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Match a toad with a far-winged hawk, A scarlet rose with a thistle stalk; A stagnant pond with the white sea-tide— You match the friendship of Bob and Clyde. Clyde was a plucker of gems divine— Bob was half a poet, half devil-swine. One of them mounted the gods' own peak, Out of the world's vile muck and reek, Up from the world-path's ruck and slime, Climbed on a ladder of godlike rhyme.— One of them made his bid for fame, Scorched his wing at the Muses' flame, Warped his soul like a brooding devil Found at last, and kept to, his level. A friendship strange—yet it lasted on Till their lives had faded to dusk from dawn. Friendship of a falcon for a mugger— Gods' own poet and third-rate slugger. Lived their lives, friend unto friend— Each in his own way met his end. One of them passed like a Median king— One of them died in a boxing ring. One of them passed on a distant shore Where the breakers answered the sea-wind's roar. High on the crags he stood at bay, Laughed like a god o'er the din of the fray; Crimson the cliffs and red his sword, One man facing a blood-crazed horde; Man after man fell to his blade, Laughed as he faced them, unafraid. They swarmed like demons; what did he care? Beauty and glory and pride were there; Crag and mountain, ocean and sky, Glorying to see a strong man die. Laughed on the crags like a white limbed god, For he knew the ways that the godlings trod— He had scaled all peaks of glory. Last With a snatch of song on his lips he passed. One heard the tumult of throngs outbreak As he writhed on the matt like a wounded snake, Striving to get his legs beneath— Red oaths ebbed through his broken teeth— Above him the ring-light's garishblaze, Sordid faces leered through the haze, Foreign voices venting foul spleen, Scents of unwashed forms obscene— Shouts that flickered the ring-light's shine "Stand up and fight, you yellow swine!" Then the darkness loomed like a mighty tide And he gasped out a crimson curse and died. Thus they lived their lives friend unto friend, And each in his own way met his end. Match a toad with a far-winged hawk, A crimson rose with a thistle stalk; A stagnant pond with the ocean's tide— You match the friendship of Bob and Clyde. Friend unto friend, they lived their days, Friend unto friend they walked their ways.