XI

" When I'm alone " — the words tripped off his tongue
As though to be alone were nothing strange.
" When I was young ," he said; " when I was young .

I thought of age, and loneliness, and change.
I thought how strange we grow when we're alone,
And how unlike the selves that meet, and talk,
And blow the candles out, and say good-night
Alone . . . The word is life endured and known.
It is the stillness where our spirits walk
And all but inmost faith is overthrown.