Poems (Coates 1916)/Volume I/Edmund Clarence Stedman
For other versions of this work, see Edmund Clarence Stedman.
EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN
LIFE laid upon his forehead a caress
And, smiling, gave him for his birthright dower,
Humor and judgment, passion, purpose, power,
And gifts of vision, pure and limitless:
Then—for she ever tempers man's success,
Nursing the canker in Earth's fairest flower,—
She added pain; and taught him, hour by hour,
To know that only blessèd which doth bless!
So, following the Gleam from early youth,
He lent a strengthening hand, and gave his heart,
And aided feet, less sure than his, to climb:
He sacrificed not others to his art,
But worshiped beauty with unselfish truth,
And lives, the well-belovèd of his time!