Moving and singing through democracy,

This music of the masses

And of you and me—

But purging and dynamic poetry!—

What is this eagerness from sea to sea

But young divinity!

I have seen doubters, with a puny joy,

Accept amusement for their little while

And feed upon some nourishing employ

But otherwise shake their wise heads and smile—

Protesting that one man can no more move the mass

For good or ill

Than could the ancients kindle the sun

By tying torches to a wheel and rolling it downhill.

But not the wet circumference of the seas

Can quench the living light in even these,

These who forget,

Eating the fruits of earth,

That nothing ever has been done

To spur the spirit of mankind,

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