Page:Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, Hitherto unpublished, 1921.djvu/63

 THE OLD WORLD MOANS AND TOPES

The old world moans and topes,

Is restless and ill at ease;

And the old-world politicians

Prescribe for the new disease.

I have stooped my head to listen

(Its voice is far from strong)

For the burthen of its moanings

As it topes all night long.

I have watched a patient vigil

Beside its fever bed,

And I think that I can tell you

The burthen of what it said:—

"As sick folk long for morning

And long for night again,

So long for noble objects

The hearts of noble men.

"They long and grope about them,

With feverish hands they grope

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