated in ways hitherto unimagined by the passive observer of the eclectic world that surrounds us, while sparing no omission of the very obvious and egregious rampant destruction, both physical and moral, of the Great War.

Frank Oliver Call, the poet, the educator, the skillful wordsmith takes us on a journey to lands near and far, both those untouched by the ravages of civilization and those savagely ravaged by that same civilization run amok. While deftly expressing his love and awe for the raw beauty of nature and his condemnation for "Death's dark wing" that had drifted over places tranquil and serene he once cherished, the poet concedes that much of life and its possible purpose is not nor never can be understood by us mortals. However, recognizing the imperative nature of life itself Call goes on to acknowledge that, "onward driven must our frail barques go," while adding the plea, "O God, that we might know, might only know!"

Come, then, come on this magical exploration of an era since passed, an era of beauty but one of death, destruction and devastation. Let us appreciate the prescience of this poet's description of lives altogether too able to be transformed in an instant from peace to furious frenzy. And let us dream, dream of how idyllic life could, should and just may possibly one day be.
- Summary by Bruce Kachuk

Genre(s): Single author

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 Introduction Bruce Kachuk
00:01:44
Play 01 In a Belgian Garden Bruce Kachuk
00:01:50
Play 02 A Lincolnshire Maiden Bruce Kachuk
00:01:44
Play 03 Hidden Treasure Bruce Kachuk
00:02:28
Play 04 A River Sunset Bruce Kachuk
00:00:52
Play 05 The Madonna Bruce Kachuk
00:00:51
Play 06 An Idol in a Shop Window Bruce Kachuk
00:02:02
Play 07 Through a Long Cloister Bruce Kachuk
00:01:26
Play 08 The Chambly Rapid Bruce Kachuk
00:03:28
Play 09 The Snowdrift Bruce Kachuk
00:01:24
Play 10 On Mount Royal Bruce Kachuk
00:01:22
Play 11 The Vision Bruce Kachuk
00:02:08
Play 12 A Year Ago Bruce Kachuk
00:01:42
Play 13 Eternity Bruce Kachuk
00:01:30
Play 14 The Old School Bell Bruce Kachuk
00:02:27
Play 15 On A Swiss Mountain Bruce Kachuk
00:01:27
Play 16 Rheims Bruce Kachuk
00:01:26
Play 17 The Mystic Bruce Kachuk
00:01:09
Play 18 A Song of the Homeland Bruce Kachuk
00:02:14
Play 19 The Frozen Brook Bruce Kachuk
00:01:07
Play 20 The Indifferent Ones Bruce Kachuk
00:00:55
Play 21 In a Forest Bruce Kachuk
00:01:04
Play 22 The Ships of Memory Bruce Kachuk
00:01:06
Play 23 The Obelisk Bruce Kachuk
00:01:30
Play 24 The Parting Ways Bruce Kachuk
00:00:53
Play 25 Calvary Bruce Kachuk
00:01:26
Play 26 The Golden Bowl Bruce Kachuk
00:01:39
Play 27 The Lace-Maker of Bruges Bruce Kachuk
00:01:32