THE SACRIFICE

I started out in a cloak of pride,

With talent, too, that I did not hide;

I started out on Life's stony road,

Ambition's weight was my only load,

And the way seemed fair in the dawn's first glow,

And I hurried — ran — FOR I DID NOT KNOW!

Love smiled from a garden by the way,

And called to me, but I would not stray

From the road that stretched like a ribbon white,

Up endless hills to an endless night.

Love smiled at me, but I pushed ahead,

And love fell back in the garden — dead —

But I did not care as I hastened by,

And I did not pause for regret or sigh....

The road before was a path of hope,

And every hill with its gentle slope

Led up to heights I had dreamed and prayed

To reach some day —

Ah! I might have stayed

With Love and Youth in the garden gay,

That smiled at me from beside the way.