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Hope evermore and believe!

By Arthur Hugh Clough

Topics: classic

Hope evermore and believe, O man, for een as thy thought     So are the things that thou seest; een as thy hope and belief.     Cowardly art thou and timid? they rise to provoke thee against them,     Hast thou courage? enough, see them exulting to yield.     Yea, the rough rock, the dull earth, the wild seas furying waters     (Violent sayst thou and hard, mighty thou thinkst to destroy),     All with ineffable longing are waiting their Invader,     All, with one varying voice, call to him, Come and subdue;     Still for their Conqueror call, and, but for the joy of being conquered     (Rapture they will not forego), dare to resist and rebel;     Still, when resisting and raging, in soft undervoice say unto him,     Fear not, retire not, O man; hope evermore and believe.     Go from the east to the west, as the sun and the stars direct thee,     Go with the girdle of man, go and encompass the earth.     Not for the gain of the gold; for the getting, the hoarding, the having,     But for the joy of the deed; but for the Duty to do.     Go with the spiritual life, the higher volition and action,     With the great girdle of God, go and encompass the earth.     Go; say not in thy heart, And what then were it accomplished,     Were the wild impulse allayed, what were the use or the good!     Go, when the instinct is stilled, and when the deed is accomplished,     What thou bast done and shalt do, shall be declared to thee then.     Go with the sun and the stars, and yet evermore in thy spirit     Say to thyself: It is good: yet is there better than it.     This that I see is not all, and this that I do is but little;     Nevertheless it is good, though there is better than it.

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Author:Arthur Hugh Clough

"Hope evermore and believe, O man, for een as thy t..." by Arthur Hugh Clough

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Arthur Hugh Clough

About Arthur Hugh Clough

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) was an English poet whose work explores Victorian doubt and moral uncertainty. His poems "Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth" and "The Latest Decalogue" are sharp, thoughtful, and still widely anthologized.

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