English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Matthew Arnold
708. The Last Word
C
Creep, and let no more be said!
Vain thy onset! all stands fast.
Thou thyself must break at last.
Geese are swans, and swans are geese.
Let them have it how they will!
Thou art tired; best be still.
Better men fared thus before thee;
Fired their ringing shot and pass’d,
Hotly charged—and sank at last.
Let the victors, when they come,
When the forts of folly fall,
Find thy body by the wall!