'It is not incumbent on thee to complete the work; but thou must not therefore cease from it.'—@3Talmud.@1 TIME may have taken The dreams that were dearest: The work that lies nearest Must not be forsaken. Youth's joyous passion Of faith may have left us: Pain has not bereft us Of hands that can fashion. Obey then the Master! The furnace is steady, The bruised metal ready; Strike, welding it faster! And when we have finished Our span's-breadth of action, That seemed but a fraction, Dull, dwindled, diminished, Then He, who is able To mould it, will take it, Our fragment, and make it One link in the cable. No hurry will speed it. Yet cease not, nor tarry: For this chain must carry As long as men need it. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE IMPOSSIBLE INDISPENSIBILITY OF THE ARS POETICA by HAYDEN CARRUTH TO A FRIEND I CAN'T FIND by JAMES GALVIN EVERYBODY KNOWS by DAVID IGNATOW A PARADOX by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON FOR THE NEW YEAR by EDWIN MARKHAM |