Chapter L

O let me be a child to you to-night!
Take from me lore of love and all its pain,
Then tell some fabled tale of olden Spain
And let me listen with a child’s delight!
O let me be a child to you to-night!
So tired am I of stress and strife and strain—
Of life—the puzzle naught can now make plain,
Of balance keeping between wrong and right!

You’ve asked me often if I ever pray.
Can any to that question answer—nay?
What are ambition, effort,—life—but prayer,
What are all great desires everywhere?
I’m praying now beneath your eyes’ love-light—
O let me be a child again to-night!