In a Belgian Garden and Other Poems: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

In a Belgian Garden and Other Poems, credited to Frank Oliver Call, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of In a Belgian Garden and Other Poems by Frank Oliver Call. Read in English by Bruce Kachuk 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

Recording facts

• Recording title: In a Belgian Garden and Other Poems
• Author credits: Frank Oliver Call
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 28
• Listed recording duration: 44:26

Catalogue topics

• nature
• death
• World War I
• Canada
• Belgium
• hope
• grief
• reminiscence

Opening tracks: first 24 of 28

1. 00 - Introduction — 1:44
2. 01 - In a Belgian Garden — 1:50
3. 02 - A Lincolnshire Maiden — 1:44
4. 03 - Hidden Treasure — 2:28
5. 04 - A River Sunset — 0:52
6. 05 - The Madonna — 0:51
7. 06 - An Idol in a Shop Window — 2:02
8. 07 - Through a Long Cloister — 1:26
9. 08 - The Chambly Rapid — 3:28
10. 09 - The Snowdrift — 1:24
11. 10 - On Mount Royal — 1:22
12. 11 - The Vision — 2:08
13. 12 - A Year Ago — 1:42
14. 13 - Eternity — 1:30
15. 14 - The Old School Bell — 2:27
16. 15 - On A Swiss Mountain — 1:27
17. 16 - Rheims — 1:26
18. 17 - The Mystic — 1:09
19. 18 - A Song of the Homeland — 2:14
20. 19 - The Frozen Brook — 1:07
21. 20 - The Indifferent Ones — 0:55
22. 21 - In a Forest — 1:04
23. 22 - The Ships of Memory — 1:06
24. 23 - The Obelisk — 1:30

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.