Then they recounted tales,––
"There were stern stands
"and bitter runs for glory."

Ah, I think there were braver deeds.

XX
A learned man came to me once.
He said, "I know the way,--come."
And I was overjoyed at this.
Together we hastened.
Soon, too soon, were we
where my eyes were uselesss,
and I knew not the ways of my feet.
I clung to the hand of my friend;
but at last he cried, "I am lost."

XXIV
I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"you can never"––

You lie," he cried,
and ran on.

XXVII
A youth in apparel that glittered
went to walk in a grim forest.
There he met an assassin
attired all in garb of old days;
he, scowling through the thickets,
and dagger poised quivering,
rushed upon the youth.
"Sir," said this latter,
"I am enchanted, believe me,
"to die, thus,
"in this medieval fashion,
"according to the best legends;
"Ah, what joy!"
Then took he the wound, smiling,
and died, content.

XXXV
A man saw a ball of gold in the sky;
he climbed for it,
and eventually he achieved it––
it was clay.

Now this is the strange part:
when the man went to the earth
and looked again,
lo, there was the ball of gold.
Now this is the strange part:
it was a ball of gold.
Aye, by the Heavens, it was a ball of gold.

XLII
I walked in a desert.
And I cried,
"Ah, God, take me from this place!"
A voice said, "It is no desert."
I cried, "Well, but--
"the sand, the heat, the vacant horizon."
A voice said, "It is no desert."

XLIV
I was in the darkness;
I could not see my words
nor the wishes of my heart.
Then suddenly there was a great light--

"Let me into the darkness again."

XLVI
Many red devils ran from my heart
and out upon the page,
they were so tiny
the pen could mash them.
And many struggled in the ink.
It was strange
to write in this red muck
of things from my heart.