Page:Poems, Volume 2, Coates, 1916.djvu/63



AGED man, pray, if you know,

Now answer me the truth!—

Which of the gifts that gods bestow

Is the greatest gift of youth?

O aged man, I have far to fare

By the divers paths of Earth,

Which of the gifts I with me bear

Is the gift of the greatest worth?

Is it the might of the good right arm,

Whereby I shall make my way

Where dangers threaten and evils harm,

Holding them still at bay?

Is it the strength wherewith I shall climb

Where few before have trod—

To the mountain-tops, the peaks sublime

That glow in the smile of the god?

Is it the never-failing will,

Invincible in might,

Which armed against oppression still

Shall vanquish for the right?