Yet who would follow if they could?
The soul grows strong through strife;
The bravest hearts ask no surcease—
'Tis only cowards, like the geese,
Who fly from storms of life.
The soul grows strong through strife;
The bravest hearts ask no surcease—
'Tis only cowards, like the geese,
Who fly from storms of life.
TWO WHO PRAYED
"TWO went up to the temple to pray,"
When the last sun-hours were brief,
And the people said, as they saw them pass,
"A gentleman there, and a thief."
When the last sun-hours were brief,
And the people said, as they saw them pass,
"A gentleman there, and a thief."
A gentleman clad as a man should be
Who takes the world by the throat
And wrests its wealth; but the other one walked
In shame of a threadbare coat.
Who takes the world by the throat
And wrests its wealth; but the other one walked
In shame of a threadbare coat.
And there where the aureole window flamed
And the altar lights burned low
They knelt and prayed, one fluent and calm,
One trembling of speech and slow.
And the altar lights burned low
They knelt and prayed, one fluent and calm,
One trembling of speech and slow.
One pleaded to God of the snare of gold—
The lure of a loaf of bread;
And he bared his soul to the conscience lash
And told how his heart had bled.
The lure of a loaf of bread;
And he bared his soul to the conscience lash
And told how his heart had bled.
He had taken the thing that was not his,
And paid to the law its dole;
His hands were "red" with a stolen crust,
But the stain reached not his soul.
And paid to the law its dole;
His hands were "red" with a stolen crust,
But the stain reached not his soul.
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