What matters where the great God flings Down on earth's floor thy thinking clay, If thou canst rise and live to-day The life of emperors and kings! So take thy soul and keep it sane; And, treading firm the green earth-sod, Look upward from that place to God, That He shall see thy soul again. There undejected, there unhurled Asunder--sick with mortal change; Self-held from star to star to range, Or one with all the working world. O King of kings and emperors, Though vagabond of night and morn-- Some dusty quarry-fellow born To walk beside a tattered horse. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DINNER IN A QUICK LUNCH ROOM by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET ISOLATION by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE HEART'S RETURN by EDWIN MARKHAM DOMESDAY BOOK: GREGORY WENNER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JOSEPH DIXON by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |