Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GREAT DAYS, by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GREAT DAYS, by                    
First Line: Vanish, every idle thought!
Last Line: Giant hearts shall rule these days.
Subject(s): Death; Graves; World War I; Dead, The; Tombs; Tombstones; First World War


Vanish, every idle thought!
Perish, last of Folly's ways!
All that pride of eye hath sought,
All that rebel flesh hath wrought,
Utterly reduced to naught,
How can ye outlive these days?

Henceforth be it never said
Ye with us still lingered on
When an ocean dyed bloodred
Bade you finally be gone—
Hence for aye from heart and head,
Hence from house and board and bed,
Stript and disinherited,
Be ye no more thought upon!

Since that drenching stormclap drave
To the ground your petty dust,
And the wasteful roving wave
Whelmed our foremost man of trust,
In its dark ungardened grave
Lost, with those five thousand brave
Who their island home to save
Took all odds, because they must.

Vanish, every puny thought!
Perish, last of Frailty's ways!
Ne'er a nobler fight was fought,
Ne'er a truer spirit wrought:
Though the seas with death be fraught,
Giant hearts shall rule these days.





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