HE had bowed down to drunkenness, An abject worshipper; The pride of manhood's pulse had grown Too faint and cold to stir; And he had given his spirit up To the unblessed thrall, And bowing to the poison cup, He gloried in his fall! There came a change -- the cloud rolled off, And light fell on his brain -- And like the passing of a dream That cometh not again, The shadow of the spirit fled. He saw the gulf before, He shuddered at the waste behind, And was a man once more. He shook the serpent folds away, That gathered round his heart, As shakes the swaying forest-oak It poison vine apart; He stood erect; returning pride Grew terrible within, And conscience sat in judgment, on His most familiar sin. The light of Intellect again Along his pathway shone; And Reason like a monarch sat Upon his olden throne. The honored and the wise once more Within his presence came; And lingered oft on lovely lips His once forbidden name. There may be glory in the might That treadeth nations down; Wreaths for the crimson conqueror, Pride for the kingly crown; But nobler is that triumph hour, The disenthralled shall find, When evil passion boweth down Unto the Godlike mind! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY YOUTH by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES by ALEXANDER ANDERSON THE ARID LANDS by HERBERT BASHFORD THE SONG THAT SHALL ATONE by KATHARINE LEE BATES SOUNDS OF THE CITY by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE THE DEBT UNPAYABLE by FRANCIS WILLIAM BOURDILLON |