THEY who have failed us -- ah, the searching hurt No forethought could avert! But they who failed us did not fall away To-day nor yesterday; But very long ago, had we but seen, The shadow fell between; A rift, a little rift that still must grow -- 'Twas there, full long ago! Ay, long ago as birth began that flaw Which Fate the spinner saw! Oh, they who failed us, long ago they failed; Naught we might do availed. Their being's law, more dominant than they, Marked out their cleaving way; And they must part from us, if those more kin Their fealties could win. They who have failed us, failed not their own law When thus they did withdraw. Ask, ere their memories should be assailed, "Who is it I have failed? "Perchance I know it not, yet they in me May but a recreant see -- A truth, a light they loved in me has paled -- Who is it I have failed?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PROMETHEUS by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL ROCOCO by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 91 by EDWIN ARNOLD DEATH AND THE MONK by ARTHUR E. BAKER A TRIBUTE TO WILL ROGERS AND WILEY POST by ROSETTA THORSON BEACHLER THE GOLDEN ODES OF PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA: ZOHEYR by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT A VALENTINE FOR HARRY CROSBY by KAY BOYLE |