THIS is your dream of yesterday, The equilibrium of the storm. No, there was nothing cast away: The fiery cloud has taken form. You do not know yourself in this, But did you know your being true, And what was smoke from the abyss, And what celestial fire in you? Whatever things you loved were won, What was not loved is still denied. That Law whose writs forever run Will make no sacrifice to pride. The powers that cause the earth to quake Seem to run riderless and free Through nature, yet they never break The music of her chemistry. If to be vanquished is your part And all the fortunate stars withdraw, Through the red chaos of the heart Still breathes the music of the Law. It gives to you what is your own. If still you be of slavish mind You ne'er shall sit upon a throne And sway a sceptre unconfined. And if you be the slave of hate Within yourself you fall and fall Until the heart be desolate, And love is dead beyond recall. A nation is whate'er it loves. If love be dead it too must die. Go, give an offering of doves To win its immortality. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE GREAT RACE PASSES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS MONUMENT MOUNTAIN by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT DUTY SURVIVING SELF-LOVE; THE ONLY SURE FRIEND OF DECLINING LIFE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES VERSES ON SEEING THE SPEAKER ASLEEP IN HIS CHAIR by WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED HYMN TO INTELLECTUAL BEAUTY by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY DIRGE FOR THE LATE JAMES CURRIE, M.D., OF LIVERPOOL by LUCY AIKEN |