A Spring Harvest/"Dark is the World our Fathers left us"

by Geoffrey Bache Smith

"DARK IS THE WORLD OUR FATHERS LEFT US"

Dark is the world our fathers left us,
 Wearily, greyly the long years flow,
Almost the gloom has of hope bereft us,
 Far is the high gods' song and low:

Sombre the crests of the mountains lonely,
 Leafless, wind-ridden, moan the trees:
Down in the valleys is twilight only,
 Twilight over the mourning seas:

Time was when earth was always golden,
 Time was when skies were always clear:
Spirits and souls of the heroes olden,
 Faint are cries from the darkness, hear!

Tear ye the veil of time asunder
 Tear the veil, 'tis the gods' command,
Hear we the sun-stricken breakers thunder
 Over the shore where the heroes stand.
.....
Dark is the world our fathers left us,
 Heavily, greyly the long years flow,
Almost the gloom has of hope bereft us,
 Far is the high gods' song and low.