Page:Poems Jackson.djvu/101

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RESURGAM.
65
Thee nothing now thy faiths, thy braveries;
There is no sun, no bloom; a cold wind strips
The bitter foam from off the wave where dips
No more thy prow; the eyes are hostile eyes;
The gold is hidden; vain thy tears and cries;
O Love, poor Love, why didst thou burn thy ships?


RESURGAM.
LOW, still, unutterably weak,
In human helplessness more helpless than
The smallest of God's other creatures can
  Be left, I lie and do not speak.
Walls rise and close
Around. No warning shows
To me, who am but blind, which wall
Will shelter, and which one will fall
  And crush me in the dust,
  Not that I sinned, but that it must.
Each hour, within my heart, some sweet hope dies.
Each night the dead form lies
Of some fair purpose which I could not save,
  Ready for day to carry out and hide
  In a dishonored grave.
   My strongest will
Finds stronger fate stand side by side
With it, its utmost efforts conquering still
With such swift might, the dust in which I lie
Scarce quivers with my struggle and my pain,