Redtree Times

“The Durable Will”- Currently at the Principle Gallery, Alexandria

The Anvil

Stand like a beaten anvil, when thy dream
Is laid upon thee, golden from the fire.
Flinch not, though heavily through that furnace-gleam
The black forge-hammers fall on thy desire.

Demoniac giants round thee seem to loom.
‘Tis but the world-smiths heaving to and fro.
Stand like a beaten anvil. Take the doom
Their ponderous weapons deal thee, blow on blow.

Needful to truth as dew-fall to the flower
Is this wild wrath and this implacable scorn.
For every pang, new beauty, and new power,
Burning blood-red shall on thy heart be born.
Stand like a beaten anvil. Let earth’s wrong
Beat on that iron and ring back in song.

–Alfred Noyes

This sounds about right. There are days when I certainly feel like an anvil that’s being hammered on. I

have a feeling there are many more of those days ahead.

Let’s hope we can forge something brighter and better.

Have a good day.