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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WOODROW WILSON by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS

First Line: THE FORCE OF PATIENCE: CONQUERINGLY MILD
Last Line: OUR SCHOLAR PRINCE, OUR PRINCETON PRESIDENT!
Subject(s): WILSON, WOODROW (1856-1924);

The force of patience: conqueringly mild,
It wins its way as noiseless as the sun;
Its kingdom is the kingdom of a child,
And while men sleep its magic deeds are done.

The force of firmness: granite melts away
Beneath the pressure of a steady will;
Heedless of all the hinderers do or say,
It urges irresistible and still.

The force of kindliness: what power lies
Within the gentle clasp of homely wit!
The light of brotherhood in kindling eyes --
Why, half the world is servitor to it.

The force of hope: superbly it believes,
And ever finds the royal thing it knows;
It asks, and in the asking it receives,
Itself the happy goal to which it goes.

Patience and firmness, kindliness and hope,
The four-square walls of wisdom's tenement,
How blessedly are these your fee and scope,
Our scholar prince, our Princeton President!



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