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
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