Brave as a lion I must be To face this jeering world With my black face and rugged hair, When every lip is curled In bold derision as I pass A shadow on the looking glass. Braver than lions must I be To give to child of mine A heritage of certain scorn, A place amid the swine And bind him over to the sod— A tethered exile sorrow shod. Braver than all the brave must be The race of men I bear, Forged in the furnaces of hell And wrought to iron there. The future years have need of them I sense it tho my sight is dim. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DECEPTION PASS; FOR JUDY AND MARK KAWASAKI by KAREN SWENSON MOTLEY by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE HYMN OF TRUST by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 21 by OMAR KHAYYAM MORAL ESSAYS: EPISTLE 2. TO A LADY: OF THE CHARACTERS OF WOMEN by ALEXANDER POPE THE FIRST PROCLAMATION OF MILES STANDISH [NOVEMBER 23, 1620] by MARGARET JUNKIN PRESTON TWELVE SONNETS: 1. THY SWEETNESS by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |