Magnets
A far look in absorbed eyes, unaware Of what some gazer thrills to gather there;
A happy voice, singing to itself apart,
That pulses new blood through a listener's heart;
Old fortitude; and, 'mid an hour of dread,
The scorn of all odds in a proud young head;— These are themselves, and being but what they are,
Of others' praise or pity have no care,
Yet still are magnets to another's need.
Invisibly as wind, blowing stray seed,
Life breathes on life, though ignorant what it brings,
And spirit touches spirit on the strings Where music is: courage from courage glows In secret; shy powers to themselves unclose;
And the most solitary hope, that gray Patience has sister'd, ripens far away In young bosoms.
Oh, we have failed and failed,
And never knew if we or the world ailed,
Clouded and thwarted; yet perhaps the best Of all we do and dream of lives unguessed.
Robert Laurence Binyon
Other author posts
Ah now this happy month is gone
Ah, now this happy month is gone, Not now, my heart, complain, Nor rail at Time because so soon He takes his own again He takes his own, the weeks, the hours,
The Children Dancing
Away, sad thoughts, and teasing Perplexities, away Let other blood go freezing, We will be wise and gay For here is all heart-easing,
Invocation To Youth
ME then, as ever, like the wind at morning Joyous, O Youth, in the aged world Freshness to feel the eternities around it, Rain, stars and clouds, light and the sacred dew
To Women
Your hearts are lifted up, your hearts That have foreknown the utter price Your hearts burn upward like a flame Of splendour and of sacrifice For you, you too, to battle go, Not with the marching drums and cheers But in the watch of...