Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AS PEBBLES IN THE SEA, by ANONYMOUS



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AS PEBBLES IN THE SEA, by                    
First Line: Who shall judge man from his manner
Last Line: But as pebbles in the sea
Subject(s): Sea;seashore;stones; Ocean;beach;coast;shore;granite;rocks


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.





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