Classic Poem

Dazzled by pain we reel beside the path;
Dumb, staggering back, we're blinded by the dust
Of wheels and hoofs that throb there—till a crust
Scorches along our gullets. What god's wrath
Wreaks a blind vengeance through these bones?
What hath
This soul down brutal lives of blame and lust,
Namelessly criminate, gathered, that he must
Reap to that god this bitter aftermath?
Pain! Withering blast! Not that I would not fight,
But that I cannot. Cannot? At the word
Blooms with an inward lightning all my soul;
My mouth grows moist, the very load seems light,
And fears of which no conscript slave e'er heard
Whip onward where the chariots charge their goal!