Classic Poem

Canst leave the spoil of Eden on vintage morns
To see the waste with toil and hardship quelled;
Canst thou go forth as one who had rebelled,
Still innocent, and meet the bitter scorns;
Canst take with me that journey through the thorns
And thistle-fields, undriven — self-compelled;
Can Love be thy flame-swordsman, unbeheld,
With sterner heed than his who visibly warns?
God's consecrated, curse be on us, then;
We shall fare forth unanxious, hand-in-hand,
To labour, prospering as our days increase,
Redeeming deserts for the world of men;
Spring will be with us in a winter land;
Grief we shall know, but also love and peace.