The Battle-Day and Other Poems By Ernest Jones |
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THE POET'S MISSION. |
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 | The Battle-Day and Other Poems |  |
THE POET'S MISSION.
Who is it rivets broken bands
And stranger-hearts together,
And builds with fast-decaying hands
A home to last for ever?
And stranger-hearts together,
And builds with fast-decaying hands
A home to last for ever?
From thunder-clouds compels the light,
And casts the bolt away,
Upluring from the soulless night
The soul's returning day?
And casts the bolt away,
Upluring from the soulless night
The soul's returning day?
Who is it calls up glories past
From tombs of churches old?
And proudly bids the hero last,
Tho' fades his grassy mould?
From tombs of churches old?
And proudly bids the hero last,
Tho' fades his grassy mould?
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Who is it, with age-vanquished form,
Treads death's ascending path;
Yet stronger than the fiery storm
Of tyrants in their wrath?
Treads death's ascending path;
Yet stronger than the fiery storm
Of tyrants in their wrath?
Whose voice, so low to human ears,
Has still the strength sublime
To ring thro' the advancing years—
And history—and time?
Has still the strength sublime
To ring thro' the advancing years—
And history—and time?
Who is it, in love's servitude,
Devotes his generous life,
And measures by his own heart's good
A world with evil rife?
Devotes his generous life,
And measures by his own heart's good
A world with evil rife?
The Bard—who walks earth's lonely length
Till all his gifts are given;
Makes others strong with his own strength,
And then fleets back to Heaven.
Till all his gifts are given;
Makes others strong with his own strength,
And then fleets back to Heaven.
| The Battle-Day and Other Poems | |