Classic Poem

“ TIME'S FLOWERS AND FRUIT ”

This chance Life gives thee,—proudly seize it, friend:
 The chance to sound once more in English ears
 The trumpet dropped when Shakespeare and his peers
Saw their long line of mighty triumphs end.
Lift once again the trumpet, and extend
 The line of triumph. Make man's hopes and fears
 Thine own, the pangs and passions of the years
That glimmer in the past, or still impend.

Yes, England needs a singer. She requires
 No mere frail chanting, no sweet childish lute,
But some strong soul, equal to man's desires;
 Through whom strange histories, dark and sad and mute,
May wail their anguish, hurl their pent-up fires,
 That we may garner Time's lost flowers and fruit.