(@3Apologies as Usual@1) When earth's last evil is righted, and earth's last sinner reformed, When all of the graft is ended, when sin's last fortress is stormed, We shall rest for an age or longer and gaze with a happy smile On the work that we have accomplished—a world that is void of guile, But when the resting is over and we start on the job anew, What will be left for the doing, and what in the world will we do? There will be no sorrows to lighten, no poverty, crime or pain, No greedy robbers to battle, no octopus to be slain, And those who were ever foremost in fighting the goodly fight Will find no foemen to grapple and never a wrong to right, A mood of perfect contentment the heart of the world will lull And each of us will be happy—and Lord! but it will be dull! When earth's last evil is righted—I hope I shall not be there; I should long for the old-time conflict, for the work and worry and care, There's fun in the bitter fighting, there's joy in the mighty game Of battling against the forces of evil and woe and shame. You may long for the perfect era, but I'm for the clash and jar, The shouts and the cheers and the tumult in a world of Things as They Are! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET: 13. OUT OF CATALLUS by GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS THE FUNERAL by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE WHO KNOWS WHERE BEAUTY LIES? by AGNES STEWART BECK A SONG FOR THE RAGGED SCHOOLS OF LONDON; WRITTEN IN ROME by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING LANGEMARCK AT YPRES by WILLIAM WILFRED CAMPBELL BALLAD TO THE TUNE OF TROY TOWN by PATRICK CAREY |