A BEST LOVED POEM

 

A BEST LOVED POEM

 

            The poem that is quoted below is one of the best-loved inspirational choices. It is written by the English poet and philanthropist Adelaide Anne Proctor (1825-864) . She had started writing invigorating  poetry when she was just a teenager.

 

            Unfortunately, she died young at the age of 30 years.

 

            Her poems were published in the English novelist Charles Dickens’s periodicals Household Words and All the Year Round. The subjects of these journals  were “homelessness, poverty, and fallen women among whom she performed philanthropic work.“

 

                        The  title of one of her famous poems , which is reproduced below,  is    Now.

 

                        The message  of the poem lies in these selected lines:

                        *Rise! For the day is passing

                         And you lie dreaming on.

                       

                        **Rise from your dreams of the Future---

                         Of gaining some hard-fought field.

                       

                         ***Rise ! if the Past detains you,

                          Her sunshine and storms forget.

                       

                        ****Stay not to sharpen your weapons,

                          Or the hour will strike at last,

                          When, from dreams of a coming battle,

                           You may wake to find it past!

                                                …..                                                                                                      The full text of the poem follows:                         

                               

 

RISE! for the day is passing,

And you lie dreaming on

The others have buckled their armor,

And forth to the fight are gone:

A place in the ranks awaits you,

Each man has some part to play;

The Past and the Future are nothing,

In the face of the stern To-day.

 

Rise from your dreams of the Future,—

Of gaining some hard-fought field;

Of storming some airy fortress,

Or bidding some giant yield;

Your Future has deeds of glory,

Of honor (God grant it may!)

But your arm will never be stronger,

Or the need so great as To-day.

 

Rise! if the Past detains you,

Her sunshine and storms forget;

No chains so unworthy to hold you

As those of a vain regret;

Sad or bright, she is lifeless ever;

Cast her phantom arms away,

Nor look back, save to learn the lesson

Of a nobler strife To-day.

 

Rise! for the day is passing;

The sound that you scarcely hear

Is the enemy marching to battle:

Arise! for the foe is here!

Stay not to sharpen your weapons,

Or the hour will strike at last,

When, from dreams of a coming battle,

You may wake to find it past!

 

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

15 September 2026