Profit And Loss
Ada Cambridge 1844 (St Germans, Norfolk) – 1926 (Melbourne)
Each day a new sword flashes in the van;
Another leader, brave to do or die,
Comes forth, full- furnished for the strife whereby
He gains his growth and stature as a man.
Each day our world, that under the black ban
Of ignorant custom for so long did lie,
Grows bright and brighter, like a clearing sky,
More good and lovely in its wondrous plan.
Yet oh! how few the saved, how small the gain,
How poor the profit as against the cost —
The waste of life, divinely vast and fair,
Potential in starved soul and unfed brain —
The powers that might have been and might be — lost
Only for want of common food and air!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 71 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBAABBA CXDCXD |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 613 |
Words | 122 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
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"Profit And Loss" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/88/profit-and-loss>.
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