Page:A masque of poets 1878.djvu/18

12 Give me a theme to sing in man's behoof, As full of purpose as my faith, O God!— Red with our life-blood, firm in warp and woof, A homely product of the common sod.

Or else, let silence and primeval night Reign, as God reigned within his holy dark, Eons on eons, till he called the light, And the first poet wakened with the lark.