It Is Not In Vain
An Illustrated Poem from the Past
After last week, this one is shorter, but nonetheless one that encourages. I do like poems like this one, which give up a pep talk in lovely language. Keep your chin up, and continue on with your daily struggles, my friends.
Say not the struggle nought availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not nor faileth,
And as things have been, things remain;
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers—
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves vainly breaking
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look! the land is bright.
— Arthur Hugh Clough
Saw just the title and I was like Chesterton! Nope!
My books are still buried in boxes otherwise I’d share his poem by the same title. Unfortunately it’s not published online.
Poem about a tree and a man growing separately and dying. The tree turns into coal and the man’s words endure on a page. Then the tree is reborn in fire to illuminate the page and the words then encourage the reader’s heart so the dead tree and the dead man lived not in vain.
Thank you! I need a nice boost like this to keep me going.