So, too, the Arab, burnoose clad Who braves the stifling Simoon dry, Adrift upon Saharan tides His awkward camels lurching high, Long, lank, uncouth, but staunch as Death, Ships of the Desert, sailing by. IV Note the Caucasian in his pride Who prates of moldy pedigrees; A mushroom he, compared in Eld To the impassive, sly Chinese; Their records co-extant with Time And swarming by the sundown seas. V Each comes and goes; as came and went Rameses’ millions; in their day What boast was made of Egypt’s Kings How God-like seemed their valorous play; But cynic years dispersed their line Swift hurried with the winds away. VI Aye! even as motes they had their grace For a brief moment, son and sire; Then passed; as foam that sinks at sea Or chords which flee the Minstrel’s lyre; Where rot the walls by Sidon raised? And where the long-lost hulls of Tyre? VII And all men listen in their turn To the same Sirens; greed of Gain— Love—Hate—Revenge—the lust of Power— And craze o’er fellow-man to reign— Ambition’s lure—these intertwine Like links that form an endless chain. VIII Since Power is but the instant’s clutch And naught so trivial as a Name, What crucial proof shall fix men’s worth On lasting tablets write their claim; So that their memories may fill A niche within the walls of Fame? IX The test is not of Birth nor Race Since each is worthy of his hire; It rests in what men do for men Uplifted by the soul’s desire, To tread Life’s fiery furnaces And save their brothers from the fire. X And ranging far and searching deep However though the annals be, We find but one nigh faultless man There was none other such as He; The Jew who taught and practiced Love The man who walked by Galilee. *TEN* I Enough my Muse; thy message cast As stone from out a sling is hurled, Let drop to night; or re-appear Where morning’s gathering grey is pearled, And the bent sun, like Sisyphus, Toils laboring up the underworld. II Let be; thy wisdom knoweth well The just degrees of right and wrong; Although mayhap unmarked by men Shall fall the echoes of thy song; Unheeded by the pilgrim years Unrecked of, by the heedless throng. III And yet before the highways part And thou and I in darkness dwell, Do thou thy swiftest Herald send And this as final warning tell; ’Banish all hope of gilded Heaven And laugh to scorn the fires of Hell’. IV Phantasmal dance those dual sprites Mere witch-craft mummeries of the brain; The lying sorcery of the Priests A worldly influence to retain; Where shalt thou go? What quest is thine? Where falls the single drop of rain? V