Not lightly be thy citadel subdued;
Not ignobly, not untimely.
Take praise in solemn mood;
Take love sublimely.
THE ANSWER
Through starry space two angels dreamed their flight,
'Mid worlds and thoughts of worlds, through day and night.
Then one spake forth whose voice was like the flower
That blossoms in the fragrant midnight hour.
This white-browed angel of the other asked:
"Of all the essences that ever basked
In the eternal presence; of all things,
All thoughts, all joys, all dreads, all sorrowings
Amid the unimaginable vast—
Being, or shall be, or forever past—
Profound with dark, or hid in endless light—
Which of all these most deep and infinite?"
Then did the elder speak, the while he turned
On him who asked clear eyes that slowly burned
The spirit through, like to a living coal:
"No depth there is so deep as woman's soul."
HOW DEATH MAY MAKE A MAN
Death is a sorry plight,
It bringeth unto man
End of all delight.
Yet many a woeful wight
Only dying can
Quit him like a man.
