WHILE he was here with breath and bone, To speak to and to see, Would I had known -- more clearly known -- What that man did for me When the wind scraped a minor lay, And the spent west from white To gray turned tiredly, and from gray To broadest bands of night! But I saw not, and he saw not What shining life-tides flowed To me-ward from his casual jot Of service on that road. He would have said: "'Twas nothing new; We all do what we can; 'Twas only what one man would do For any other man." Now that I gauge his goodliness He's slipped from human eyes; And when he passed there's none can guess, Or point out where he lies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OLNEY HYMNS: 18. LOVEST THOU ME? by WILLIAM COWPER CHRIST IN THE UNIVERSE by ALICE MEYNELL CASSANDRA by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON QUATRAIN: HERRICK by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE GUERDON by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH CALMNESS OF THE SUBLIME by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY |