{"id":8012,"date":"2022-03-13T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=8012"},"modified":"2022-03-13T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-13T06:00:00","slug":"just-a-clerk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/just-a-clerk\/","title":{"rendered":"Just a Clerk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the <\/em>Omaha Daily Bee, March 13, 1914<\/em><\/a>. By H. J. Maclean.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord, I am but a little clerk
    That scratches with a pen;
I rise and eat and toil and sleep,
    Just as all other men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only colors in my life
    Are drabs and duns and grays,
Yet on the whole I am content
    To tread the beaten ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sometimes when the midspring mist
    Floats in the scented night,
Strange spirits whisper in my ear,
    And visions cross my sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see myself a gracious youth,
    In purple and bright steel;
The golden spurs of knightly worth
    Are glistening on each heel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ride into a world of dreams,
    And with my pennoned lance
I pierce the mystic veil that hides
    The land of high romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as I pass through Galahad\u2019s glades
    Adventuring on my way,
A ghost is ever at my back,
    The ghost of every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And soon or late its horrid hand
    That never yields or stays
Will hurl me from my land of dreams,
    Back to its beaten ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, Lord, some pray to Thee for gold,
    Some for a woman\u2019s smile;
But all I ask is a breath of life
    Once for a little while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grant me, before I pass beyond,
    One chance to play a part,
To drop the guise of the little clerk
    And show the man at heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Omaha Daily Bee, March 13, 1914. By H. J. Maclean. Lord, I am but a little clerk    That scratches with a pen;I rise and eat and toil and sleep,    Just as all other men. The only colors in my life    Are drabs and duns and grays,Yet on the whole I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[150],"class_list":["post-8012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspapers","category-omaha-daily-bee","tag-h-j-maclean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}