 | The Poetical Works of Walter C. Smith |  |
INTRODUCTORY
What have our men of old times
To say for themselves,
Now their loves, hates, quarrels, and crimes
Have been laid on the shelves,
And buried in cobwebs and dust,
Or eaten by mildew and rust?
To say for themselves,
Now their loves, hates, quarrels, and crimes
Have been laid on the shelves,
And buried in cobwebs and dust,
Or eaten by mildew and rust?
Strong men; their passions were strong;
And so was their faith,
Strong to stand up against wrong,
And resist to the death:
But fell were some of their deeds
In the warfare of clans and of creeds.
And so was their faith,
Strong to stand up against wrong,
And resist to the death:
But fell were some of their deeds
In the warfare of clans and of creeds.
Oh, theirs was the wrestle for good
In the quick womb of Time,
Which they only in part understood,
But with courage sublime
They struggled on towards the light
With their hearts still set on the right.
In the quick womb of Time,
Which they only in part understood,
But with courage sublime
They struggled on towards the light
With their hearts still set on the right.
Maybe; yet our Jacob was not
Without mean crafty ways;
And our Esau had glimpses of thought
Not unworthy of praise;
Not saints all who chose the right path,
Nor the others all children of wrath.
Without mean crafty ways;
And our Esau had glimpses of thought
Not unworthy of praise;
Not saints all who chose the right path,
Nor the others all children of wrath.
We shall err from the truth if we keep
Just to old Party lines,
And stir up old hatreds that sleep
In the books of Divines,
And rulings of Lawyers, and tales
That haunt the dim hills and the dales.
Just to old Party lines,
And stir up old hatreds that sleep
In the books of Divines,
And rulings of Lawyers, and tales
That haunt the dim hills and the dales.
And there is not a quarrel so bad
But that we may see
Some point in it we should be glad
Had it got mastery—
Some right amid wrong, to explain
How true hearts by it might remain.
But that we may see
Some point in it we should be glad
Had it got mastery—
Some right amid wrong, to explain
How true hearts by it might remain.
For I think scarce a man can be hot
With a fervent goodwill,
And cast in his life and his lot
With a cause wholly ill;
It must have some savour of good
To rouse the self-sacrifice mood.
With a fervent goodwill,
And cast in his life and his lot
With a cause wholly ill;
It must have some savour of good
To rouse the self-sacrifice mood.
Ah, well; there were schemers of course,
Heeding not wrong nor right,
And captains of foot and of horse
Loving only the fight,
And waiters-on watching the tide
To find out the safe, winning side.
Heeding not wrong nor right,
And captains of foot and of horse
Loving only the fight,
And waiters-on watching the tide
To find out the safe, winning side.
Camp-followers these in the war,
Eager only for gain,
Like the vultures that come from afar
To feast on the slain—
Or gamblers who played their big game,
And were cast forth at length in their shame.
Eager only for gain,
Like the vultures that come from afar
To feast on the slain—
Or gamblers who played their big game,
And were cast forth at length in their shame.
But the great groaning multitude, dumb,
Had at least a true thought,
And looked for God's kingdom to come,
And brighten the lot
Of the needy and poor and oppressed,
And crown their long struggle with rest.
Had at least a true thought,
And looked for God's kingdom to come,
And brighten the lot
Of the needy and poor and oppressed,
And crown their long struggle with rest.
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And so, through the ages, the throng
Of mixed good and ill
Confusedly wrestled along,
To work out His will,
Who aims not to finish the strife,
But to open new doors into life.
Of mixed good and ill
Confusedly wrestled along,
To work out His will,
Who aims not to finish the strife,
But to open new doors into life.
| The Poetical Works of Walter C. Smith | |