The Good Of It
A Cynic's Song
ME men strut proudly, all purple and gold,
Hiding queer deeds 'neath a cloak of good fame;
I creep along, braving hunger and cold,
A Cynic's Song
ME men strut proudly, all purple and gold,
Hiding queer deeds 'neath a cloak of good fame;
I creep along, braving hunger and cold,
RE was a house, a house of clay, Wherein the inmate sat all day, Merry and poor; For Hope sat with her, heart to heart, Fond and kind, fond and kind, Vowing he never would depart, — Till all at once he changed his mind: "Sweetheart, good by
NG years ago she visited my chamber,
Steps soft and slow, a taper in her hand;
Her fond kiss she laid upon my eyelids,
Fair as an angel from the unknown land:
RE is the unknown country
" I whispered sad and slow,-- "The strange and awful country To which I soon must go, must go,
To which I soon must go
" Out of the unknown country A voice sang soft and low:-- "O pleasa...
LY, dame Nature made you in some dream Of old-world women--Chriemhild, or bright Aslauga, or Boadicea fierce and fair,
Or Berengaria as she rose, her lips Yet ruddy from the poison that anoints Her memory still, the queen of queenly wives
Could ye come back to me,
Douglas,
Douglas,
In the old likeness that I knew,
We should not sit us down and sigh,
My girl, whose brow a fane appears,
Whose steadfast eyes look royally Backwards and forwards o'er the years-- The long, long years of conquered time,
The possible years unwon, that slope Before us...