Poems (Kennedy)/Building Anew

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BUILDING ANEW
A—DREAM beside the cloistered gates of time That swing between the Now and Far Away,I thought I saw the faded phantom years Creep slowly past the portals of the Day.
And nations that have swayed the world amain, Chaldea and Syria, Egypt's swarthy host,And yearning Greece and godless Rome went by And in the nimbus of the dawn were lost.
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And cities of a strange and ancient build— Palmyra, marbled-columned, purple-domed,Dido's old Carthage, and famed Babylon, Where men have reigned and untamed beasts have roamed—
These rose from chaos and went back to dust, And Progress, phoenix-natured, kept her stateIn conclave of the swiftly moving years And built anew that which was desolate.
And to myself, still half a-dream, I said Here was but symbol of a human life—So press we ever toward the widening dawn, So tread upon the shards of death and strife.
And Love and Hope are architects to build Above our failures never faith and trust,As states and peopled cities rise and shine High o'er the ruins of the old world's dust.

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