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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A CHARGE, by HERBERT TRENCH Poet's Biography
First Line: If thou hast squandered years to grave a gem
Last Line: Whom thou art sworn to obey!
First Line: If thou hast squandered years to grave a gem
Last Line: Whom thou art sworn to obey!
IF thou hast squander'd years to grave a gem
Commission'd by thine absent Lord; and while
'Tis incomplete,
Others would bribe thy needy skill to them --
Dismiss them to the street!
Shouldst thou at last discover Beauty's grove,
At last be panting on the fragrant verge,
But in the track,
Drunk with divine possession, thou meet Love --
Turn, at her bidding, back.
When round thy ship in tempest Hell appears,
And every spectre mutters up more dire
To snatch control
And loose to madness thy deep-kennell'd Fears --
Then to the helm, O Soul!
Last; if upon the cold green-mantling sea
Thou cling, alone with Truth, to the last spar --
Both castaway
And one must perish -- let it not be he
Whom thou art sworn to obey!
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
A WINTER SONG; TO ALICE MEYNELL by HERBERT TRENCH
AN ODE TO BEAUTY by HERBERT TRENCH
BE NOT AFRAID by HERBERT TRENCH
BITTER SERENADE by HERBERT TRENCH
CHANT SUNG IN DARKNESS by HERBERT TRENCH
CHORUS AT THE GREEN BEAR INN by HERBERT TRENCH
DAUGHTERS OF JOY by HERBERT TRENCH
DEIRDRE DANCING by HERBERT TRENCH