Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VI. Fancy. 1904. | | | | Poems of Sentiment: VI. Labor and Rest | | Delay | | Charlotte Fiske Bates (1838–1916) |
| | | I DO affirm that thou hast saved the race | |
| As much as thou hast ever made it lose: | |
| Men of quick action may thy name abuse, | |
| But the world’s life and theirs attest thy grace. | |
| An hour of thee doth sometimes turn the face | 5 |
| Of men and kingdoms, bidding them refuse | |
| What, chosen last, it had been death to choose: | |
| Through thee alone, they missed the fatal place. | |
| How often dies the guileful thought or end | |
| When guileless eyes detain us on our way! | 10 |
| What sin and shame that hindrance may forefend, | |
| Which we so hate and storm against to-day! | |
| What mighty evils over all impend, | |
| Averted graciously by kind Delay! | | | | |
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