Why is it then that life has seemed to pace

More than enough its little path of vigil,

But not to know the endless path of beauty

Beyond the entrance and the mere beginning!

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour

Of death!… And, even while thou prayest, I,

Who should incessantly be praying also,

I who am Cardinal and might be Pope,

Sit with my blind eyes full of Pagan glory!—

Sappho, Apollo and Antinous,