Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN APPEAL, by EMILY LAWLESS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN APPEAL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Days of unstinted splendour, days of unccasing rain
Last Line: Though we, who plead, pass and perish, wind-blown waifs of a night.
Subject(s): Patriotism


Days of unstinted splendour, days of unceasing rain,
Days all beringed with pleasure, days all bestreaked with pain.
Hark! for I hear them calling, from over the rocks and the sand;
Hark! for I hear them calling, far off in that wild west land;
Up from the hearts of the mountains, cold, ascetic, severe;
Up from the breasts of the streams, brown, bejewelled, and clear;
Up from thy oozy depths, loud-tongued friend of the blast,
They rise, they return, they throng; ghosts of the days that are past.
Past and dim, not dead, they live, as our lost ones live,
In our eyes, in our hearts, in our souls, with all that
they had to give,
And the sound of Atlantic pervades them, and seems in our
ears from afar,
Like the sound of Thy voice, O Eternal, whose runnels and
ripples we are.
Thine were they ere we knew them, Giver of joy and pain;
Thine those days, not ours; to Thee they returned again.
For what are the drops and the streams to the infinite
sweep of the sea;
And what are our days or our years, Master of Aeons, to Thee?
And the days yet unborn shall be good, and the children
shall walk in Thy light;
Say, shall it not be so, who bringest the day from the night?
Look! for I see them coming, far over the rocks and the sand;
Look! for I see them coming, away to that wild west land.
Our own west land, which knows us, whose sons and daughters are we,
Waste, untoward to others, dear as a mother to me.
Whose days shall yet be good, whose daughters and sons shall rejoice.
Standing erect and proud, in the old green home of their choice,
So let it be, O Lord; let Thy people be glad in Thy light,
Though we, who plead, pass and perish, wind-blown waifs of a night.





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