Not as they planned it or will plan again, Those captains whose command was forged in Hell Not as they promised for their terrible Obedient horde, Teuton and Saracen, Bulgar and Slav, not as they dreamed it then, Masters of might with sobs for paeans to swell Their darkening sway, but like a far-off bell Undoing night, the day has come for men. The people's day has dawned, a deeper sky Than any day that ever rose from sea, And more than any captain dared is won; And this great light that opens carries high Justice that none had dreamed, not even we Who still are blind awhile, facing the sun. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO HORACE BUMSTEAD by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SACRED ELEGY: 5. THE SEPARATION OF MAN FROM GOD by GEORGE BARKER CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS PICTURES FROM APPLEDORE: 2 by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL A VISION UPON [THIS CONCEIT] OF THE FAERIE QUEENE (2) by WALTER RALEIGH TO A COUNTRY HOTEL TOWEL by ELMER CLEVELAND ADAMS |