COMRADES mine of Muse and Land, When the wanton war-drum sounded And the world fell back astounded At a fate so lightly planned, Heralds of the Right in song, Were you silent at the wrong? Comrades mine of Land and Muse, When the mailed and haughty giant Crushed the weak but uncompliant, Did you falter which to choose? Did the cult of Art for Art Halt the tempest of your heart? No, you left your joy untold, Left Love's pondered rhyme impending, Left unpraised the summer's blending Into roadside blue and gold. What were Nature, Love and Song In the presence of such wrong? At each Teuton perfidy Trembled your swift lines with scorning. Lowell's vision, Webster's warning Made you seers of Liberty: Others doubted: you divined The awful cross of humankind. When the dragon, War, is dead, Though the haunting slain be counted Like the stars, and grief hath mounted Higher than the Jungfrau's head, History shall search your song To find the measure of the wrong. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET: 17. TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER by JOHN MILTON SHEEP AND LAMBS by KATHARINE TYNAN MY HERO; TO ROBERT GOULD SHAW by BENJAMIN GRIFFITH BRAWLEY TO AN OLD FRIEND by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS THE CANTERBURY TALES: THE PARSON'S PROLOGUE by GEOFFREY CHAUCER |