When ’twas Death they demanded
Ye laughed! Ye were losing them.
But the blood that ye spilt in the night
Crieth loudly to God,
And their name hath the strength and the might
Of a sword for the sod.
In the days of our doom and our dread
Ye were cruel and callous,
Grim Death with our fighters ye fed
Through the jaws of the gallows;
But a blasting and blight was the fee
For which ye had bartered them,
And we smite with the sword that from ye
We had gained when ye martyred them!
The pomp and pageant of eternal power,The crown and pride of your high destiny.I am the Prophet: this your prophecy—Your deeds and Heaven’s fill the echoing hour,The Splendour of all splendours for your dowerIs given, a witness of the things to be.I am the Poet, but I cannot singOf your dear worth, or mortal or…
His body gleams amid eternal snows,His tears fall from the skies.I see his face in every flower;The thunder and the singing of the birdsAre but his voice—and carven by his powerRocks are his written words.All pathways by his feet are worn,His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,His…
Have wrought their prophecies in deedOf terrible and splendid things.The hands that fought, the hearts that brokeIn old immortal tragedies,These have not failed beneath the skies,Their children’s heads refuse the yoke.And still their hands shall guard the sodThat holds their father’s funeral urn,Still shall their hearts volcanic burnWith anger of the sons of God.No alien…
Seeing herself within the mystic circle of my voice,Whereat forthwith its music turns to blades and tongues of fireRending the bonds and weaving round the Hawk a skein of lightRaising the work and the Toiler to the never-ending Day.
The once-proud Thunder-Terror, fallen tame,Noses for truffles with unwhetted tusk;A sickening scent of civet and of muskHas clogged the nostrils of the Hound of Fame—But flickering stars are blown to vivid flameWhen leaps your beauty from its blazing husk.Blossom of burning solitude! High thingsAre lit with splendour—Love your glimmering raySmites them to glory—below them and…
Dream-love dream-taken, swept upon the streamOf dreaming Truth, dreamt true, yet deemed as dross:Dreamt Truth that is to waking Truth a gloss,Dream-love that is to the life of loves that seemTo bear the rood of love’s eternal theme,The strength that brings to Calvary their cross.I dreamt that love had lit, a burning birdOn one green…
