Quatrains

GOD SAID
God said: "The hero's part, to play it,
The flowers of life, the good of ill,
Are yours if you but say, I will"--
And do you know? I could not say it!

TO THE SPHINX
O Spirit of the Changeless Past,
What think'st thou of our present state?
Thou look'st quite through us, and beyond --
The eyes of Death gazing at Fate.

LIBERTY
A thousand years ago begun
The fight for liberty,
A thousand battles have been won --
And still we are not free.

LIMITATIONS
We look through telescopes to see
Infinity;
And with the blocks of time build up
Eternity.

FEAR
Fear gave the antelope its speed,
The bird its wings;
And half the world is saved by flight
And fear of things.

THE FAITHFUL
As the kneeling Mussulman
To Mecca turns to pray,
So my heart, dear, turns to thee
And never turns away.

TO KNOW AND NOT TO KNOW
Not to know is Hate
That in cruelty wreaks its fears.
To know it Love,
And Pity is Love in tears.