  William Lightfoot Visscher, poet, was born at Owingsville, Kentucky, November 25, 1842. He was educated at the Bath Seminary, Owingsville, and graduated in law from the University of Louisville, but he never practiced. He was a soldier in the Civil War for four years. Colonel Visscher—which title he did not win upon the battlefield!—has been connected with more newspapers than he now cares to count; and he has written hundreds of verses which have appeared in periodicals and in book form. He is the author of five novels: Carlisle of Colorado; Way Out Yonder; Thou Art Peter; Fetch Over the Canoe (Chicago, 1908); and Amos Hudson's Motto. The first of these is the best known work he has done in prose fiction. His Thrilling and Truthful History of the Pony
PROEM [From Poems of the South and Other Verse (Chicago, 1911)] In the evening of a lifetime While the shadows, growing long, Fall eastward, and the gloaming Brings the spell of vesper song, Fond memory turns backward To the bright light of the day, Where joys, like troops of fairies, Gaily dance along the way, Full-armed with mirth and music, Driving skirmishers of care Howling, back into the forest, So the pastures of Kentucky, And the fields of Tennessee, The bloom of all the Southland And the old-time melody; The vales, and streams, and mountains; The bay of trailing hounds; The neigh of blooded horses And the farm-yard's cheery sounds; The smiles of wholesome women And the hail of hearty men, Come sweeping back, in fancy, And, behold, I'm young again. |
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