Testament

I said, 'I will take my life
And throw it away;
I who was fire and song
Will turn to clay.'
'I will lie no more in the night
With shaken breath,
I will toss my heart in the air
To be caught by Death.'
But out of the night I heard,
Like the inland sound of the sea,
The hushed and terrible sob
Of all humanity.
Then I said, 'Oh who am I
To scorn God to his face?
I will bow my head and stay
And suffer with my race.'