The Valley of the Shadow
There were faces to remember in the Valley of the Shadow, There were
faces unregarded, there were faces to forget; There were fires of grief and
fear that are a few forgotten ashes, There were sparks of recognition that
are not forgotten yet. For at first, with an amazed and overwhelming
indignation At a measureless malfeasance that obscurely willed it thus,
They were lost and unacquainted -- till they found themselves in others,
Who had groped as they were groping where dim ways were perilous.
There were lives that were as dark as are the fears and intuitions Of a
child who knows himself and is alone with what he knows; There were
pensioners of dreams and there were debtors of illusions, All to fail before
the triumph of a weed that only grows. There were thirsting heirs of
golden sieves that held not wine or water, And had no names in traffic or
more value there than toys: There were blighted sons of wonder in the
Valley of the Shadow, Where they suffered and still wondered why their
wonder made no noise.