'Twere but a drop to ocean thrown!

Great God! if what I dimly see,
In this small section of mankind,
Of pain and want and misery,
Can thus bring anguish to my mind,

How canst _Thou_ view the awful _whole_,
As our ensanguined planet rolls
From unknown source to unknown goal
Its freight of suffering human souls?

Permitted pain!--the first and last
Of riddles that we strive to solve,
More poignant ever, and more vast,
As man's mentalities evolve,

I hear thy victims' ceaseless wails,
I view the path my race hath trod,
And at the sight my spirit quails,
And cries in agony to God!




THE SILVER HERONS

Within a home for captive beasts
Whose world had dwindled to a cage,
I noted in their mournful eyes