Civilization

OLD as the race of man,Young as the child new-born,From glooms PlutonianI mount to paths of morn;And as I move o'er vale and hill,Before me flees the night,For on into the darkness stillI bear my light.

The desert stayed me longIts fancied worth to tell;The savage, subtle and strong,Opposed me, and he fell:But the savage learned from conflict pastTo battle and succeed,And the foolish desert came at lastTo bloom indeed.

I halt not for the maimed,I wait not for the blind;My foot is never lamed,Whoe'er may lag behind:I hasten on, like the wind of God,To the conquest He ordains:Parting the human from the clod,Undoing chains.

The thing that hinderethMy progress as I pass,Is withered in my breathLike parchèd summer grass.I hasten on, like the wind of God,That must unfettered blow,Wooing the blossom from the sodWhere'er I go.

I taught the Hindoo throngTo worship: I awokeThe Pyrrhic phalanx strong,To break the Persian yoke:I set great Pharaoh's captives free,The Tarquin's pride down-hurled,And in a child of Galilee,O'ercame the world!