On, on, Forever by Harriet Martineau. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. 1895. A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

On, on, Forever

Harriet Martineau (1802–76)


BENEATH this starry arch
Nought resteth or is still;
But all things hold their march
As if by one great will:
Moves one, move all: hark to the foot-fall!	5
On, on, forever!

Yon sheaves were once but seed;
Will ripens into deed;
As cave-drops swell the streams,
Day-thoughts feed nightly dreams;	10
And sorrow tracketh wrong,
As echo follows song:
On, on, forever!

By night, like stars on high,
The Hours reveal their train;	15
They whisper and go by:
I never watch in vain.
Moves one, move all: hark to the foot-fall!
On, on, forever!

They pass the cradle-head,	20
And there a promise shed;
They pass the moist new grave,
And bid rank verdure wave;
They bear through every clime
The harvests of all time.	25
On, on, forever!