FEAR not the shadow! Open, lofty gate, Thy door of bronze, thy door of iron straight. Deep in a well men have cast down thy key. Accursed thou if terror closes thee; Sever with keen and double-edged blade Hands that have shut thee and that have betrayed. For under thy dark vault rank forth the feet Of marching men who never knew retreat, And in their midst, poised nobly as of old, Went naked Victory with wings of gold, And with calm wave of sword their banners led. Upon their lips her ardent kisses bled, And at their crimson mouths the trumpets rang With murmur of fierce bees and copper clang! Wild swarms of war, from hives of armor go, Pluck from ripe flesh the flowers of death that glow, And if ye to these native walls return, See that upon my marble threshold burn, When beneath Victory's wings has passed your tread, Stains of clear blood from sandals steeped in red. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHAMBER MUSIC: 28 by JAMES JOYCE EVENING SONG OF THE THOUGHTFUL CHILD by KATHERINE MANSFIELD LET ME NOT LOSES MY DREAM by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SENRYU: BLIND DATE by TIMOTHY LIU VOICES OF THE AIR by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SAINT PATRICK by EDWIN MARKHAM BOYHOOD FRIENDS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS DOMEDAY BOOK: JOHN CAMPBELL AND CARL EATON by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |