A tick of time that stones the heads of kings And drops its pennies on a thousand eyes Unreels the gaudy shroud of history And transmutes all statistics into pain. What is simple virtue can never be denied, Explained, or cancelled. Still, it is not Enough to love a world that must be changed. This was the earliest thing they learned. Neither Weehawken Ferry nor a flower, The world was love and work -- we could become Human. Across the cruel geography Of strike and struggle, hitch-hiking, riding freights They sought the boundaries of that possible world Where statistical death can never cancel dream And history is humanized. Their blazoning voyage Points toward the Indies of our mortal wish. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RECESSIONAL by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 72. THE CHOICE (2) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI CHRISTMAS CAROL by SARA TEASDALE EYE-WITNESS by FREDERICK RIDGELY TORRENCE SABBATH THOUGHTS by GRACE AGUILAR ON MICHAEL ANGELO by WASHINGTON ALLSTON |