Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FOR THE NEW CENTURY: 2, by LEWIS MORRIS (1833-1907)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FOR THE NEW CENTURY: 2, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The new age comes, I hear its hidden wings
Last Line: Ascend, soar upward in the new-born light.
Subject(s): Holidays; New Year; Time


THE NEW Age comes, I hear its hidden wings
Beat with the Dawn above the weary Earth,
New hopes, new fears, new wider aims it brings,
This late born Titan newly come to birth.

Dead is the age in which erewhile we were,
Dead are its glories, and its failures dead,
In storms and clouds it sinks and murky air,
And lo! a New Sun journeys overhead.

Bring Thou a happier Future for Mankind,
New Age, and make the Ape and Tiger die,
Till we, who turn to earth with vision blind,
Seek with enfranchised eyes the illumined sky.

Enrich our lives with every precious fruit
Of knowledge, bind alike the Deep and Sky,
Wing Thou the sluggish body of the brute
Till with new-conquered powers it soars on high.

Draw by invisible bands, together draw
The furthest corners of the globe, and bind
The blessed chain of Universal Law
Which links the Race together, heart and mind.

Bring Peace not War, Knowledge not Force, till each
Finds his best profit in the gain of all,
This precious lesson be it Thine to teach
That none may tarry, if his brother call.

Free all from covetous aims and selfish greed
And low sectarian hates and jealous strife,
And give us for the unquiet hearts that bleed
The deep contentment of a flawless life.

Nor let Thy mind forget, O dawning Age,
In outward gains the inward gift sublime,
The love of good, the glow, the godlike rage
Which shines in Woman through the mists of Time.

For Man through all the painful Past in vain
Has stumbled, halting on his hopeless way,
With half his strength unused, with half his brain,
And more than half his heart lost till to-day.

Bring Thou the full enfranchisement which can
Make of the Woman a new precious Force,
The Partner, not the Parasite, of Man,
A strong stream welling from a purer source.

Then shall the World's long agony give place
To gentler aims which seek the better part,
Peace, Mercy, Purity, abounding Grace,
Born of the wedded powers of Mind and Heart.

A purer Life, a higher Destiny,
A nobler Art, a deeper love of Right;
Rise, Woman, fit thyself for what shall be,
Ascend, soar upward in the new-born Light.





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