Page:The city of dreadful night - and other poems (IA cityofdreadfulni00thomrich).pdf/193

 Upon the hoary tower A sentry -box stands low; A youth in his coat of scarlet There paces to and fro.

He trifles with his musket, Which gleams in the sunshine red; He shoulders and presents it I would he shot me dead.

the sea, by the desert midnight sea, Stands a youth, His heart full of anguish, his head full of doubt, And with sullen lips he questions the waves:—

"Oh, solve to me the Riddle of Life, The painful primordial riddle, Which already has racked so many heads, Heads in hieroglyphic caps, Heads in turbans and black berrets, Heads in wigs, and myriad other Poor perspiring human heads; What is the meaning of Man?