Reliance

Reliance

Original Text
Henry Van Dyke, Music and Other Poems, 18th edn. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905): 100-01. PS 3117 M87 1905 Robarts Library.
1    Not to the swift, the race:
2    Not to the strong, the fight:
3Not to the righteous, perfect grace:
4    Not to the wise, the light.
5    But often faltering feet
6    Come surest to the goal;
7And they who walk in darkness meet
8    The sunrise of the soul.
9    A thousand times by night
10    The syrian hosts have died;
11A thousand times the vanquished right
12    Hath risen, glorified.
13    The truth the wise men sought
14    Was spoken by a child;
15The alabaster box was brought
16    In trembling hands defiled.
17    Not from my torch, the gleam,
18    But from the stars above:
19Not from my heart, life's crystal stream,
20    But from the depths of Love.
Publication Start Year
1904
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1999.
Rhyme
Form