Edmund Clarence Stedman

Life laid upon his forehead a caress,
And, smiling, gave him for his birthright dower,
Humor and judgment, passion, purpose, power,
And gifts of vision, pure and limitless:
Then—for she ever tempers man's success,
Nursing the canker in Earth's fairest flower—
She added pain; and taught him, hour by hour,
To know that only blessed which doth bless!

So, following the Gleam from early youth,
He lent a strengthening hand, and gave his heart,
And aided feet, less sure than his, to climb:
He sacrificed not others to his art,
But worshiped beauty with unselfish truth,
And lives, the well-beloved of his time!

poem by Florence Earle Coates from Mine and Thine (1904)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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