Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861)Say not, the struggle nought availeth
| SAY not, the struggle nought availeth, | |
| The labour and the wounds are vain; | |
| The enemy faints not nor faileth, | |
| And as things have been they remain. | |
| If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars; | 5 |
| It may be, in yon smoke concealed, | |
| Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers, | |
| And, but for you, possess the field. | |
| For while the tired waves vainly breaking | |
| Seem here no painful inch to gain, | 10 |
| Far back, through creeks and inlets making, | |
| Comes silent flooding in the main. | |
| And not by eastern windows only, | |
| When daylight comes, comes in the light, | |
| In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly, | 15 |
| But westward, look, the land is bright. | |