Youth
I am not sure if I knew the truthWhat his case or crime might be,I only know that he pleaded Youth,A beautiful, golden plea!
Youth, with its sunlit, passionate eyes,Its roseate velvet skin—A plea to cancel a thousand lies,Or a thousand nights of sin.
The men who judged him were old and greyTheir eyes and their senses dim,He brought the light of a warm Spring dayTo the Court-house bare and grim.
Could he plead guilty in a lovelier way?His judges acquitted him.