Sonnets of My Life

e brotherhood of man forevermore? Men of all nations living door to door, In peace progressing and in peace to die. The melting-pot of all the world am I! Transmuting man's unnatural enmity For man, the root of war's destructive lie, Into a sound and sane democracy; Whose dominant, humane, uplifting note Sets not a brother at a brother's throat! San Francisco, February, 1915. THE SENTENCE. What grants it me, this gift of common-sense, This quality of mind that bids me let You go as one beneath my worth ? And yet? My spirit quails with need of you!?drawn tense To aching silence by the mind's immense Routine of logic that cannot forget Although the heart forgives. And so I fret Away the empty days at Love's expense. The way of life is rugged, steep and drear. I did but seek the clasp of mating hands? Heart's solace of a heart for all my own! When on the open road you wandered near, I cried, "At last, here's one who understands!" But destiny decreed, "On, on, alone!" RENUNCIATION. I loved you,?loved you! in the days gone by; The glad, mad days while Love held utter sway. And oh, the promisefiil, gold dreams that lay Like beckoning stars athwart our common sky! Alas,?they vanished in a mood, a sigh. You steeled your heart and, manlike, went your way. What was there left for me to do or say ? Against the night I pitched my voiceless cry! God, ever listening God, stretched forth His hand, And now I fee... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.