ONCE hardly in a cycle blossometh A flower-like soul ripe with the seeds of song, A spirit foreordained to cope with wrong, Whose divine thoughts are natural as breath, Who the old Darkness thickly scattereth With starry words, that shoot prevailing light Into the deeps, and wither, with the blight Of serene Truth, the coward heart of Death: Woe, if such spirit thwart its errand high, And mock with lies the longing soul of man! Yet one age longer must true Culture lie, Soothing her bitter fetters as she can, Until new messages of love outstart At the next beating of the infinite Heart. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARRIAGE by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE A BALLAD OF SARSFIELD; OR, THE BURSTING OF THE GUNS by AUBREY THOMAS DE VERE THE SCARE-FIRE by ROBERT HERRICK ON A GREEK VASE by FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN THE NO-LONGER-MERRY ANCIENT MONARCH by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE MESSAGE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN VOICES BY A RIVER by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |