At the gate of the West I stand,

On the isle where the nations throng.

We call them “scum o’ the earth”;

Stay, are we doing you wrong,

Young fellow from Socrates’ land?—

You, like a Hermes so lissome and strong

Fresh from the master Praxiteles’ hand?

So you’re of Spartan birth?

Descended, perhaps, from one of the band—

Deathless in story and song—