The Ring of Amethyst

by Alice Wellington Rollins

We have known

Of many a man whose features were not carved

By his own soul to their high nobleness,

But handed down by some far ancestor.

Strange, that a man a generation long

Should do good deeds that mould his generous lips

To noble curves, and then should die and leave

His son the curves without the nobleness.

We’ve known of many a woman, many a man,

Whose own soul leaped in passionate high flames;