| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| From “Sigurd the Volsung.” III. A Death Song |
| | | William Morris (1834–96) |
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| WHAT cometh here from west to east a-wending? | |
| And who are these, the marchers stern and slow? | |
| We bear the message that the rich are sending | |
| Aback to those who bade them wake and know. | |
| Not one, not one, nor thousands must they slay, | 5 |
| But one and all if they would dusk the day. | |
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| We ask’d them for a life of toilsome earning, | |
| They bade us bide their leisure for our bread; | |
| We crav’d to speak to tell our woeful learning: | |
| We come back speechless, bearing back our dead. | 10 |
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| They will not learn; they have no ears to hearken; | |
| They turn their faces from the eyes of fate; | |
| Their gay-lit halls shut out the skies that darken. | |
| But, lo! this dead man knocking at the gate. | |
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| Here lies the sign that we shall break our prison; | 15 |
| Amidst the storm he won a prisoner’s rest; | |
| But in the cloudy dawn the sun arisen | |
| Brings us our day of work to win the best. | |
| Not one, not one, nor thousands must they slay, | |
| But one and all if they would dusk the day. | 20 |
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