Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Ebenezer Elliott 1781–1849

The Builders

SPRING, summer, autumn, winter,

Come duly, as of old;

Winds blow, suns set, and morning saith.

“Ye hills, put on your gold.”

The song of Homer liveth,

Dead Solon is not dead;

Thy splendid name, Pythagoras,

O’er realms of suns is spread.

But Babylon and Memphis

Are letters traced in dust:

Read them, earth’s tyrants! ponder well

The might in which ye trust!

They rose, while all the depths of guilt

Their vain creators sounded;

They fell, because on fraud and force

Their corner-stones were founded.

Truth, mercy, knowledge, justice,

Are powers that ever stand;

They build their temples in the soul,

And work with God’s right hand.