Page:Captain Craig; a book of poems.djvu/79

Rh Knew then that we were climbing. Not as one Who mounts along with his experience Bound on him like an Old Man of the Sea— Not as a moral pedant who drags chains Of his unearned ideals after him And always to the lead-like thud they make Attunes a cold inhospitable chant Of All Things Easy to the Non-Attached,— But as a man, a scarred man among men, I knew it, and I felt the strings of thought Between us to pull tight the while I strove; And if a curse came ringing now and then To my defended ears, how could I know The light that burned above me and within me, And at the same time put on cap-and-bells For such as yet were groping?"

Killigrew Made there as if to stifle a small cough. I might have kicked him, but regret forbade The subtle admonition; and indeed When afterwards I reprimanded him, The fellow never knew quite what I meant. I may have been unjust.—The Captain read Right on, without a chuckle or a pause, As if he had heard nothing: