John Vance Cheney (1848–1922) was an American poet, essayist, and librarian.
Born in New York and educated in Geneseo, New York, Cheney practiced law briefly in Woodstock, Vermont, and New York City before moving to California in 1876. He became known for his conventional lyric poems collected in Thistle-Drift (1887,) Wood Blooms (1888,) and Poems (1905.) He was a friend of the poets Joaquin Miller and Edwin Markham, and the painter John Muir.
Cheney served as librarian of the San Francisco Public Library (1887–94) and Chicago’s Newberry Library (1894–1909.) His essays appeared in The Golden Guess (1892) and That Dome in Air (1895.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by John Vance Cheney
The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
—John Vance Cheney
Topics: Sorrow, Adversity, Crying
The happiest heart that ever beat
Was in some quiet breast
That found the common daylight sweet,
And left to Heaven the rest.
—John Vance Cheney
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