To A. J. Scott + 

When, Long Ago, the Daring of My Youth + 

When, long ago, the daring of my youth + 

Drew nigh thy greatness with a little thing, + 

Thou didst receive me; and thy sky of truth + 

Has domed me since, a heaven of sheltering, + 

Made homely by the tenderness and grace + 

Which round thy absolute friendship ever fling + 

A radiant atmosphere. Turn not thy face + 

From that small part of earnest thanks, I pray, + 

Which, spoken, leaves much more in speechless case. + 

I see thee far before me on thy way + 

Up the great peaks, and striding stronger still; + 

Thy intellect unrivalled in its sway, + 

Upheld and ordered by a regnant will; + 

Thy wisdom, seer and priest of holy fate, + 

Searching all truths its prophecy to fill; + 

But this my joy: throned in thy heart so great, + 

High Love is queen, and sits without a mate. + 