@2N@1IGHT! Night! And of the dawn no promise. Wrong is right, And right is wrong! Long, long ago, ah long, I roamed the forests vast and awful, bending Around me with their leafy aisles unending, And smelt their dense sweet savours many a league, And fought or loved their Shadows silent-striding Without a fear; or, when a hard fatigue Befell, would sink to utter sleep, confiding In the fierce gods o' the Jungle I confest; Ah, that delicious, peaceful, dreamless rest! No hubbub of the kraal-folk now I hear, No spear-songs, no war-music wild and thrilling; Not now I shoot the arrow, hurl the spear, And rush with warrior-rage unto the killing;— The Old is dead, Or, if it live perchance, It dwells in the so distant battle-dance Unfindable again, and poisoned lance With foe's blood wet and red, That into Past and Place its ghost has vanishéd. Instead,— Instead,— White faces, houses, streets; white ways, white works; Faces that frown and yet are not unkind, Faces that smile where yet no kindness lurks, (The gods were angry or were gracious, one!) Houses that wear a shutter and a blind, Streets all alike, and work that 's never done— Work endless, pitiless, that craves and craves Slaves for its worshippers, themselves its slaves: Work without aim or meaning, save to breed Money, the mother of more work, and greed, Its father; work whose drudging devotees Bear heavy loads with harness on their back, The white men's golden, and we black men's black, And @3none@1 has joy or ease: The poor seek riches, and the rich seek more, And both must have our service, hard and sore;— And so we serve and share not, nor rebel, (For one must suffer when he is in hell) And wear the yoke with silent, sullen shame, And dream of Freedom that is not a name. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FAREWELL TO THE FARM by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE SEASONS: A HYMN by JAMES THOMSON (1700-1748) SEVEN SAD SONNETS: 3. THE WANDERING ONE by MARY REYNOLDS ALDIS THE FIGHT WITH THE SNAPPING TURTLE; OR, THE AMERICAN ST. GEORGE by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN RAIN ON FALL NIGHTS by MILDRED TELFORD BARNWELL VOICES BY A RIVER by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |