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