What song is well sung not of sorrow? What triumph well won without pain? What virtue shall be, and not borrow Bright luster from many a stain? What birth has there been without travail? What battle well won without blood? What good shall earth see without evil Ingarner'd as chaff with the good? Lo! the cross set in rocks by the Roman, And nourish'd by blood of the Lamb, And water'd by tears of the woman, Has flourish'd, has spread like a palm; Has spread in the frosts, and far regions Of snows in the North, and South sands, Where never the tramp of his legions Was heard, or reach'd forth his red hands. Be thankful; the price and the payment, The birth, the privations and scorn, The cross, and the parting of raiment, Are finish'd. The star brought us morn. Look starward; stand far and unearthy, Free soul'd as a banner unfurl'd. Be worthy, O brother, be worthy! For a God was the price of the world. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GIRL TO SOLDIER ON LEAVE by ISAAC ROSENBERG SHEEP AND LAMBS by KATHARINE TYNAN SEADRIFT by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH ON THE BIRTH OF A FRIEND'S ELDEST SON by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD ECLOGUE: THE 'LOTMENTS by WILLIAM BARNES LINES TO GRIEF by ANN ELIZA BLEECKER IN WILTSHIRE; SUGGESTED BY POINTS OF SIMILARITY WITH THE SOMME COUNTRY by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |