Classic Poem

The sad winds, the cold winds are sighing,
Where weary and panting for breath,
The old years, the dim years are lying,
With silence, and darkness, and death.

“With wild war, and red war, and weeping,
With carnage and trumpets we came,
And swift steeds and dread steeds went leaping
Mid slaughter, and famine, and flame.”

So sing they, so moan they, as roaring
Through tempest, and thunder, and night,
The great waves, the storm waves come pouring,
Earth's barriers of granite to smite.

Who hears them? who fears them? They perished,
Their glory and greatness has fled;
The mad hate, the hot hate they cherished
On poisons and sorrows was fed.

The keen swords, the sharp swords hang idle,
The ramparts are grassy and still,
And rich loves, and pure loves now bridle
Man's stubborn, fierce longing to kill.

By hard toil, and strong toil, and striving,
Through dangers, and vengeance, and gloom,
The bright lands, the wide lands are thriving,
And growing in gladness and bloom.

With sweet clang, and loud clang, the chiming
Of knowledge, and peoples sweep by;
And vast thoughts, and high thoughts are climbing
The shining blue splendors of sky.

O weak hearts, O faint hearts, your shrinking,
Your mourning and slander must cease,
For long days, and clear days are drinking
Bright vintage of wisdom and peace.

The grand earth, the fair earth is pregnant
With promise, and purpose, and might;
And brave souls, and true souls are regnant,
By daring, and battle, and right.