Oh, not for the great departed, <br />Who formed our country's laws, <br />And not for the bravest-hearted <br />Who died in freedom's cause, <br />And not for some living hero <br />To whom all bend the knee, <br />My muse would raise her song of praise- <br />But for the man to be. <br /> <br />For out of the strife which woman <br />Is passing through to-day, <br />A man that is more than human <br />Shall yet be born, I say. <br />A man in whose pure spirit <br />No dross of self will lurk; <br />A man who is strong to cope with wrong, <br />A man who is proud to work. <br /> <br />A man with hope undaunted, <br />A man with godlike power, <br />Shall come when he most is wanted, <br />Shall come at the needed hour. <br />He shall silence the din and clamor <br />Of clan disputing with clan, <br />And toil's long fight with purse-proud might <br />Shall triumph through this man. <br /> <br />I know he is coming, coming, <br />To help, to guide, to save. <br />Though I hear no martial drumming, <br />And see no flags that wave. <br />But the great soul travail of woman, <br />And the bold free thought unfurled, <br />Are heralds that say he is on the way- <br />The coming man of the world. <br /> <br />Mourn not for vanished ages <br />With their great heroic men, <br />Who dwell in history's pages <br />And live in the poet's pen. <br />For the grandest times are before us, <br />And the world is yet to see <br />The noblest worth of this old earth <br />In the men that are to be.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-coming-man-3/
