THE WRESTLE FOR A SOUL
I
This I have won by my fight
With the spirits of sorrow and night:
To be followed, ever hereafter,
By a girl's glad sinless laughter.
II
Through my dream I heard
Her maidenly new-born word:
Her virginal fresh-wrought speech.
It had power my heart to reach.
III
And now I am well content
That the veil of life be rent.
For though I pass to the grave
This wonderful soul I save.
IV
Though I, dead, pass to the night,
This blossom henceforth is white.
Though I am forgotten, I give
To her leave to laugh and to live.
