Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON THE OPENING OF FIRST PUBLIC PLEASURE-GROUND AT BIRMINGHAM, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Soldiers of industry! Come forth Last Line: To feel and understand. Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord Subject(s): Birmingham, England; Parks | ||||||||
I. SOLDIERS of Industry! come forth: Knights of the Iron Hand! Past is the menace of the North That frowned upon our land. We have no will to count the cost, No thought of what we bore Now the last warrior's gaze has lost The doomed Crimean shore! II. That shore, so precious in the graves Of those whose lustrous deeds Consecrate Balaklava's waves, And Alma's flowe'ring reeds; Where, at some future festival, Our Russian foe will tell, How British wrestlers, every fall, Rose stronger than they fell. III. Now town and hamlet cheer to see Each bronzed and bearded man, Or murmur low, "'Twas such as he, Who died at the Redan!" Rest for his worn or crippled frame, Rest for his anxious eye, -- Rest, even from the noise of Fame, A Nation's welcome-cry! IV. But Ye, -- whose resolute intents And sturdy arms combine To bend the' obdurate elements Of Earth to Man's design -- Ye, to your hot and constant task Heroically true, Soldiers of Industry! we ask, "Is there no Peace for you?" V. It may not be: the' unpausing march Of toil must still be yours -- Conquest, with no triumphant arch, Unsung by Troubadours: Yet, as the fiercest Knights of old To give "God's Truce" agreed, Cry ye, who are as brave and bold, "God's Truce" in Labour's need. VI. "God's Truce" be their device, who meet To-day with generous zeal To work, by many a graceful feat, Their brethren's future weal; From stifling street and popu'lous mart To guard this ample room, For honest pleasures kept apart, And deck'd with green and bloom. VII. Here let the eye to toil minute Condemned, with joy behold The fresh enchantment of each suit That clothes the common mould: Here let the arm whose skilful force Controuls such mighty powers, Direct the infant's totte'ring course Amid the fragrant bowers. VIII. Yet all in vain this happy hope, In vain this friendly care, Unless of loftier life the scope In every mind be there: In vain the fairest, brightest, scene, If passion's sensual haze And clouded spirits lie between To mar the moral gaze. IX. He only at the marriage-feast Of Nature and of God Sits worthily who sits released From sin's and sorrow's load: And then, on his poor window-sill, One flower more pleasure brings Than all the gorgeous plants that fill The restless halls of kings. X. All Nature answers in the tone In which she is addressed: Beneath Mont Blanc's illumined throne, The peasant walks unblessed; The' Italian struggles in his bonds, Beside his glorious sea, And Beauty from all sight absconds Which is not wise and free. XI. So, Friends! while gentle Arts are wed To frame your perfect plan, Broadcast be Truth and Knowledge spread O'er this rich soil of Man! Ideal parks -- ideal shade -- Lay out with libe'ral hand -- But teach the souls you strive to aid To feel and understand. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LEDA HIDDEN by KENNETH REXROTH PARK IN THE PUBLIC'S OR IN THE PUBLIC, PARKS by KENNETH REXROTH THE THIN EDGE OF YOUR PRIDE: 3 by KENNETH REXROTH THE THIN EDGE OF YOUR PRIDE: 4 by KENNETH REXROTH THE THIN EDGE OF YOUR PRIDE: 5 by KENNETH REXROTH ONE POSSIBLE MEANING by CHARLIE SMITH METAPHORS OF THE TREE by RUTH STONE PATERSON: BOOK 2. SUNDAY IN THE PARK by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS COLUMBUS AND THE MAYFLOWER by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES |
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