And whether he strives in the lofty range
Or tries in the crowded mart,
The longing to do what has never been done
Is uppermost in his heart.
He tries to build where none other has built,
Win the maid that none other has won,
To find the gold that he never can hold,
To finish what cannot be done.
He lives his life in a trying way
And he scorns the things that are tame,
If all seems lost, he still fights on,
For ever he plays the game.
And the efforts he makes as he strives to win
Are a credit to him and his breed,
And the gods will count and give full amount
And accept the act for the deed.
FOR
The dream of the white man ever goes out
To the fight that can never be won,
And ever he plans to do the things
That they say can never be done.
It's seldom he values the things that are,
What he craves he never may gain,
But ever he tries, till the day he dies
And then feels he has lived in vain.
THE NEW MASTER
As one who lays aside a task, where one has ruled alone,
I lay aside the crown of hell, and give to you my throne;
As one who feels his race is run, whose day is of the past,
I recognize your genius, and abdicate at last.
I go and leave you master, and I feel it's just as well,
For Hades lacks its master, until you rule in hell.
The world wags on and changes, old methods now seem weak,
And the changes of a thousand years, of these I fain would speak.
I've raised and sponsored many names, that darken history's page,
I've made them rulers of the world in many a by-gone age.
They all have shown a human turn, from Nero down to you,
But now my life-long dream of a super fiend at last seems coming true.
I've watched you since the faintest spark blazed in your mother's womb,
I've watched your hypocritic grief, beside your father's tomb;
I know the tainted blood that flows thru your each and every vein
That shows up in your withered arm, and feeds your fevered brain.