And wear out scorned life with useless lies,

Which still the shifting, quivering look betrays?

For what is Hope, if Truth be not its stay?

And what were Love, if Truth forsook it quite?

And what were all the Sky,—if Falsehood gray

Behind it like a Dream of Darkness lay,

Ready to quench its stars in endless, endless night?

New Monthly Magazine.


SCENE FROM "THE FROGS OF ARISTOPHANES"