Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
The Great AdventureHenry David Thoreau (18171862)
’T
To know them still alive;
But sweeter if we earn their bread,
And in us they survive.
And be my corselet blue;
Ye earth, receive my lance in rest,
My faithful charger you:
My arrow-tips ye are:
I see the routed foemen fly
My bright spears fix’d [for war].
Fix now the place and time!
And straight to meet him I will go
Above the starry chime:
The heavenly spheres shall ring,
While bright the northern lights shall hang
Beside our tourneying.
Tell Heaven not to despair;
For I will be her champion new,
Her fame I will repair.