Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SUCCESS, by MAY EMMA GOLDWORTH KENDALL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SUCCESS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I drink the foaming chalice
Last Line: Who lived and died for men.
Subject(s): Brotherhood; Memory; Nations; Success


I DRINK the foaming chalice,
The cup of earth's renown.
I hear the people's plaudits,
I wear the city's crown.

And I look back, recalling
The path whereby I came —
From the old dreams of boyhood,
On to this goal of fame.

The old, kind dreams of boyhood,
So generous and brief:
How long before the noonday
They withered as a leaf!

The dreams of eager service,
Of perfect brotherhood,
Of a vast people's freedom:
A universal good!

A vain remembrance stirs me,
A trouble alien —
I see the men and women
Who lived and died for men.

And on my life's achievement
They look with steadfast eyes,
Where dwells the deep compassion
I bartered for earth's prize.

They pass, a mighty army,
From every race and age —
The just who died for justice
And asked no other wage.

The chivalrous, the loyal,
Who drew diviner breath —
They whom the word dreamed conquered,
Who conquered sin and death.

And though the people's laurels
About my brow I bind —
I know they sought a city
That I shall never find.

They sought a timeless city,
From fear and hate withdrawn.
Its light upon their faces
Was dearer than the dawn.

They climbed the large, steep pathway,
By saints and heroes trod,
To the home of the ideal,
And to the mount of God.

Peace! 't is the idlest vision
That e'er was deemed sublime;
That spiritual city
Shall ne'er be reared in time.

I face the glowing present,
And all my sky is clear —
The story of my triumph
The nations pause to hear.

Only in dreams there rises
The city alien,
Where pass the men and women
Who lived and died for men.





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