To An Atheist Friend

Tell me, Atheist, Dissenter,
Tell me, if you can,

What has Atheism ever done
For the betterment of man?

Tell me, Atheist, Dissenter,
Did you ever know

A disbelieving Da Vinci
Or an atheist Angelo?

Tell me, garrulous Sycophant,
I defy you to tell
Of a blasphemous Boticello,

Or a reviling Raphael?
—1923

Matter Is Indestructible

Matter is indestructible.

Whatever is, has always been.

What’s always been, will ever be.
Forms do but change. Just so with Men
Who borrow from earth this mortal clay
And give it back to earth again.

Forms do but change.

If the component atoms forever are,
Mayhap the soul within this borrowed clay
Hath had its beginnings in fields afar,
And thence again someday may stray

To live anew forever more.

—1927