THOUGH all great deeds were proved but fables fine, Though earth's old story could be told anew, Though the sweet fashions loved of them that sue Were empty as the ruined Delphian shrine -- Though God did never man, in words benign, With sense of His great Fatherhood endue, Though life immortal were a dream untrue, And He that promised it were not divine -- Though soul, though spirit were not, and all hope Reaching beyond the bourne, melted away; Though virtue had no goal and good no scope, But both were doomed to end with this our clay -- Though all these were not, -- to the ungraced heir Would this remain, -- to live, as though they were. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE EVENING STAR by WILLIAM BLAKE OUT WHERE THE WEST BEGINS by ARTHUR CHAPMAN THE CUPBOARD by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE HIS SAVIOURS WORDS, GOING TO THE CROSSE by ROBERT HERRICK WINTER EVENING by ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 28 by ALFRED TENNYSON |