They sit there forever on the dim horizon of my mind, that
Stonehenge circle of elderly disapproving Faces--Faces of the
Uncles and Schoolmasters and Tutors who frowned on my youth.

In the bright centre and sunlight I leap, I caper, I dance my
dance; but when I look up, I see they are not deceived. For
nothing ever placates them, nothing ever moves to a look of
approval that ring of bleak and contemptuous Faces.




_The Stars_


Battling my way homeward one dark night against the wind and
rain, a sudden gust, stronger than the others, drove me back
into the shelter of a tree. But soon the Western sky broke open;
the illumination of the Stars poured down from behind the
dispersing clouds.

I was astonished at their brightness, to see how they filled the
night with their soft lustre. So I went my way accompanied by
them; Arcturus followed me, and becoming entangled in a leafy
tree, shone by glimpses, and then emerged triumphant, Lord of
the Western sky. Moving along the road in the silence of my own
footsteps, my thoughts were among the Constellations. I was one
of the Princes of the starry Universe; in me also there was
something that was not insignificant and mean and of no account.