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218 EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON
��CASSANDRA
I HEARD one who said : " Verily,
What word have I for children here ?
Your Dollar is your only Word, The wrath of It your only fear.
"You build it altars tall enough To make you see, but you are blind ;
You cannot leave it long enough To look before you or behind.
" When Reason beckons you to pause, You laugh and say that you know best ;
But what it is you know, you keep As dark as ingots in a chest.
" You laugh and answer, ' We are young ;
O leave us now, and let us grow.' — Not asking how much more of this
Will Time endure or Fate bestow.
"Because a few complacent years Have made your peril of your pride,
Think you that you are to go on Forever pampered and untried ?
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