George Willis Cooke, comp. The Poets of Transcendentalism: An Anthology. 1903.
Heirs of TimeThomas Wentworth Higginson (18231911)
F
Of this vast world beyond my door,
I hear the tread of marching men,
The patient armies of the poor.
Hangs, a vast torchlight, in the air;
I watch it through the evening damps:
The masters of the world are there.
Their title-deeds not yet made plain;
But waking early, toiling late,
The heirs of all the earth remain.
As guide the planets in their sweep,
The children of each outcast heir
The harvest-fruits of time shall reap.
The untamed pulse grow calm and still;
The blind shall see, the lowly rise,
And work in peace Time’s wondrous will.
This news will o’er the world be blown:
“The heritage comes back to all!
The myriad monarchs take their own!”