Page:Ballads of a Bohemian.djvu/209

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LES GRANDS MUTILES
207

THE SIGHTLESS MAN

Out of the night a crash,
A roar, a rampart of light;
A flame that leaped like a lash,
Searing forever my sight;
Out of the night a flash,
Then, oh, forever the Night!


Here in the dark I sit,
I who so loved the sun;
Supple and strong and fit,
In the dark till my days be done;
Aye, that’s the hell of it,
Stalwart and twenty-one.


Marie is stanch and true,
Willing to be my wife;
Swears she has eyes for two…
Aye, but it’s long, is Life.
What is a lad to do
With his heart and his brain at strife?


There now, my pipe is out;
No one to give me a light;
I grope and I grope about.
Well, it is nearly night;
Sleep may resolve my doubt,
Help me to reason right.…