The Marathon Race
" Rejoice, we conquer! " So from Marathon word
Came, by the fleetest of foot, to the gates of Greece.
And the hills of Athens, the marble mother, were stirred,
And the echo thereof to the life in her womb cried " Peace! "
A bubble of wine from those lips, and a city was drunk
With the sudden joy of a birth when its throes are past:
Europe is saved from the flood, and Asia shrunk
Back to her borders for ever while Greece shall last!
While Greece shall last! — while joy for the strength of a steed
And delight in the limbs of a runner inspire man's will,
So long in our midst shall be found the Grecian breed,
By the dark Semitic gods unconquered still.
O ghost of the great Pheidippides, hear that shout
Ringing the vast arena! You they acclaim —
You, the runner of old, whose life went out
In praise of your gods, young lord of the deathless name!
Came, by the fleetest of foot, to the gates of Greece.
And the hills of Athens, the marble mother, were stirred,
And the echo thereof to the life in her womb cried " Peace! "
A bubble of wine from those lips, and a city was drunk
With the sudden joy of a birth when its throes are past:
Europe is saved from the flood, and Asia shrunk
Back to her borders for ever while Greece shall last!
While Greece shall last! — while joy for the strength of a steed
And delight in the limbs of a runner inspire man's will,
So long in our midst shall be found the Grecian breed,
By the dark Semitic gods unconquered still.
O ghost of the great Pheidippides, hear that shout
Ringing the vast arena! You they acclaim —
You, the runner of old, whose life went out
In praise of your gods, young lord of the deathless name!
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