COME! Poem by Francis Smith COME to me in the days of a summer sky, Come to me in the scent of an autumn fire, Come to me in the sough of the winter wind, And in springtime, come!         Come when blossoms deck the boughs,         Come when sunbright warms the vales,         Come…

Poem by Francis Smith Emmitsburg Poet Laureate Lonely as the cloudless deep That yawns with breathless sleep I gasp the night-time-air And with scarce-muted stare Behold the lonely-vigiled night And watch the stars take flight Across the azure trove Wherein the winds have wove A wealth of patient peace To deck the frontispiece Of mine…

Children do their own thing: Jump and play and scream Baby dolls, lollipops Dress and eat and scream Fire engines, baseball bats run and chase and scream tag and hide-and-seek Come-in-free and scream. They must have wondrous lungs With exercise supreme They need them all their lives Just listen to them scream! Everywhere I go…

James Rada, Jr. Frances Smith’s oldest dated poem that he has is dated 1946, more than seventy years ago. Over that time, he has penned thousands of poems. “I enjoy words and how they sound,” Smith said from his Taneytown home, which is filled with notebooks of his poetry and more than a few loose…

James Rada, Jr. Many Emmitsburg residents have the soul of a poet that is striving to be released. On the third Friday of each month they gather in the Holy Grounds Café inside St. Philomena’s Catholic Books and Gifts on the square in Emmitsburg. They order a drink and then settle down to read poetry…