God is sitting here, looking into my very soul to see if I think right thoughts. Yet I am not afraid, for I try to be right and good; and He knows every one of my struggles.

Fate slew him, but he did not drop;

She felled—he did not fall—

Impaled him on her fiercest stakes—

He neutralized them all.

She stung him, sapped his firm advance,

But, when her worst was done,

And he, unmoved, regarded her,

Acknowledged him a man.

Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn

Indicative that suns go down;

The notice to the startled grass

That darkness is about to pass.

It's such a little thing to weep,

So short a thing to sigh;

And yet by trades the size of these

We men and women die!

The blunder is to estimate,—

"Eternity is Then,"

We say, as of a station.

Meanwhile he is so near,

He joins me in my ramble,

Divides abode with me,

No friend have I that so persists

As this Eternity.

The Loneliness One dare not sound --

And would as soon surmise

AS in its Grave go plumbing

To ascertain the size --

The Loneliness whose worst alarm

Is lest itself should see --

And perish from before itself

For just a scrutiny --

The Horror not to be surveyed --

But skirted in the Dark --

With Consciousness suspended --

And Being under Lock --

I fear me this -- is Loneliness --

The Maker of the soul

Its Caverns and its Corridors

Illuminate -- or seal --

Luck is not chance --

It's Toil --

Fortune's expensive smile

Is earned.

And softly through the altered air

Hurries a timid leaf.