My life is but a toil of many woes,
And keen excitement, wearing to the core;
And fervently I hope an hour’s repose,
My duty done, and all my warfare o’er.
Loud shouts have beaten on my tingling brain;
Lone prisons thrilled the fevered thread of life;
The trophies perish-but the wrecks remain!
And burning scars survive the dizzy strife.
Oh! ’tis a dreadful war, for one to wage,
Against deep-rooted prejudice and power;
Crush, in one life, the seeds of many an age,
And blast black centuries in a single hour!
Who dares it, throws his life into the scale,
Redemption’s voluntary sacrifice:
His hope-to be a martyr, should he fail,
Or, at the best, to conquer-as he dies!
(Ernest Jones)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Mind Poems, War & Peace Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Power Poems, Age Poems, Brain Poems, Redemption & Salvation PoemsBased on Keywords: voluntary, warfare, prejudice, deep-rooted, hope-to, perish-but