Now in the wintry garden A harsh birds calls As once in dreams I heard a soul cry pardon Down empty halls. Oh more than ever it seems Judgement is hard to give: Eternity is wide Each way and every side And yet a man must live. The rhyming waves over-reach The dissolving shore. Around the lyric bay The tortured trees beseech The winds for evermore— Winds that blow out the day Winds that will not forgive And still the sea’s a drop Upon a spinning top And yet a man must live. Sweet appearances deceive: There is no truth In his or hers. Old men cannot believe In their own youth. Solemn philosophers Draw water in a sieve. All flows: the veil Hides an old tale And yet a man must live. Old banners wave no more: There is no good. Evil is but a name These words were said before Even as fate would Within his circling flame Whose wheel will not forgive. Berated, slapped Debased and rapt Surely a man must live.