OR shall I say, Vain word, false thought, Since Prudence hath her martyrs too, And Wisdom dictates not to do, Till doing shall be not for nought? Not ours to give or lose is life; Will Nature, when her brave ones fall, Remake her work? or songs recall Death's victim slain in useless strife? That rivers flow into the sea Is loss and waste, the foolish say, Nor know that back they find their way, Unseen, to where they wont to be. Showers fall upon the hills, springs flow, The river runneth still at hand, Brave men are born into the land, And whence the foolish do not know. No! no vain voice did on me fall, Peschiera, when thy bridge I crost, @3''Tis@1 better to have fought and lost, Than never to have fought at all.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MERSA by KEITH CASTELLAINE DOUGLAS THE HARP by RALPH WALDO EMERSON L'ENVOI: THE RETURN OF THE SIRE DE NESLE, A.D. 16 - by HERMAN MELVILLE THE DOUBLE-HEADED SNAKE OF NEWBURY by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER WINTER SUNSET by EVA K. ANGLESBURG |