Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/454

416 Toil or dejection have tried

Thy spirit, of that we saw

Nothing: to us thou wast still

Cheerful, and helpful, and firm!

Therefore to thee it was given

Many to save with thyself;

And, at the end of thy day,

O faithful shepherd! to come,

Bringing thy sheep in thy hand.

And through thee I believe

In the noble and great who are gone;

Pure souls honored and blest

By former ages, who else—

Such, so soulless, so poor,

Is the race of men whom I see—

Seemed but a dream of the heart,

Seemed but a cry of desire.

Yes! I believe that there lived

Others like thee in the past,

Not like the men of the crowd

Who all round me to-day

Bluster or cringe, and make life

Hideous and arid and vile;

But souls tempered with fire,

Fervent, heroic, and good,

Helpers and friends of mankind.

Servants of God!—or sons

Shall I not call you? because

Not as servants ye knew

Your Father's innermost mind,

His who unwillingly sees

One of his little ones lost,—

Yours is the praise, if mankind