Say Not The Struggle Naught Availeth

Arthur Hugh Clough

SAY not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light;
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
But westward, look, the land is bright! 

Next 10 Poems

• Arthur Hugh Clough : Say Not The Struggle Nought Availeth
• Arthur Hugh Clough : The Last Decalogue
• Arthur Hugh Clough : The Thread Of Truth
• Arthur Hugh Clough : There Is No God, The Wicked Sayeth
• Arthur Hugh Clough : Through A Glass Darkly
• Arthur Hugh Clough : To Spend Uncounted Years Of Pain
• Arthur Hugh Clough : Where Lies The Land To Which The Ship Would Go
• Arthur Hugh Clough : With Whom Is No Variableness, Neither Shadow Of Turning
• Arthur Hugh Clough : Ye Flags Of Picadilly
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge : A Christmas Carol

Previous 10 Poems

• Arthur Hugh Clough : Qua Cursum Ventus
• Arthur Hugh Clough : Perche Pensa? Pensando S'invecchia
• Arthur Hugh Clough : Noli Aemulari
• Arthur Hugh Clough : In The Depths
• Arthur Hugh Clough : In A London Square
• Arthur Hugh Clough : In A Lecture Room
• Arthur Hugh Clough : How In All Wonder...
• Arthur Hugh Clough : How In All Wonder Columbus Got Over
• Arthur Hugh Clough : All Is Well
• Arthur Hugh Clough : Ah! Yet Consider It Again!