Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Titus MunsonCoan

788 Nihil Humani Alienum

IN the loud waking world I come and go,

And yet the twofold gates of dreams are mine;

I have seen the battle-lightnings round me shine,

And won the stillness of Hawaiian snow;

The votary’s sad surrender do I know;

Joy have I had of passion and of wine;

Nor shines the light of poesy less divine

Though science’s white cressets round me glow.

Yet never in me are these things at feud;

They make one sum of rapture; in my heart

Their memories rise and glow, a living good;

Dreams, banquets, battles, prayers, carousals, art,

All form for me a vital brotherhood;

From nothing human let me hold apart!