Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
Say Not the Struggle Naught AvailethArthur Hugh Clough (18191861)
S
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
It may be, in yon smoke conceal’d,
Your comrades chase e’en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
But westward, look, the land is bright!