Bees in Amber: A Little Book of Thoughtful Verse

by John Oxenham

EAST

We come from the East, from the glowing East,
Where the Past, with its hand of ice,
Still reaches across through its ages of loss,
And still holds the land like a vice.
To—the—Night,—
To—the—Night,—
To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night,—
Came—the—Light,
Came—the—Light,
Came the Wonder and the Glory of the Light.

O, the sorrowful ones of the caste-bound lands,
How they long for the wider way!
How they sigh in the gloom of their close-barred tomb
For the Light of the Coming Day!
To—their—Night,—
To—their—Night,—
To the darkness and the sorrow of their Night,
Take—the—Light,
Take—the—Light!
Take the Wonder and the Glory of the Light!