Delay

Charlotte Fiske Bates (1838–1916)

I DO affirm that thou hast saved the race

As much as thou hast ever made it lose:

Men of quick action may thy name abuse,

But the world’s life and theirs attest thy grace.

An hour of thee doth sometimes turn the face

Of men and kingdoms, bidding them refuse

What, chosen last, it had been death to choose:

Through thee alone, they missed the fatal place.

How often dies the guileful thought or end

When guileless eyes detain us on our way!

What sin and shame that hindrance may forefend,

Which we so hate and storm against to-day!

What mighty evils over all impend,

Averted graciously by kind Delay!