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Lanier, Sidney, 1842-1881

"Select Poems of Sidney Lanier"


But who said once, in the lordly tone,
"Man shall not live by bread alone
But all that cometh from the throne"?
Hath God said so?
But Trade saith "No":
And the kilns and the curt-tongued mills say "Go:
There's plenty that can, if you can't: we know.
Move out, if you think you're underpaid.
The poor are prolific; we're not afraid;
Trade is Trade."'

"Thereat this passionate protesting
Meekly changed, and softened till
It sank to sad requesting
And suggesting sadder still:
`And oh, if men might some time see
How piteous-false the poor decree
That trade no more than trade must be!
Does business mean, "Die, you -- live, I"?
Then "Trade is trade" but sings a lie:
'Tis only war grown miserly.
If business is battle, name it so.'"**
--
* `The Symphony', ll. 1-2.
** `The Symphony', ll. 31-61.
--
Of even wider sweep than mercantilism is the spirit of intolerance;
for, while the diffusion of knowledge and of grace has in a measure
repressed this spirit, it lacks much of being subdued.


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