| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1338. I Served in a Great Cause |
| | | By Horace L. Traubel |
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| I SERVED in a great cause: | |
| Long had I doubted the call I heard, wantoning the seasons dead; | |
| The opportune days were deserts, the sunlight fell on a waste, | |
| But the dawn brought me face to face with itself, with the opening flowers: | |
| I looked upon my sea casting its wrecks down the shore in the storm, | 5 |
| The wrecks, my useless volitions, disordered, missent, ill-protected, to the deep, | |
| The resurrected programme of self veined red with the blood of my birth, | |
| The futile hours past, the distrusted image recalled, | |
| In tumult of desire, in quietude of achievement, in effacement of unbelief. | |
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| I served the great cause, the great cause served me; | 10 |
| There were never any debts between us, the compact was without obligation; | |
| I answered its cry, it answered my cry; | |
| The seed in the ground hungered for light, the light pierced the earth with unerring love— | |
| We met, we ran together, appointed mates. | |
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| I served not as one who follows or one who leads; | 15 |
| I served not in abasement, on my knees, with my head in the dust; | |
| I served proudly, accepted, accepting, | |
| The cloudland phantoms never misting the prospect, | |
| The sunshine sirens never dazing the day with their splendor, | |
| Ever in my heart crowding ancient and unborn dreams, | 20 |
| Cresting the hills and making the valleys fertile. | |
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| I served in a great cause: | |
| I served without heroism, without virtue, with no promises of success, with no near destination of treasure; | |
| I was on the march, I contained that which persevered me to ends unseen, no footsore night relaxed my pace; | |
| There was only the press of invisible hands, only gray-brown eyes of invitation, | 25 |
| Only my franchised heart to fuel the fires to suns. | |
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