Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, YESTERDAY, by OTIS PEABODY SWIFT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

YESTERDAY, by                    
First Line: Masterless,-yet not the master of myself / I stand
Last Line: Shall lead me to my god.
Subject(s): Memory


MASTERLESS,—yet not the master of myself I stand
Alone amid the multitudes of men. The unseen hand
Which molded me from out the common clay,
No longer guides—and I know not the way.

But from the void a thousand hands stretch out
To guide my steps—I feel them round about.
I may not choose the path,—my feet are led
In the way trod by the unnumbered dead.
Ten thousand years of civilization's thrall,
Mold every waking thought and action small,
And when my mind seeks rest from world in sleep,
Forgotten cycles then their revels keep.
From out the past dim, shapeless, shadowy gleams
Of half seen memories come to haunt my dreams.
I am myself—yet am I but the pawn
Of those who lived in history's dim dawn.
I am myself,—yet laws that yesterday
My fathers made, today I must obey.
I can but choose the selfsame path,
My father's feet have trod,
And trust that in the end the way,
Shall lead me to my God.





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