from War Is Kind And Other Lines
V
"Have you ever made a just man?"
"Oh, I have made three," answered God,
"But two of them are dead,
And the third--
Listen! Listen!
And you will hear the thud of his defeat."
XIII
The wayfarer,
Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
"Ha," he said,
"I see that none has passed here
In a long time."
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
"Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."
XXI
A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
from The Black Riders And Other Lines
II
Three little birds in a row
sat musing.
A man passed near that place.
Then did the little birds nudge each other.
They said, "He thinks he can sing."
They threw back their heads to laugh.
With quaint countenances
they regarded him.
They were very curious,
those three little birds in a row.
III
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
who, squatting upon the ground,
held his heart in his hands,
and ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter--bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
"because it is bitter,
"and because it is my heart."
V
Once there came a man
who said,
"Range me all men of the world in rows."
And instantly
there were terrific clamour among the people
against being ranged in rows.
There was a loud quarrel, world-wide.
It endured for ages;
and blood was shed
by those who would not stand in rows,
an by those who pined to stand in rows.
Eventually, the man went to death, weeping.
And those who staid in bloody scuffle
knew not the great simplicity.
IX
I stood upon a high place,
and saw, below, many devils
running, leaping,
and carousing in sin.
One looked up, grinning,
and said, "Comrade! Brother!"
XI
In a lonely place,
I encountered a sage
who sat, all still,
regarding a newspaper.
He accosted me:
"Sir, what is this?"
Then I saw that I was greater,
aye, greater than this sage.
I answered him at once,
"Old, old man, it is the wisdom of the age."
The sage looked upon me with admiration.