Each day another soldier in the van, Each day a new young worker in the fields, And every day more plenteous harvest-yields From human toil, to bless and not to ban -- A better world, upon a better plan. And, daily strengthening the arms he wields, And more disdainful of old shifts and shields, An ever nobler and diviner Man. But, oh, how few the saved, how small the gain, How poor the profit as against the cost, The waste of life potential, vast and fair, In soul unfructified and starveling brain, Of Power that might have been, and might be -- lost For want of common food and common air! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CUMBERLAND by HERMAN MELVILLE A CHRISTMAS FOLK-SONG by LIZETTE WOODWORTH REESE OF AN ORCHARD by KATHARINE TYNAN TWENTY BLOCKS by EGMONT HEGEL ARENS A SONNET. ON CYNTHIA SICK by PHILIP AYRES MY DEAREST JULIA by WILLIAM BARNES TO SIR JOHN SPENSER KNIGHTE, ALDERMAN OF LONDON by RICHARD BARNFIELD |