Their powers, and strike their fortunes cold and dull.

And we, who seek the soul in each old sign,

Pleased if we may divine

Likeness in difference, Proteus in disguise,

And gazing backward with anointed eyes

Across deep ages and the gulfs of race

Know yet a brother’s face,—

We hail, in this the antique olive gray,

A meaning of to-day.

III.