a hasty hand. She sat down facing him, smiling with entreaty. "Would you read it to me anyway, David? Please, dear?"
"Well, it's not . . . not finished yet—not right."
"You don't have to, David. It's not important. Not really." She sighed deeply.
He picked up the notebook, his breath cold in his constricted throat.
"All right," he said, the words coming out huskily, "I'll read it. But it's not finished yet."
"If you don't want to—"
He began to read hurriedly, his eyes locked on the notebook, his voice a suppressed hoarse, spasmodic whisper.
"Such citadels of our kind's own
As fortify no peace.
"No wall can offer shelter,
No roof can shield from pain.
We cannot rest; we are the damned;
We must go forth again.
"Unnumbered we must—"
"David, are you sure about those last lines?" She smiled apologetically.
"I know I'm old-fashioned, but couldn't you change that? It seems so . . . so harsh. And I think you may have unconsciously borrowed it from someone else. I can't help thinking I've heard it before, somewhere? Don't you think so?"
"I don't know, dear. You may be right about that word, but it doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, I'm not going to try to get it published, or anything."
"I know, dear, but still—"
He was looking at her desperately.
"I'm sorry, dear!" she said contritely. "Please go on. Don't pay any attention to my stupid comments."
"They're not stupid—"
"Please, dear. Go on."
His fingers clamped on the edge of the notebook.
"Unnumbered we must wander,
Break, and bleed, and die.
Implacable as ocean,
Our tide must drown the sky.
"What is our expiation,
For what primeval crime,
That we must go on marching
Until the crash of time?
"What hand has shaped so cruelly?
What whim has cast such fate?
Where is, in our creation,
The botch that makes us great?"
"Oh, that's good, darling! That's very good. I’m proud of you, David."
"I think it stinks," he said evenly, "but, anyway, there are two more verses."
"David!"
Grimly, he spat out the last eight lines.
"Why are we ever gimleted
By empire's irony?
Is discontent the cancered price
Of Earthman's galaxy?"
82
Astounding Science-Fiction
