This is a time of death and blinded pain, And men, as if half-slain Stare at delirium With empty eyes And can no longer tell how patient come Into the skies The counselling stars. These be my weapons in the flight: The invincible nights and days (My bright flag signalling their points and rays) And the one proud, profoundest gun, The unassailable light Of the sun! O my own people!—if we dare to be Humanity, If our preparedness be first within, If we be resolute to sever The heart of courage from the heart of fear— Then we shall hear Above the din, The only trump of victory, Not for the day, not for the year, But forever. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LAMENT by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON ON LIBERTY AND SLAVERY by GEORGE MOSES HORTON A DIRGE FOR MCPHERSON; KILLED IN FRONT OF ATLANTA by HERMAN MELVILLE A TEAMSTER'S FAREWELL by CARL SANDBURG PREPARATORY MEDITATIONS, 1ST SERIES: 32 by EDWARD TAYLOR ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 9. TO CURIO by MARK AKENSIDE ANDRE by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES |