[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]
On the Power in Nature
In the beginning man was near the brute:
Then matter swayed his undeveloped mind;
But it was Nature’s, breeding no refined
Nor fearful lusts, which later spread their root.
In the beginning men were deaf and mute
When Mercy Bloodshed’s powerful arms would bind:
In our behalf the weak were dropped behind;
But now they linger, Death’s o’er-ripened fruit.
O, what a power was that simplicity
That bred the mighty parts of nations old!
O, what a power is this insanity
That turns our better blood to rivers cold!
Then out! ye curs’d inanities, lest we
Among the little nations be enrolled!
Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, p. 41
Editor’s notes:
curs’d = (vernacular) cursed
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
ye = (archaic) you (however, still in use in some places, e.g. in Cornwall, Ireland, Newfoundland, and Northern England; it can used as either the singular or plural form of “you”, although the plural form is apparently the more common usage)
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