II.


This Message was wired to a most
Gentle Lady who had meant
so much in so many ways to
James Whitcomb Riley
appealing as she did to the Best
to the Highest in his Nature and who
was indeed a "Ministering Angel"
when "Pain and Anguish" wrung
his brow, racked his frail body
where lingered its Tenant
his Immortal Soul!


Tenderly, Lovingly, let the Fair Elaine cherish
the Shield Invincible of her Sir Launcelot!
Some Day--Some Glad Day--she too, will go upward
with the Flood, in the Dark Barge, decked with Flowers:
clasping in her Beautiful Hand of Gentle Service,
the Lily of Fidelity: floating with the Mystic
Tide, to meet again--at Towered Camelot--
--her Gallant, her Waiting Knight!
For Love shares with the Soul its Precious Immortality!


III.