Responsibility
Ada Cambridge 1844 (St Germans, Norfolk) – 1926 (Melbourne)
Why are our ideals hid from hostile eyes
As boys in school hide toys from master's view?
Let them be real as we believe them true —
Real as our chartered laws and liberties.
All precious rights that we possess and prize
Were ideals once, unshaped, unripe, and new,
The wild delusions of the crack- brained few,
The trifles mocked at by the worldly- wise.
Some must be first; and every coward blights
His brother's hope, and spreading Truth arrests;
While every brave man helps the world, and lights
The flame of courage in a thousand breasts.
So let us bear our meed of vulgar scorn,
And wait the judgment of the years unborn.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 107 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBXABBA ACXCDD |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 623 |
Words | 116 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
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"Responsibility" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/91/responsibility>.
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