Behold! I cover up this trail of tears

A moment's weakness left upon my cheek,

And hush my heart a little ere I speak

Lest the false note ring true on other ears;

The music rises and the empty cheers

Proclaim the harlequin, and lo! I stand

The painted fool again and kiss my hand

With jocund air to Folly's worshippers.

So day by day life's bitter bread is earned

With lips that smile and frame the mirthless joke,

And frailer grows the soul that once was strong,—

The joyless soul of one whose trade has turned

Life's tragic mantle to a jester's cloak,

Life's diapason to a jester's song.

[22]

[22]

A LEGEND OF GOLD.

Lucifer craved one boon of God

After his fall, as his own to hold;

So He gave him a mite in heaven's sight,

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