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TREES AND OTHER POEMS

TO A YOUNG POET WHO KILLED HIMSELF (continued) You could not vex the merry stars

Nor make them heed you, dead or living.

Not all your puny anger mars

God's irresistible forgiving.

"Yes, God forgives and men forget,

And you're forgiven and forgotten.

You might be gaily sinning yet

And quick and fresh instead of rotten.

And when you think of love and fame

And all that might have come to pass,

Then don't you feel a little shame?

And don't you think you were an ass?" [ 39 ]