The Ransom

Man has, for paying his ransom, 

Two fields of rich, deep, porous rock 

That he must clear and cultivate 

With the iron of his reason;

To obtain the sorriest rose, 

To extort a few ears of grain, 

He must water them constantly 

With salty sweat from his gray brow.

One is Art and the other Love.

— To win the judge's favor

When the terrible day

Of dispassionate justice dawns,

He will have to show granaries 

Filled with harvests and with flowers 

Whose forms and colors will 

Win the suffrage of the Angels.