They had a feud with stone: stone was a foe To test their manhood's strength; day after day They waged a flinty warfare, wresting gray And meager tilth from acres where the flow Of ice had sown a grain of boulders; slow Their tillage grew to fields, their fields to gay And bannered harvests. But stone has a way Of growing walls to thwart the lustiest blow. Caught in the ruthless battle, stone by stone They broke the years to brittle planet dust With grim Antaean might; with dauntless thrust They scourged the land till thinning flesh and bone Sank to a slow defeat... Now, low, apart They lie with stone, triumphant, on their heart. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON ANOTHER'S SORROW, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE PAST AND PRESENT by ROWLAND EYLES EGERTON-WARBURTON THE BLUE AND THE GRAY by FRANCIS MILES FINCH CORINNA'S GOING A-MAYING by ROBERT HERRICK SOLITUDE by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX QUATRAIN: FROM EASTERN SOURCES: 2 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |