 | Between Doubting and Daring |  |
13
A Hapchance Oracle
Heart's rest it seems their kindly talk to leave,
Who this for comfort hold, and fain would share:
Not far off bide our Dead, they say, and cleave
New access for despair.
Who this for comfort hold, and fain would share:
Not far off bide our Dead, they say, and cleave
New access for despair.
As if no dread vast deeps should hide the star
Evanished from our void and darkling air,
When, verily, except it shine afar,
It shines not anywhere;
Evanished from our void and darkling air,
When, verily, except it shine afar,
It shines not anywhere;
Nor ever a ray thereof shall hope retrieve
That fared not forth on paths of loneliest light ...
Here soft falls silence down the hushed grey eve,
The unfooted road curves white.
That fared not forth on paths of loneliest light ...
Here soft falls silence down the hushed grey eve,
The unfooted road curves white.
Some lads pass, trampling up a dust-cloud dim,
All brownly garbed as soil that labour delves:
Deathward they march to humour a mad world's whim,
And sing to please themselves.
All brownly garbed as soil that labour delves:
Deathward they march to humour a mad world's whim,
And sing to please themselves.
A witless song; yet haply, overheard,
Fraught with the lore that Fortune sends us so:
A long, long way to go; aye, take the word:
A long, long way—to go.
Fraught with the lore that Fortune sends us so:
A long, long way to go; aye, take the word:
A long, long way—to go.
| Between Doubting and Daring | |