Page:Poems PiattVol2.djvu/19

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
COUNSEL. [IN THE SOUTH.]
My boy, not of your will nor mine
You keep the mountain path and wait,
Restless, for evil gold to shine
And hold you to your fate.

A stronger Hand than yours gave you
The lawless sword. You know not why.
That you must live is all too true,
And—other men must die.

My boy, be brigand, if you must.
But face the traveller in his track;
Stand one to one,—and never thrust
The dagger in his back.

. . . . My boy, if Christ must be betrayed,
And you must the betrayer be,
Oh, marked before the worlds were made!
What help is there for me?

7