 | The poetical works of Edward Rowland Sill |  |
THE FUTURE
What may we take into the vast Forever?
That marble door
Admits no fruit of all our long endeavor,
No fame-wreathed crown we wore,
No garnered lore.
That marble door
Admits no fruit of all our long endeavor,
No fame-wreathed crown we wore,
No garnered lore.
What can we bear beyond the unknown portal?
No gold, no gains
Of all our toiling, in the life immortal
No hoarded wealth remains,
Nor gilds, nor stains.
No gold, no gains
Of all our toiling, in the life immortal
No hoarded wealth remains,
Nor gilds, nor stains.
Naked from out that far abyss behind us
We entered here:
No word came with our coming to remind us
What wondrous world was near,
No hope, no fear.
We entered here:
No word came with our coming to remind us
What wondrous world was near,
No hope, no fear.
Into the silent, starless Night before us,
Naked we glide:
No hand has mapped the constellations o'er us,
No comrade at our side,
No chart, no guide.
Naked we glide:
No hand has mapped the constellations o'er us,
No comrade at our side,
No chart, no guide.
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Yet fearless toward that midnight, black and hollow,
Our footsteps fare:
The beckoning of a father's hand we follow,
His love alone is there,
No curse, no care.
Our footsteps fare:
The beckoning of a father's hand we follow,
His love alone is there,
No curse, no care.
| The poetical works of Edward Rowland Sill | |