Page:Collected poems Robinson, Edwin Arlington.djvu/338

 Where the gift appalls the giver And youth hardens day by day? O you brave and you unshaken, Are you truly on your way? And are sirens in the River, That you come so far to-day?" "You are old, and we have listened," Said the voice of one who halted; "You are sage and self-exalted, But your way is not our way. You that cannot aid us Give us words to eat. Be assured that they are sweet, And that we are as God made us. "Not in vain have you delayed us, Though the River still be calling Through the twilight that is falling And the Town be still so far. By the whirlwind of your wisdom Leagues are lifted as leaves are; But a king without a kingdom Fails us, who have come so far."

the Watcher by the Way To the slower folk who stumbled, To the weak and the world-humbled, "Tell me how you fare to-day. Some with ardor shaken, All with honor scarred, Do you falter, finding hard The far chance that you have taken?