And there, with Wisdom still, and Knowledge clear, Sweet counsel shalt thou take, and without fear, For Love will give thee law, and Love shall be Thy chancellor and rule equality. No sceptre shall thy white right hand e’er hold But sacred Freedom, brighter than the gold Of kingships, and blessing by the power That crowns life’s magic staff with bud and flower: Nor be thy sister hand forgotten sole, The while her slender fingers do control The world’s large heart, and in its compass found The wealth of all the universe embound.
And thou shalt open the eternal reign Of Justice; while fair Peace, with all her train, Shall sow the earth with blessings and impart New joy and skill to men in Craft and Art; To gather from all shores the scattered gems With beauty’s pearls to deck thought’s diadems: And Poesy shall fill thy courts with song, And Commonwealth the ocean gateways throng With white-winged messengers from all the lands And tidings glad shall join the nation’s hands, From riches and from penury set free, And from the last dread link of slavery; And eke from tyrant sword, and tyrant gold, And priestly nightmare that the soul doth fold. There Giant Labour in his strength new-found, Rejoicing, shall go forth to break new ground, One brotherhood with Art and Knowledge clear; To bridge the gulf of space and bring men near; With fruitful brain and hand to bring new birth Of Titan forces to subdue the earth, And from the willing hands of nature draw New benefits, and, owning but her law, Out of her treasury things tried and true, In human faith and hope to build anew Man’s shattered house, and paint his storied wall For Life and Love, a heritage for all.
ABOUT the time when garlanded green May At Summer’s threshold casts her blossom crown, Time bore me on his wingèd wheels away, Out of the joyless city where I lay, From smoke-dimmed streets whose dusky skies disown The day-god’s glorious face, serene that shows This day of days, to reign in his fair house, Cloud-built, and white, and interspaced with blue, Above the green earth’s fields that I did pass, Bearing ungathered harvests in their grass Of star-bright flowers, and every magic hue Born of the hours, and of the kindling zone Sun-cast o’er wandering mead and upland lone, That now on every hand mine eyes did fill, As went the wheel whirl’d with the fiery will.