POEM: GRATITUDE

I found a starving cat in the street: It cried for food and a place by the fire. I carried it home, and I strove to meet The claims of its desire.

And since its desire was a little fish, A little hay and a little milk, I gave it cream in a silver dish And a basket lined with silk.

And when we came to the grateful pause When it should have fawned on the hand that fed, It turned to a devil all teeth and claws, Scratched me and bit me and fled.

To pay for the fish and the milk and the hay With a purr had been an easy task: But its hate and my blood were required to pay For the gifts that it did not ask.

POEM: AT THE LAST

Where are you--you whose loving breath Alone can stay my soul from death? The world's so wide, I seek it through, Yet--dare I dream to win to you? Perhaps your dear desired feet Pass me in this grey muddy street. Your face, it may be, has its shrine In that dull house that's next to mine. But I believe, O Life, O Fate, That when I call on Death and wait One moment at the unclosing gate I shall turn back for one last gaze Along the trampled, sordid ways, And in the sunset see at last, Just as the barred gate holds me fast, Your face, your face, too late.

POEM: FEAR

If you were here, Hopes, dreams, ambitions, faith would disappear, Drowned in your eyes; and I should touch your hand, Forgetting all that now I understand. For you confuse my life with memories Of unrememberable ecstasies Which were, and are not, and can never be; . . . Ah! keep the whole earth between you and me.