Page:Ballads of a Bohemian.djvu/145

Rh (Ah! they who little children have, grant hostages to pain). We gave Life chance to wound us once, but never, never more.…” The Spirit of the Unborn Babe fled through the night again.

The Spirit of the Unborn Babe went wildered in the dark; Like termagants the winds tore down and whirled it with the snow. And then amid the writhing storm it saw a tiny spark, A window broad, a spacious room all goldenly aglow, A woman slim and Paris-gowned and exquisitely fair, Who smiled with rapture as she watched her jewels catch the blaze; A man In faultless evening dress, young, handsome, debonnaire, Who smoked his cigarette and looked with frank admiring gaze. “Oh, we are happy, sweet,” said he; “youth, health, and wealth are ours. What if a thousand toil and sweat that we may live at ease! What if the hands are worn and torn that strew our path with flowers! Ah, well! we did not make the world; let us not think of these.