Poems with Fables in Prose By Frederic Herbert Trench |
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The Challenge
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 | Poems with Fables in Prose |  |
153
The Challenge
Not from a Godlike State
Of iron laws
Set above right as Fate
Our strength, our wisdom draws;
But from things weaker than straws,
From childish hands and love left desolate.
Of iron laws
Set above right as Fate
Our strength, our wisdom draws;
But from things weaker than straws,
From childish hands and love left desolate.
And as one shall walk at ease
On battle bent
Who knows the battle frees
In him the great event—
Sing we, with deep consent,
The ancient cause, the never-ending cause!
On battle bent
Who knows the battle frees
In him the great event—
Sing we, with deep consent,
The ancient cause, the never-ending cause!
No cavern'd foe can hide.
Now sharp and clear
The bulks of storm divide,
The combatants appear;
Between that grasp of Fear,
And Freedom, lies the unresolvèd cause!
Now sharp and clear
The bulks of storm divide,
The combatants appear;
Between that grasp of Fear,
And Freedom, lies the unresolvèd cause!
The thinking tyrants all
That kept not troth
Struck falsely, to forestal;
The thinking tyrants loathe
The invisible forest's growth,
The quickening roar in its sea-summits wroth.
That kept not troth
Struck falsely, to forestal;
The thinking tyrants loathe
The invisible forest's growth,
The quickening roar in its sea-summits wroth.
154
Like falcons from the wrist
They toss'd afar
On sleepers in the mist
To plunge from Alp and scaur
Giant-minded vultures—War's
Foul chasm-born Hungers,—Hates that men resist.
They toss'd afar
On sleepers in the mist
To plunge from Alp and scaur
Giant-minded vultures—War's
Foul chasm-born Hungers,—Hates that men resist.
How shall that Cyclops state
Whose subtilty
Upheaved the fields, create
A murderous sovranty?
Pure must our wisdom be,
Innocence keep the keepers of our gate.
Whose subtilty
Upheaved the fields, create
A murderous sovranty?
Pure must our wisdom be,
Innocence keep the keepers of our gate.
O World, this is our Fire,
Our highest Name,
Wherein we do aspire
And all our temples frame,
Freedom of soul's the flame—
The guarded hearth of our organic cause!
Our highest Name,
Wherein we do aspire
And all our temples frame,
Freedom of soul's the flame—
The guarded hearth of our organic cause!
For this we founded States
Time shall inherit,
To grow to rule our fates—
The joy of the free spirit
For all! Let them that fear it
Declare their vision of a higher cause!
Time shall inherit,
To grow to rule our fates—
The joy of the free spirit
For all! Let them that fear it
Declare their vision of a higher cause!
155
We would be free to know,
Yea, free to make
Finelessly on—to grow
More free for freedom's sake:
Let us fail, let us mistake,
But let Earth's undiscover'd springs outbreak!
Yea, free to make
Finelessly on—to grow
More free for freedom's sake:
Let us fail, let us mistake,
But let Earth's undiscover'd springs outbreak!
One spirit, Lord of Life,
Beauty, Truth, Deed—
Is ventured on this strife
Commanding us, “Be freed!”
Spirit, our battle lead,
Be thou, against the oppressors, all our cause!
Beauty, Truth, Deed—
Is ventured on this strife
Commanding us, “Be freed!”
Spirit, our battle lead,
Be thou, against the oppressors, all our cause!
The nations are thy boughs,
The dead, thy seed—
The dreamers are thy vows,
The fighters are thy deed!
By them 'tis Thou art freed—
Moving in them thy passion and thy cause!
The dead, thy seed—
The dreamers are thy vows,
The fighters are thy deed!
By them 'tis Thou art freed—
Moving in them thy passion and thy cause!
Therefore let him beware,
Beneath the sea,
Or hung in middle air,
Who now opposes Thee!
Breath of humanity,
Uplift us in that cause, which is thy cause!
Beneath the sea,
Or hung in middle air,
Who now opposes Thee!
Breath of humanity,
Uplift us in that cause, which is thy cause!
August 1914.
| Poems with Fables in Prose | |