Edmund Clarence Stedman

LIFE laid upon his forehead a caressAnd, 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 blessèd 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-belovèd of his time!