HAVE you in heaven no hope—on earth no care— No foe in hell—ye things of stye and stall, That congregate like flies, and make the air Rank with your fevered sloth—that hourly call The sun, which should your servant be, to bear Dread witness on you, with uncounted wane And unregarded rays, from peak to peak Of piny-gnomoned mountain moved in vain? Behold, the very shadows that ye seek For slumber, write along the wasted wall Your condemnation. They forget not, they, Their ordered function and determined fall, Nor useless perish. But @3you@1 count your day By sins, and write your difference from clay In bonds you break and laws you disobey. God! who hast given the rocks their fortitude, The sap unto the forests, and their food And vigor to the busy tenantry Of happy soulless things that wait on Thee, Hast Thou no blessing where Thou gav'st-Thy blood? Wilt Thou not make Thy fair creation whole? Behold and visit this Thy vine for good— Breathe in this human dust its living soul. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE TO THE BROWN PAPER BAG by JAMES GALVIN A SONG OF COURAGE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON FINALITY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON WHEN I AM DEAD by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO CARMEN SYLVA (QUEEN OF ROUMANIA) by EMMA LAZARUS DOMESDAY BOOK: HENRY BAKER, AT NEW YORK by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |