Poems (Sill)/Opportunity
For works with similar titles, see Opportunity.
HIS I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:—There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;And underneath the cloud, or in it, ragedA furious battle, and men yelled, and swordsShocked upon swords and shields. A prince's bannerWavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.A craven hung along the battle's edge,And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel—That blue blade that the king's son bears,—but thisBlunt thing—!" he snapt and flung it from his hand, And lowering crept away and left the field.Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shoutLifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,And saved a great cause that heroic day.
OPPORTUNITY.
HIS I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:—There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;And underneath the cloud, or in it, ragedA furious battle, and men yelled, and swordsShocked upon swords and shields. A prince's bannerWavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.A craven hung along the battle's edge,And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel—That blue blade that the king's son bears,—but thisBlunt thing—!" he snapt and flung it from his hand, And lowering crept away and left the field.Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shoutLifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,And saved a great cause that heroic day.