Classic Poem

I end as I began.

I end as I began,
I think as first I thought;
Woe worth the world, if Man
Only of dust is wrought,
Only to dust must go
After his life's brief span; —
I think so still, and so
I end as I began.

When first I learnt to know
The common strife of all,
My boy's heart shared the woe
Of those who fail and fall,
For all the weak and poor
My tears of pity ran, —
And still they flow, ev'n more
Than when my life began!

I reverenced from the first
The Woman-Soul divine
(Mother, that faith was nurst
On that brave breast of thine!)
Pointing the heavenward way,
The angel-guide of man,
She seems to me to-day
As when my faith began!

Revolter, sword in hand,
Friend of the weak and worn,
A boy, I took my stand
Among the Knights forlorn;
Eager against the Strong
To lead the martyr'd van,
I strive 'gainst Lust and Wrong
As when the fight began!

Never to bow and kneel
To any brazen Lie, —
To love the worst, to feel
The least is ev'n as I, —
To hold all fame unblest
That helps no struggling man, —
In this, as in the rest,
I end as I began!

The creeds I've cast away
Like husks of garner'd grain,
And of them all this day
Does never a creed remain;
Save this , blind faith that God
Evolves thro' martyr'd Man:
Thus, the long journey trod,
I end as I began!

I dreamed when I began
I was not born to die,
And in my dreams I ran
From shining sky to sky; —
And still, now life grows cold
And I am grey and wan,
That infant's Dream I hold,
And end as I began!