Dedication

Grant me a moment of peace, Let me but open mine eyes, Forgetting the empire of lies And warfare's majestic increase Of national folly and hate; Ere I return to my fate, Grant me a moment of peace. To what is I would turn from what seems From a world where men fall and adore The god that Fear shuddering bore To Greed in the desert of dreams, Unholy, inhuman, impure; From the State to the loves that endure, To what is I would turn from what seems. No man has been richer than I, Though he staggered with infinite gold And bought of whatever is sold Of the beauty that money can buy. In the wealth that is lost in the mart And is stored in the innermost heart No man has been richer than I. Humbly, a pilgrim, I stood, Weary and hungry and lame, And out of the multitude came Friends who were better than good, Friends who would not be denied Where by the palpitant tide Humbly, a pilgrim, I stood. Now to my army of friends A handful of petals I fling, Strays of perennial spring, Weeds, but the lover who sends Bled that each blossom might live. This is myself that I give Now to my army of friends. Comrade in exile, to you Chiefly the gift should belong, You who will hear in my song Echoes of days that we knew Blue and deep-droning and clear Far in the hills that are dear, Comrade in exile, to you. Pause and remember them now, Plunge, as you dived in the stream, To the sweet cool depth of your dream. The drooping, sheltering bough, The brown rock lettered above, The still interfusion of love, Pause and remember them now. There as we lay in the cave And saw, as an eye of the dark, The camp-fire's slumbering spark, And heard the cataract rave, Your soul and my soul were as one; Our life in one channel has run There as we lay in the cave. Forth to the task of a man! Youth and the valour of youth, Force and the ardour of truth Give you a place in the van, Love keeping step at your side Chanting aloud as you stride Forth to the task of a man.