Page:Florence Earle Coates Poems 1898 95.jpg

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IN A COLLEGE SETTLEMENT

The sights and sounds of the wretched street
Oppressed me, and I said: "We cheat
Our hearts with hope. Man sunken lies
In vice, and naught that's fair or sweet
Finds further favor in his eyes.


"Vainly we strive, in sanguine mood,
To elevate a savage brood
Which, from the cradle, sordid, dull,
No longer has a wish for good,
Or craving for the beautiful."


I said; but chiding my despair,
My wiser friend just pointed where,
By some indifferent passer thrown
Upon a heap of ashes bare,
The loose leaves of a rose were sown.


And I, 'twixt tenderness and doubt,
Beheld, while pity grew devout,
A squalid and uneager child,
With careful fingers picking out
The scentless petals, dust-defiled.


95