ONCE for the myriad sounds which are, Mixed accents of the lettered throng, A few clear voices, deep and strong, Were borne afar. To-day through broken channels wide The broader stream of knowledge flows; Each year that passes, louder grows The clamorous tide. A thousand cares and hopes and fears Our fathers knew not, touch our souls; Thought's turbid current seaward rolls Its stream of tears. Not as of old time, faring free In joyous robes, is Knowledge drest, But, by its own great load opprest, Plods heavily. So grave we grow, we lose in part, The lightsome words and thoughts of old; Delving too deep for hidden gold, We starve the heart. Yet is Spring round us everywhere, Young lives expand, young thoughts are born; From ruins of dead days outworn, The world grows fair. Do we then raise a needless voice, If, mingling graver things with gay, We come to bid our troublous day Almost rejoice? If to our modern England stern, Depressed by clouds of care and doubt, Faint faiths which glimmer and go out, Fierce hates which burn, We bring some charm of Art, to light Life's gloomy road, some kindly gleam To cheer the Thinker's sombre dream, Some influence bright, -- Art, not the handmaid of the Pen, But of her own strength, strong, complete, A star to guide the weary feet Of thought-worn men? Or if we strive to bind in one, By mutual knowledge closely drawn, Our chain of Empires spread from dawn To set of sun? Or if with open page we seek To hold a hand of welcome forth To the gay South, the sober North, For all to speak, Telling how Thought and Fancy grow Beyond our wild, dividing sea, Till from that peaceful comity New friendships glow? Or if, since Woman too has come To climb the loftier steeps of mind, New listeners we aspire to find By hearth and home; Nor listeners only, but combine With man's grave tone her soaring strain; With man's slow wit, her agile brain And fancies fine? If thus we speak, if Light and Art And Learning lend their banded aid, We will not pause nor be afraid -- We have our Part! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NOCTURNE OF REMEMBERED SPRING by CONRAD AIKEN A MINOR POET by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET REGARDING CHAINSAWS by HAYDEN CARRUTH THEY ACCUSE ME OF NOT TALKING by HAYDEN CARRUTH GETTING A WORD IN by JAMES GALVIN |