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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A CHILD READING by EDITH BLAND NESBIT

First Line: YES, READ THE PAGES OF THE OLD-WORLD STORY
Last Line: THAT EVER YET WERE DONE.
Subject(s): SOCIALISM;
YES, read the pages of the old-world story,
Of kings of noble deed and noble thought
Of heroes whose resplendent crown of glory
Bound their wide brows, unsought.
But be not sad because their work is ended,
And they have rest which life so long denied:
They still live in the world which they befriended,
For which they lived and died.
Great deeds can never die : all through the ages
Their fruits increasing ever grow and spread,
And many a deed unnamed in written pages
Lived once -- and is not dead.
And, God be praised, man's work is not completed,
There still is work on earth for men to do;
Not yet, not yet are all the false defeated,
Nor yet crowned all the true.
Still the world needs brave deeds and true hearts many,
Not yet are all the noble battles won!
We too, we too may do deeds great as any
That ever yet were done.





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