The Poem of a Prisoner of War, 1917

I have been one of the fortunate ones of the Earth,Having gazed upon Beauty and Truth all my days,And I had no need to think or to write concerning them,But when Beauty and Truth were withdrawn from meI found I could no longer live without them,But I was obliged to keep them ever by my side,I therefore wrote of them, and to write I thought of them,And by thinking kept them with me and they stayed.