CONCLUSION

This was none of the good Lord's pleasure,

For the Spirit He breathed in Man is free; But what comes after is measure for measure, And not a God that afflicteth thee.

As was the sowing so the reaping

Is now and evermore shall be.
Thou art delivered to thy own keeping.

Only Thyself hath afflicted thee!

A SONG AT COCK-CROW

'Ille autem iterum negavit.'

THE first time that Peter deniéd his Lord

He shrank from the cudgel, the scourge and the

cord,

But followed far off to see what they would do,

Till the cock crew-till the cock crew

After Gethsemane, till the cock crew!

The first time that Peter deniéd his Lord

'Twas only a maid in the palace who heard,

As he sat by the fire and warmed himself through. Then the cock crew! Then the cock crew!

("Thou also art one of them.") Then the cock crew!

The first time that Peter deniéd his Lord

He had neither the Throne, nor the Keys nor the Sword

A poor silly fisherman, what could he do

When the cock crew-when the cock crew—

But weep for his wickedness when the cock crew?

The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord

He was Fisher of Men, as foretold by the Word,

With the Crown on his brow and the Cross on his

shoe,

When the cock crew-when the cock crew

In Flanders and Picardy when the cock crew.

The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord

'Twas Mary the Mother in Heaven Who heard, And She grieved for the maidens and wives that they slew

When the cock crew-when the cock crew

At Tirmonde and Aerschott when the cock crew.

The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord

The Babe in the Manger awakened and stirred,

A SONG AT COCK-CROW

123

And He stretched out His arms for the playmates

He knew

When the cock crew-when the cock crew

But the waters had covered them when the cock crew.

The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord
'Twas Earth in her agony waited his word,
But he sat by the fire and naught would he do,
Though the cock crew-though the cock crew-
Over all Christendom, though the cock crew.

The last time that Peter denied his Lord,

The Father took from him the Keys and the Sword, And the Mother and Babe brake his Kingdom in

two,

When the cock crew-when the cock crew

(Because of his wickedness) when the cock crew!

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES

1911

WHEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in

his pride,

He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn

aside.

But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant

tooth and nail.

For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless

foot of man,

He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it as

he can.