Classic Poem

Not genius, genius needs.
The fiery touch of genius would exhaust
Genius; 'twas Margaret who conquered Faust.
Where genius fails, the simpler heart succeeds.

The heart that saves the heart
Wherethrough the wild poetic fire-throbs beat
Is not the heart wherethrough likewise there fleet
Strange fevering dreams of life, and dreams of Art.

The heart that saves is this —
The heart that represents in simplest guise
Woman. God's light must shine within her eyes;
God's love must hallow her undoubting kiss.

The simplest singlest heart,
This saves the poet, — not the complex brain,
But woman; simply she; and she again.
She, being herself, transcends all heights of Art.