Never Again

TWO POEMS

"NEVER AGAIN"

"Never again," I said, "within this breast

Will Love wage war; never again my heart

Will be her battle-field. I shall have rest

At last from thrust of severing sword and dart

Of silver spear." . . . And then I raised a wall

Around my heart as high as Jericho's,

Saying: "Let Love's battalions beat and fall

Against us, heart; here we are safe from foes."

O seven times the shattering sound of horn!

O terrible tread of Love's swift sandal round

My crumbling wall-the turrets rent and torn,

The towers toppling to the dusty ground! .. .

Beloved Victor, here unarmed I stand,

With no wall, with no weapon in my hand.

GOD'S HANDS