AMERICA
(TWO PORTRAITS)
I
"For all her busyness and prate,
Too easy-going to be great,
She wastes her soul and winks at Fate:
Poor foolish virgin who'll not trim
Her lamp, even when its light grows dim;
Capricious, ruled by chance and whim.
Her soft good-nature cannot brook
The anguish of a steady look
Upon Time's hourly posted Book:
Time's Book, wherein is written plain
The loss that follows slothful gain,
The doom of all who shrink from pain.
88
