Who are those men that pass us? men well-girt For voyaging; of aspect meek, of breath Ardent, of eyes that only look to heaven. I must perforce abase before them mine, Unworthy to behold them; I must check Praise, which they would not from men's lip receive, But that men call for it, throughout all lands, Throughout all ages. Hail, deliverers From sin, from every other thraldom! Hail Theobald! his true servant. Nor do thou Suspend thy step, urged by God's voice, to press Past Taurus, past the Caspian, past the groves Of Samarcand, thrilling with Persian song, To where Bokhara's noisome prisons hold Indomitable hearts, to perish there Unless thou save them: but thine too may rot Beside them, whether timely or too late Thou plungest into that deep well of woe. Wolff! there was one who bore thy glorious name Before thee; one who rais'd from foul disgrace The British flag, and won the western world: Brave man! and happy in his death! but thou In life art happier nor less brave than he. I will believe that Christianity (Merciful God! forgive the manifold Adulteries with her valets and her grooms, Rank gardeners and wheezing manciples!) Is now of service to the earth she curst With frauds perpetual, intermittent fires, And streams of blood that intersect the globe: I will believe it: none shall kill my faith While men like thee are with us. Kings conspire Against their God, and raise up images Arrayed in purple all befringed with gold, For blindfold men to worship, and ordain That flocks and herds and corn, nay, common grass, Nay, what the rivers and the seas throw up, Be laid before them for their revelry. The twisted columns are grand ornaments; Yet all their foliage, all their fruitage, lends Support but feeble to the dome above. Ye pass bareheaded under open heaven, Under the torrid and the frozen sky, To preach the word of truth, to snatch the soul From death, the captive from his double chain: Therefore be glory to you both on high, On earth (what none so deeply sigh for) peace! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TWO PROMENADES SENTIMENTALES: 1. RAIN by EDITH SITWELL STALKING LEMURS by KAREN SWENSON THE BURIED LADY by PAUL VALERY WHEN THERE IS PEACE by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON A SUMMER'S NIGHT by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR MEDITATIONS OF A HINDU [OR, HINDOO] PRINCE [AND SKEPTIC] by ALFRED COMYNS LYALL |