Page:Famous Single Poems (1924).djvu/188

 How the wild crowd goes swaying along, Hailing each other with humor and song! How the gay sledges like meteors flash by— Bright for a moment, then lost to the eye.
 * Ringing,
 * Swinging,
 * Dashing they go

Over the crest of the beautiful snow: Snow so pure when it falls from the sky, To be trampled in mud by the crowd rushing by; To be trampled and tracked by the thousands of feet Till it blends with the horrible filth in the street.

Once I was pure as the snow—but I fell: Fell, like the snow-flakes, from heaven—to hell: Fell, to be tramped as the filth of the street: Fell, to be scoffed, to be spit on and beat.
 * Pleading,
 * Cursing,
 * Dreading to die,

Selling my soul to whoever would buy, Dealing in shame for a morsel of bread, Hating the living and fearing the dead. Merciful God! have I fallen so low? And yet I was once like this beautiful snow!