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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WASTE by GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL

First Line: ALL THAT HEROIC MOOD
ALL that heroic mood,
The will to suffer pain,
Were it on beauty spent,
An intellectual gain:


Had a fierce pity breathed
O'er wronged or fallen life,
Though strife had been unwise
We were not shamed by strife:


Had they but died for some
High image in the mind,
Not spilt the sacrifice
For words hollow as wind!


Darkened the precious fire:
The will we honour most
Spent in the waste! What sin
Against the Holy Ghost!




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