Brave as a lion I must be To face this jeering world With my black face and rugged hair, When every lip is curled In bold derision as I pass A shadow on the looking glass. Braver than lions must I be To give to child of mine A heritage of certain scorn, A place amid the swine And bind him over to the sod— A tethered exile sorrow shod. Braver than all the brave must be The race of men I bear, Forged in the furnaces of hell And wrought to iron there. The future years have need of them I sense it tho my sight is dim. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: HILDRUP TUBBS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS A NOCTURNAL UPON ST. LUCY'S DAY, BEING THE SHORTEST DAY by JOHN DONNE THE WIND IN A FROLIC by WILLIAM HOWITT MODERN LOVE: 43 by GEORGE MEREDITH SUICIDE IN THE TRENCHES by SIEGFRIED SASSOON THE EPITAPH IN FORM OF A BALLAD by FRANCOIS VILLON |