I wish it were over the terrible pain, Pang after pang again and again; First the shattering ruining blow, Then the probing steady and slow. Did I wince? I did not faint: My soul broke but was not bent; Up I stand like a blasted tree By the shore of the shivering sea. On my boughs neither leaf nor fruit, No sap in my uttermost root, Brooding in an anguish dumb On the short past and the long to come. Dumb I was when the ruin fell, Dumb I remain and will never tell: O my soul I talk with thee But not another the sight must see. I did not start when the torture stung, I did not faint when the torture wrung; Let it come tenfold if come it must But I will not groan when I bite the dust. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BEFORE A PAINTING by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 8 by JAMES JOYCE BOOTH'S PHILIPPI by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TOWARD THE GULF; DEDICATED TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS IN 'DESIGNING A CLOAK TO CLOAK HIS DESIGNS' YOU WRESTED FROM OBLIVION by MARIANNE MOORE THE RAT by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |