FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67  
68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   >>  
sted life goes by. How long shall they reproach us where crowd on crowd they dwell, Poor ghosts of the wicked city, the gold-crushed hungry hell? Through squalid life they laboured, in sordid grief they died, Those sons of a mighty mother, those props of England's pride. They are gone; there is none can undo it, nor save our souls from the curse; But many a million cometh, and shall they be better or worse? It is we must answer and hasten, and open wide the door For the rich man's hurrying terror, and the slow-foot hope of the poor. Yea, the voiceless wrath of the wretched, and their unlearned discontent, We must give it voice and wisdom till the waiting-tide be spent. * * * * * Come, then, since all things call us, the living and the dead, And o'er the weltering tangle a glimmering light is shed. Come, then, let us cast off fooling, and put by ease and rest, For the Cause alone is worthy till the good days bring the best. Come, join in the only battle wherein no man can fail, Where whoso fadeth and dieth, yet his deed shall still prevail. Ah! come, cast off all fooling, for this, at least, we know: That the Dawn and the Day is coming, and forth the Banners go. EARTH THE HEALER, EARTH THE KEEPER. So swift the hours are moving Unto the time un-proved: Farewell my love unloving, Farewell my love beloved! What! are we not glad-hearted? Is there no deed to do? Is not all fear departed And Spring-tide blossomed new? The sails swell out above us, The sea-ridge lifts the keel; For They have called who love us, Who bear the gifts that heal: A crown for him that winneth, A bed for him that fails, A glory that beginneth In never-dying tales. Yet now the pain is ended And the glad hand grips the sword, Look on thy life amended And deal out due award. Think of the thankless morning, The gifts of noon unused; Think of the eve of scorning, The night of prayer refused. And yet. The life before it, Dost thou remember aught, What terrors shivered o'er it Born from the hell of thought? And this that cometh after: How dost thou live, and dare To meet its empty laughter, To face its friendless care? In fear didst thou desire, At peace dost thou regret, The wasting of the fire, The tangling of the net. Love came and gat fair greeting; Love went; and left no shame. Shall both the twilights meeting The summer sunlight blame? What! cometh love and go
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67  
68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   >>  



Top keywords:

cometh

 
fooling
 

Farewell

 
beginneth
 

winneth

 

amended

 
Spring
 

departed

 

blossomed

 

wicked


crushed

 
hungry
 

hearted

 

ghosts

 

called

 

wasting

 

tangling

 
regret
 

friendless

 

desire


meeting

 

twilights

 

summer

 

sunlight

 

greeting

 
laughter
 
prayer
 

refused

 
scorning
 

thankless


reproach
 

morning

 

beloved

 

unused

 
remember
 

thought

 

terrors

 

shivered

 
laboured
 

waiting


wisdom

 
wretched
 

unlearned

 

discontent

 

things

 
glimmering
 

tangle

 
weltering
 

living

 

England