I said, “I will take my life
   And throw it away;
I who was fire and song
   Will turn to clay.”

“I will lie no more in the night
   With shaken breath,
I will toss my heart in the air
   To be caught by Death.”

But out of the night I heard,
   Like the inland sound of the sea,
The hushed and terrible sob
   Of all humanity.

Then I said, “Oh who am I
   To scorn God to his face?
I will bow my head and stay
   And suffer with my race.”