TRUE BROTHERHOOD



God, what a world, if men in street and mart
Felt that same kinship of the human heart
Which makes them, in the face of flame and flood,
Rise to the meaning of true Brotherhood!



THE DECADENT



Among the virile hosts he passed along,
Conspicuous for an undetermined grace
Of sexless beauty. In his form and face
God's mighty purpose somehow had gone wrong.
Then on his loom, he wove a careful song,
Of sensuous threads; a wordy web of lace
Wherein the primal passions of the race
And his own sins made wonder for the throng.

A little pen prick opened up a vein,
And gave the finished mesh a crimson blot -
The last consummate touch of studied art.
But those who knew strong passion and keen pain,