 | English Roses |  |
THE MAKING OF MAN.
Glory of blood and iron purpose to dare and do,
Arms that outreach and environ earth and in tempest woo;
Vision of soaring eagle over the tide and town,
Sense of the homing beagle tracking its victim down;
Speech that goes out in thunder leaping from mouth to mind,
Knowledge a broken wonder leaving no bounds behind;
Ears that are ever itching most for delight of lust,
Fingers of famine stitching shrouds in decay and dust;
Grit of œonian granite fashioned by fire and years,
Patience as God began it builded on hopes and fears;
Calm of a steadfast courage kindled by rocky bars,
Seeking that finds its forage equal in stones and stars;
Yearning for dreams and danger paths with adventure sown,
Choice of the stern and stranger light and the night unknown:
Pride with its paltry craving eager for empty chaff,
Making its tomb and graving lies as its epitaph;
Greed of a grand ambition preying on others' dearth,
Half bliss and half perdition, good not for heaven or earth;
Thus he arose the moulder, bearing the woman's fan,
Blent of the clay and boulder—this was the making of man.
Arms that outreach and environ earth and in tempest woo;
Vision of soaring eagle over the tide and town,
Sense of the homing beagle tracking its victim down;
Speech that goes out in thunder leaping from mouth to mind,
Knowledge a broken wonder leaving no bounds behind;
Ears that are ever itching most for delight of lust,
Fingers of famine stitching shrouds in decay and dust;
Grit of œonian granite fashioned by fire and years,
Patience as God began it builded on hopes and fears;
Calm of a steadfast courage kindled by rocky bars,
Seeking that finds its forage equal in stones and stars;
Yearning for dreams and danger paths with adventure sown,
Choice of the stern and stranger light and the night unknown:
Pride with its paltry craving eager for empty chaff,
Making its tomb and graving lies as its epitaph;
Greed of a grand ambition preying on others' dearth,
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Thus he arose the moulder, bearing the woman's fan,
Blent of the clay and boulder—this was the making of man.
Cruelty cold and measured out in a dreadful dole,
Fat with a fuel treasured grimly for body and soul;
Gladness that makes time younger buoyed upon wings to fly,
Surfeit of all and hunger fed on Eternity;
Baby content with trifles passing and bubble toys,
Murderous grip of rifles belching in demon joys;
Grasp that across the ages seizes and holds the flower,
Tearing from crimson pages life and its deadly dower;
Foot, that when troubles toss us rudely from town to tide,
Steps a serene Colossus forward with stately stride;
Breast like a bubbling river flowing in tears and flame,
Dark with the shades that shiver down to a sea of shame;
Selfishness woven as raiment meet for a little heart,
Grudging of all repayment but the one damning dart;
Force with its heel on weakness bleeding and crushed and torn,
Fraud that devours the meekness linked and prepared for scorn;
Love of the base, and leaven mixed of all mischief done,
Meeting of earth and heaven married but never one;
Thus he became the master bearing the woman's ban,
Blessing, and dire disaster—this was the making of man.
Fat with a fuel treasured grimly for body and soul;
Gladness that makes time younger buoyed upon wings to fly,
Surfeit of all and hunger fed on Eternity;
Baby content with trifles passing and bubble toys,
Murderous grip of rifles belching in demon joys;
Grasp that across the ages seizes and holds the flower,
Tearing from crimson pages life and its deadly dower;
Foot, that when troubles toss us rudely from town to tide,
Steps a serene Colossus forward with stately stride;
Breast like a bubbling river flowing in tears and flame,
Dark with the shades that shiver down to a sea of shame;
Selfishness woven as raiment meet for a little heart,
Grudging of all repayment but the one damning dart;
Force with its heel on weakness bleeding and crushed and torn,
Fraud that devours the meekness linked and prepared for scorn;
Love of the base, and leaven mixed of all mischief done,
Meeting of earth and heaven married but never one;
Thus he became the master bearing the woman's ban,
Blessing, and dire disaster—this was the making of man.
| English Roses | |