THE POEM OF A PRISONER OF WAR, 1917
I have been one of the fortunate ones of the Earth,
Having gazed upon Beauty and Truth all my days,
And I had no need to think or to write concerning them,
But when Beauty and Truth were withdrawn from me
I found I could no longer live without them,
But I was obliged to keep them ever by my side,
I therefore wrote of them, and to write I thought of them,
And by thinking kept them with me and they stayed.
I have been one of the fortunate ones of the Earth,
Having gazed upon Beauty and Truth all my days,
And I had no need to think or to write concerning them,
But when Beauty and Truth were withdrawn from me
I found I could no longer live without them,
But I was obliged to keep them ever by my side,
I therefore wrote of them, and to write I thought of them,
And by thinking kept them with me and they stayed.