WHAT might be done if men were wise -- What glorious deeds, my suffering brother, Would they unite In love and right, And cease their scorn of one another? Oppression's heart might be imbued With kindling drops of loving-kindness, And knowledge pour, From shore to shore, Light on the eyes of mental blindness. All slavery, warfare, lies, and wrongs, All vice and crime, might die together; And wine and corn, To each man born, Be free as warmth in summer weather. The meanest wretch that ever trod, The deepest sunk in guilt and sorrow, Might stand erect In self-respect, And share the teeming world to-morrow. What might be done? This might be done, And more than this, my suffering brother -- More than the tongue E'er said or sung, If men were wise and lov'd each other. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THINGS ARE WHAT THEY SEEM by MARIANNE MOORE ODE ON THE POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) THE BALLAD OF BITTER FRUIT by THEODORE FAULLAIN DE BANVILLE MOUNT SINAI by HORATIO (HORATIUS) BONAR THE CAGED LION by ANNE MILLAY BREMER |