In these red labyrinths of London br I find that I have chosen br the strangest of all callings, br save that, in its way, any calling is strange. br Like the alchemist br who sought the philosopher's stone br in quicksilver, br I shall make everyday words-- br the gambler's marked cards, the common coin-- br give off the magic that was their br when Thor was both the god and the din, br the thunderclap and the prayer. br In today's dialect br I shall say, in my fashion, eternal things: br I shall try to be worthy br of the great echo of Byron. br This dust that I am will be invulnerable. br If a woman shares my love br my verse will touch the tenth sphere of the concentric heavens; br if a woman turns my love aside br I will make of my sadness a music, br a full river to resound through time. br I shall live by forgetting myself. br I shall be the face I glimpse and forget, br I shall be Judas who takes on br the divine mission of being a betrayer, br I shall be Caliban in his bog, br I shall be a mercenary who dies br without fear and without faith, br I shall be Polycrates, who looks in awe br upon the seal returned by fate. br I will be the friend who hates me. br The persian will give me the nightingale, and Rome the sword. br Masks, agonies, resurrections br will weave and unweave my life, br and in time I shall be Robert Browning.