Why was it that the thunder voice of Fate <br />Should call thee, studious, from the classic groves, <br />Where calm-eyed Pallas with still footsteps roves, <br />And charge thee seek the turmoil of the State? <br />What bade thee hear the voice and rise elate, <br />Leave home and kindred and thy spicy loaves, <br />To lead th' unlettered and despised droves <br />To manhood's home and thunder at the gate? <br /> <br />Far better the slow blaze of Learning's light, <br />The cool and quiet of her dearer fane, <br />Than this hot terror of a hopeless fight, <br />This cold endurance of the final pain,- <br />Since thou and those who with thee died for right <br />Have died, the Present teaches, but in vain!<br /><br />Paul Laurence Dunbar<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/robert-gould-shaw/
