This is an old and very cruel god… We will endure; We will try not to wince When he crushed and rends us. If indeed it is for your sakes, If we perish or moan in torture, Or stagger under sordid burdens That you may live— Then we can endure. If our wasted blood Makes bright the page Of poets yet to be; If this our tortured life Save from destruction’s nails Gold words of a Greek long dead; Then we can endure, Then hope, Then watch the sun rise Without utter bitterness. But, O thou old and very cruel god, Take, if thou canst, this bitter cup from us.
This poem is in the public domain.