Artemis to Actæon (1909)/Non Dolet!
NON DOLET!
Age after age the fruit of knowledge fallsTo ashes on men's lips;Love fails, faith sickens, like a dying treeLife sheds its dreams that no new spring recalls;The longed-for shipsCome empty home or founder on the deep,And eyes first lose their tears and then their sleep.
So weary a world it lies, forlorn of day,And yet not wholly dark,Since evermore some soul that missed the markCalls back to those agropeIn the mad maze of hope,"Courage, my brothers—I have found the way!"
The day is lost? What then?What though the straggling rear-guard of the fightBe whelmed in fear and night,And the flying scouts proclaimThat death has gripped the van—Ever the heart of manCheers on the hearts of men!
"It hurts not!" dying cried the Roman wife;And one by oneThe leaders in the strifeFall on the blade of failure and exclaim:"The day is won!"