| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1488. Doubt |
| | | By Robert Cameron Rogers |
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| SLOW, groping giant, whose unsteady limbs | |
| Waver and bend and cannot keep the path, | |
| Thy feet are foul with mire, and thy knees | |
| Torn by the nettles of the wayside fen; | |
| The dust of dogmas dead is in thy mouth, | 5 |
| Yet down the ages thou hast followed him— | |
| Clear-eyed Belief—who journeys with light heart. | |
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| The leaves of Hope about his head are green, | |
| Firm falls his foot upon the path he treads, | |
| To every day he suits his pilgrimage, | 10 |
| And rest at dusk is his,—complete and deep. | |
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| For thee-the bramble: thorns of vain debate | |
| Harrow the hundred furrows of thy brow: | |
| Sleep is not thine,—the darkness has no balm | |
| For thy torn spirit. Deep into the night | 15 |
| Thy feet that gain no guidance from the stars | |
| Press on, until before the silent tent, | |
| Where deep and dreamlessly he lies asleep, | |
| Thou comest with tired limbs to sink beside | |
| The ashes of his fire and find them cold. | 20 |
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