"NOT ye who have stoned, not ye who have smitten us," cry The sad, great souls, as they go out hence into dark, -- "Not ye we accuse, though for you was our passion borne; And ye we reproach not, who silently passed us by. We forgive blind eyes and the ears that would not hark, The careless and causeless hate and the shallow scorn. "But ye, who have seemed to know us, have seen and heard; Who have set us at feasts and have crowned with the costly rose; Who have spread us the purple of praises beneath our feet; Yet guessed not the word that we spake was a living word, Applauding the sound, -- we account you as worse than foes! We sobbed you our message: ye said, 'It is song, and sweet!'" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BLINDED BIRD by THOMAS HARDY EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: COMMON FORM by RUDYARD KIPLING THE MAHOGANY TREE by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY PERSISTENCY OF POETRY by MATTHEW ARNOLD SONNET: MAN VERSUS ASCETIC. 4 by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON THE JOY-VENDER by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 25 by THOMAS CAMPION A MEDIC GATHERS MUSHROOMS FOR HIS LADY by GRACE STONE COATES |