Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON, ON, FOREVER, by HARRIET MARTINEAU


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON, ON, FOREVER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beneath this starry arch
Last Line: On, on, forever!
Variant Title(s): Onward


BENEATH this starry arch
Nought resteth or is still;
But all things hold their march,
As if by one great will:
Moves one, move all: hark to the foot-fall!
On, on, forever!

Yon sheaves were once but seed;
Will ripens into deed;
As cave-drops swell the streams,
Day-thoughts feed nightly dreams;
And sorrow tracketh wrong,
As echo follows song:
On, on, forever!

By night, like stars on high,
The Hours reveal their train;
They whisper and go by:
I never watch in vain.
Moves one, move all: hark to the footfall!
On, on, forever!

They pass the cradle-head,
And there a promise shed;
They pass the moist new grave,
And bid rank verdure wave;
They bear through every clime
The harvests of all time.
On, on, forever!





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