O, MY Spirit, art thou vanquisht? <br /> Is thy latest prospect gone? <br />Must my task be thus relinquisht <br /> Ere my noble end is won? <br /> <br />Must I die, and be remember'd <br /> Never more, ah, never more! <br />As the clown who laught and slumber'd <br /> Out his passing mortal hour? <br /> <br />Has my life been one untiring <br /> Vigil kept at sorrow's shrine,— <br />One unceasing toil acquiring <br /> What unsought for had been mine? <br /> <br />Have I undergone privations <br /> That the noblest soul had bow'd,— <br />Stoop to unearn'd degradations <br /> But to die, as die the crowd? <br /> <br />Whither wilt thou wander? whither? <br /> From thy quest my soul refrain! <br />Sure the God who sent me hither <br /> Had sonic purpose in my pain.<br /><br />Joseph Skipsey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-crushed-aspire/
