The Suppliant + 

Long have I beat with timid hands upon life’s leaden door, + 

Praying the patient, futile prayer my fathers prayed before, + 

Yet I remain without the close, unheeded and unheard, + 

And never to my listening ear is borne the waited word. + 

Soft o’er the threshold of the years there comes this counsel cool: + 

The strong demand, contend, prevail; the beggar is a fool! + 