| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917. |
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| 115. The New Life |
| | | By Witter Bynner |
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| PERHAPS they laughed at Dante in his youth, | |
| Told him that truth | |
| Had unappealably been said | |
| In the great masterpieces of the dead:— | |
| Perhaps he listened and but bowed his head | 5 |
| In acquiescent honour, while his heart | |
| Held natal tidings,—that a new life is the part | |
| Of every man that’s born, | |
| A new life never lived before, | |
| And a new expectant art; | 10 |
| It is the variations of the morn | |
| That are forever, more and more, | |
| The single dawning of the single truth. | |
| So answers Dante to the heart of youth! | |
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