from Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers,
by Don Marquis
(thanks to Project Gutenberg.)

HOW SUFFERING PURIFIES ONE!

Oh, to go through fire and come out purified!
Suffering is wonderful, isn't it? Simply WONDERFUL!

Harmony! Harmony! Oh, to be in accord with
the Infinite!

Nearly every night before I go to bed I ask my-
self, "have I vibrated in tune with the Infinite to-
day, or have I failed?"


UNDERSTANDING, AND ONE'S OWN HOME

Sometimes I think I shall WRITE!

Express myself, my real Ego, in Song.

Not rhymes, of course. If I worked a year I
couldn't make two lines rhyme.

But rhyme is going out, anyhow.

Vers Libre is all the rage now.

We took it up not long ago -- our Little Group
of Serious Thinkers, you know -- and I feel con
fident it is My Medium of Expression.

It is so untrammeled, isn't it?

And one should be untrammeled, both in Art and
Life, shouldn't one?

Often I ask myself, at the close of day: "Have I
been untrammeled today? Or have I FAILED?

If I could put my real Ego -- and how wonderful
the Ego is, isn't it? -- into vers libre, even Papa
might understand me.

I have always yearned to be understood!


THOUGHTS ON HEREDITY AND THINGS

Isn't the Subliminal Consciousness wonderful;
simply WONDERFUL?

We're going to take it up in a serious way some
evening next week, and thresh it out thoroughly.

But I must run along. I have an engagement
with my dressmaker at two o'clock. You know,
I've really found one who can make my gowns
interpret my inner spirit.