Classic Poem

If I have fought my baser self and raised
My thoughts to high ideals, it is due
To this the love that I have found in you
As I in your dear eyes have longing gazed.
When I look back I find myself amazed
At what I was; what mire I floundered through,
So far I wandered from the pure and true
While all my good intentions fitful blazed.

A man is half a savage, and he needs
The woman's presence to arouse his soul.
Her love has given the world his noblest deeds,
She is the light that warns him from the shoal—
The reefs—the rocks—where fell destruction leads
And dark engulfing waters silent roll.