WHO shall judge man from his manner, Who shall know him by his dress? Paupers may be fit for palaces, Princes fit for nothing else. Crumpled shirt and dirty jacket May beclothe the golden ore Of the deepest thoughts and feelings -- Satin vest can do no more. There are streams of crystal nectar Ever flowing out of stone; There are purple beds and golden Hidden, crushed, and overthrown; God, who counts by souls, not dresses, Loves and prospers you and me, While he values thrones the highest But as pebbles in the sea. Man upraised above his fellows Oft forgets his fellows then; Masters -- rulers -- lords, remember That your meanest kind are men! Men of labor, men of feeling, Men of thought and men of fame, Claiming equal rights to sunshine In a man's ennobling name. There are foam-embroidered oceans, There are little wood-clad rills; There are feeble inch-high saplings, There are cedars on the hills. God, who counts by souls, not stations, Loves and prospers you and me; For to him all vague distinctions Are as pebbles in the sea. Toiling hands alone are builders Of a nation's wealth and fame; Titled laziness is pensioned, Fed and fattened on the same; By the sweat of others' foreheads, Living only to rejoice, While the poor man's outraged freedom Vainly lifts its feeble voice. Truth and justice are eternal, Born with loveliness and light; Secret wrongs shall never prosper While there is a sunny right! God, whose world-wide voice is singing Boundless love to you and me, Sinks oppression, with its titles, But as pebbles in the sea. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHAT THING A BIRD WOULD LOVE by ROBERT FROST CONSECRATED GROUND; READ AT THE NEW YORK CITY HALL by EDWIN MARKHAM RIDDLE ON THE LETTER H (1) by CATHERINE MARIA FANSHAWE A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 31 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN THE ANGEL'S SONG; CAROL by EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS PROMETHEUS UNBOUND; A LYRICAL DRAMA IN FOUR ACTS by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE THROSTLE by ALFRED TENNYSON |