THERE never yet was flower fair in vain, Let classic poets rhyme it as they will; The seasons toil that it may blow again, And summer's heart doth feel its every ill; Nor is a true soul ever born for naught; Wherever any such hath lived and died, There hath been something for true freedom wrought, Some bulwark levelled on the evil side: Toil on, then, Greatness! thou art in the right, However narrow souls may call thee wrong; Be as thou wouldst be in thine own clear sight, And so thou shalt be in the world's erelong; For worldlings cannot, struggle as they may, From man's great soul one great thought hide away. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAMP OF LIFE by AMY LOWELL THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS [JANUARY 8, 1815] by THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH IN AN ATELIER by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH MY MOTHER by FLORENCE R. ANDREWS PSALM 20. EXAUDIAT TE DEUS by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |