So gladly, from the songs of modern speech
Men turn, and see the stars, and feel the free
Shrill wind beyond the close of heavy flowers,
And, through the music of the languid hours,
They hear like ocean on a western beach
The surge and thunder of the Odyssey.

KING HENRY BEFORE HARFLEUR

(From King Henry V)

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;

Let it pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock

O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English,
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!

Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,

Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonor not your mothers; now attest

That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,

And teach them how to war. And you, good yeomen,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here

The mettle of your pasture; let us swear

That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry "God for Harry, England, and Saint George!"

UNREST

BY DON MARQUIS

A fierce unrest seethes at the core
Of all existing things:

It was the eager wish to soar

That gave the gods their wings.

From what flat wastes of cosmic slime,
And stung by what quick fire,
Sunward the restless races climb!—

Men risen out of mire!

There throbs through all the worlds that are

This heart-beat hot and strong And shaken systems, star by star, Awake and glow in song.

But for the urge of this unrest
These joyous spheres are mute;
But for the rebel in his breast
Had man remained a brute.

When man's dim eyes demanded light
The light he sought was born-
His wish, a Titan, scaled the height
And flung him back the morn!

From deed to dream, from dream to deed,
From daring hope to hope,

The restless wish, the instant need,
Still lashed him up the slope!

I sing no governed firmament,
Cold, ordered, regular-

I sing the stinging discontent
That leaps from star to star!

EXULTATION

BY SHAEMAS O'SHEEL

When the full-bosomed and free-limbed Spring Roaring her rousing and lusty song

Comes along

With a swirl and swing,

Stirring the blood with the wind of her wing,
It is well to be out where the road is long,
It is well to be where the waters sing,
And the green things start

From the old earth's heart,

And the birds are twitt'ring by twos apart;
For that is the time when life is strong,

Stronger than death or anything,

That is when life is a lusty song

On the lips of exultant Spring!

From SURSUM CORDA

BY EDITH M. THOMAS

Up and rejoice, and know thou hast matter for revel, my heart!

Up and rejoice, not heeding if drawn or undrawn be

the dart

Last winged by the Archer whose quiver is full for sweeter than thou,

That yet will sing out of the dust when the ultimate arrow shall bow.

Now thou couldst bless and godspeed, without bitter

ness bred in thine heart,

Loves that outworn and time-wasted were fain from

thy lodge to depart.

Though dulled by their passing, thy faith, like a flower upfolded by night,

New kindness should quicken again, as a flower feels the touch of new light.

Ay, now thou couldst love, undefeated, with ardor instinct from pure Love

Warmed by a sun in the heavens that knows not beneath nor above,

Nor distance its patience to weary, nor substance unpierced by its ray. . .

Now couldst thou pity and smile where once but the scourge thou wouldst lay;

Now to thyself couldst show mercy, and up from all penance arise,

Knowing there runneth abroad that chastening Flame from the skies. . . .

Doubt not thou hast matter for revel; for once thou wouldst cage thee in steel,

And, wounded, wouldst seek out the balm and the cordial cunning to heal.

But now thou hast knowledge more sovran, more kind, than leechcraft can wield:

Never Design sent thee forth to be safe from the scath of the field,

But bade thee stand bare in the midst, and offer free

way to all scath

Piercing thee inly-so, only, might Song have an outgoing path. .