The pen is scratching: hang the pen! To scratching I'm condemned to sink! I grasp the inkstand fiercely then And write in floods of flowing ink. How broad, how full the stream's career! What luck my labours doth requite! 'Tis true, the writing's none too clear— What then? Who reads the stuff I write? 60. _Loftier Spirits._ This man's climbing up—let us praise him— But that other we love From aloft doth eternally move, So above even praise let us raise him, He _comes_ from above! 61. _The Sceptic Speaks._ Your life is half-way o'er; The clock-hand moves; your soul is thrilled with fear, It roamed to distant shore And sought and found not, yet you—linger here! Your life is half-way o'er; That hour by hour was pain and error sheer: _Why stay?_ What seek you more? "That's what I'm seeking—reasons why I'm here!" 62. _Ecce Homo._ Yes, I know where I'm related, Like the flame, unquenched, unsated, I consume myself and glow: All's turned to light I lay my hand on, All to coal that I abandon, Yes, I am a flame, I know! 63. _Star Morality._[6] Foredoomed to spaces vast and far, What matters darkness to the star? Roll calmly on, let time go by, Let sorrows pass thee—nations die! Compassion would but dim the light That distant worlds will gladly sight. To thee one law—be pure and bright! ----- Footnote 3: Translated by Miss M. D. Petre. Footnote 4: A and O, suggestive of Ah! and Oh! refer of course to Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.—TR. Footnote 5: Translated by Miss M. D. Petre. Footnote 6: Translated by Miss M. D. Petre. BOOK FIRST 1.