The Wayfarer
The Wayfarer
Original Text
The Conquerors and Other Poems (London: Macmillan, 1935): 36.
1The wounds of the world are good wounds, got in a hardy fight --
2Therefore 'tis best to welcome or pilgrim or knight
4Whose breast is an aching thrust; and who will not be stayed.
6For him that after the conflict shall win to a little peace
7Where the air is cool as lilies, along a darkling road,
8And the hawthorn trees are bowed round the well that is given of God.
9The wounds of the world are sure wounds. Therefore make ready thy soul
10For this, that no glinting armour shall keep thine honour whole,
11Make ready thy head for the dust, thy lips for the victor's smile,
Notes
3] forspent: exhausted. Back to Line
5] surcease: ending; relief or consolation from the ending of something. Back to Line
12] Avilion isle: Poet Alfred Lord Tennyson's term for Avalon, the island valley with ideal weather and fertile land in the Arthurian tales to which King Arthur is conveyed after his death. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1933
Publication Notes
New Zealand Best Poems of 1933, ed. Charles A. Marris (Wellington: Harry H. Tombs, 1933): 21.
RPO poem Editors
Cameron La Follette
RPO Edition
2013
Rhyme
Form