Classic Poem

Languidly the days loiter;
Days of persistent sunshine:
And the sky is blue and speckless,
Like a vast shield,
Untarnished by cobwebs of mist,
Or rust of cloud:
Blue, fleckless, imperturbable,
Pierced only at one point
Where the sun blazes through.
Night comes, and the brave tints
Fade from the shield;
Colourless it becomes as still water;
Pierced now with innumerable peep-holes
Wherefrom the stars peer,
Bright-eyed and curious,
Winking at each other in amused comment
At a quaint little world
That is ravaged by floods,
Or scourged by droughts,
Starred with palaces,
And mottled with hovels;
Peopled by strange beings,
Creatures called men—
Men, infinitely little,
Men, marvellously great—
Who wander with eyes turned to earth
Thinking of yesterday,
Or gaze at the skies,
Thinking of to-morrow,
Ever loth to grapple with to-day,
Struggling and sinning
In the lowly dust,
Of which they are a part,
Yet akin to the high stars.