posted April 17, 2013 12:12 PM            

Who can tell the worth of man,
His nature and his scope;
When in his breast comingle
Affections so remote?

He is baser than the beasts
And brighter than the stars;
Disciple of darkness and of light;
A child of Zeus no less than Mars.

How shall we judge him, --
With what measure can we rule;
What punish and what pardon --
This wisest of all fools?

He is at odds within himself,
A comic kind of tragedy,
Forever sinking into mud
While straining for divinity.

One moment he is Christian called,
The next, a burden to the weak;
Devouring the spoils of war;
A spendthrift of the gift he seeks.