Classic Poem

Darkness that my heart could feel of,
Blackness that my soul could swim in,
Drowned in me the living spirit,
Strength to hope and will to dare;
Murder-shrieks that shock the midnight,
And that pierce, and pang, and sicken,
Would have brought me grateful respite
From that death, that death despair;
When a preternatural whisper —
Words that sounded not, but touched me —
Seemed to utter through me to me,
" Duty here and glory there!"

Where? My soul looked round and questioned:
Boom of thunder-throated cannon,
Clash of steel, and clang of music
Strove in vain to answer where.
Then loud senatorial voices,
Stormy with a people's passion,
Swollen with a nation's power,
Seemed grand answers in the air.
But the cannon, and the clashing,
And the music, and the voices
Never echoed to that whisper,
" Duty here and glory there!"

Showers of delicious praises,
Falling on the panting spirit
Like the cooling rains of summer,
Cherishing great souls that bear
Thought's immortal bloom of beauty,
Wafting round the world the fragrance
Of their names — Ambition questioned,
" Worth not these the weary wear,
Through a lifelong toil and patience,
Wear of soul and wear of body?"
No response in that felt whisper,
" Duty here and glory there!"

Where? My soul looked up and questioned —
Up to where the stars were burning
In the grand and awful temple
Of the midnight — up to where
Vision stops against the curtain
Of the infinite, but spirit
Puts aside the vail and enters:
It is there! O, it is there!
Thrilled the whisper through my being,
" Duty here for little lifetimes,
Glory there for endless ages —
Duty here and glory there!"