WHY do you live in shadows and sighs,
'Mid waving grasses and faint, faint scents
'Mid floating murmurs and mysteries,
And the ghosts of roses? Arise! Go hence!
"Go hence and wrestle beneath the sun!
Go hence and live before you die!
For laurels, not roses, the race is run.
In the great arena under the sky.
"Go hence! Or my God, the Lord of Hosts,
Will put it into my heart to smite
You and your roses that smell lie ghosts
Into the everlasting night!"
"Smite on, dear heart. The eternal night
Will cover me with shadows and sighs;
And, like one great rose, the Infinite
Will hide me forever from your eyes!"
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1927.
The author died in 1963, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.