Poems By Arjava

" THE PROBLEM OF GOOD "

CAN a shadow cast a shadow or an echo give new sound

Or the ebb tide shrink still further or the full moon wax more round ?

Or withered flower droop sadder— Or madmen rave yet madder

Or earth-hood's evil Powers be more securely crowned ?

If hoof-prints do not' show upon the sand,

If axe-doomed tree resist the woodman's hand,

Then may Good Will have hope to do the thing it planned !

But is the stream engendered more lofty than the spring ?

Or could the sling-stone's hurtling have sped from an unnerved sling ?

Or might the songbird's brood

Fly forth if Love eschewed

Vigil and food-finding and life-enlisted wing ?

The arc has broken ends—but they shall meet.

Force has the guise of a god—but with clay feet.

Surely the lark at dawn-break shall Beauty with beauty greet.

November 19, 1934.