John Davidson (poet)

"Mere by-blows are the world and we, And time within eternity A sheer anachronism."

"One must become Fanatic – be a wedge – a thunder-bolt To smite a passage through the close-grained world."

"Farewell the hope that mocked, farewell despair That went before me still and made the pace. The earth is full of graves, and mine was there Before my life began; my resting-place."

"Unwilling friend, let not your spite abate; Help me with scorn, and strengthen me with hate."

"Seraphs and saints with one great voice Welcomed that soul that knew not fear. Amazed to find it could rejoice, Hell raised a hoarse, half-human cheer."

"And the difficultest job a man can do, Is to come it brave and meek with thirty bob a week, And feel that thats the proper thing for you. Its a naked child against a hungry wolf; Its playing bowls upon a splitting wreck; Its walking on a string across a gulf With millstones fore-and-aft about your neck; But the thing is daily done by many and many a one. And we fall, face forward, fighting, on the deck."