Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ALLIES, by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ALLIES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In the dark of the mine
Last Line: "is man's own soul."
Subject(s): Soul


I

In the dark of the mine,
In the bloom of the sun,
In the leap of the vine
I heard the war-message run;
Heard the old earth softly crooning
And whispering to her own,
The hymn of man attuning
Under republic and throne: --
"Nature my garment, love my creed,
And the thought of man to grow in;
Labor the arm, freedom the seed,
And the field of time to sow in!
What are these mighty labors worth,
If Justice die upon the earth?"

II

I heard the old earth calling
Loud over plains and mountains,
Voices, arising and falling,
In the noise of ocean-fountains: --
"Waken, old allies of man,
Ye, who were borne in my bosom!
He, in whom freedom began,
The topmost flower and blossom,
The glory and fruit of all
The ages have lifted on high
On the heaven-most branch of the sky, --
Shall he fail? Shall he drop? Shall he die? --
What are ye all, if he fall?
What are we all, if he die?

III

"Ships for the pilot of time,
Who hath the stars for eyes!
Room for the sailor sublime,
The unroller of the skies!
He, who stretched, past hope's increase,
Freedom o'er the laughing foam,
And on the billows set her home,
The boundless empire of the seas,
Continent-bastioned, island-strewn, --
And grasped the keys of fates unknown!
Let nature's universal whole
Press on the common toil, --
Corn, and cotton, and coal!
Copper, and iron, and oil!
What are ye all, if he shall fall?
What you or I, if he shall die?

IV

He harnessed our wild forces;
He edged our might with mind;
Our ways, the heavenly courses
His instincts have divined:
All light that we inherit
Pours from his azure spirit,
That hath a higher law --
Honor and freedom knowing,
Justice and mercy showing,
That our dumb worlds o'erawe:
The truths his lips let fall
Point the celestial pole;
For the greatest ally of all
Is man's own soul."





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