| Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935). Collected Poems. 1921. |
| |
| VIII. Avon’s Harvest, Etc. |
| 9. Modernities |
| |
| SMALL knowledge have we that by knowledge met | |
| May not some day be quaint as any told | |
| In almagest or chronicle of old, | |
| Whereat we smile because we are as yet | |
| The last—though not the last who may forget | 5 |
| What cleavings and abrasions manifold | |
| Have marked an armor that was never scrolled | |
| Before for human glory and regret. | |
| |
| With infinite unseen enemies in the way | |
| We have encountered the intangible, | 10 |
| To vanquish where our fathers, who fought well, | |
| Scarce had assumed endurance for a day; | |
| Yet we shall have our darkness, even as they, | |
| And there shall be another tale to tell. | |
|
|
