<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Charioteer</h1><h1 align="center" class="head">(To a Child).</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"> LOVE be thy charioteer: </p><p class="line">In all thy brightening and thy darkening hours </p><p class="line">May he be at thine ear; </p><p class="line">So shalt thou sail at ease above the tow'rs,</p><p class="line">Where pale Ambition, in his clouded hood, </p><p class="line">Climbs, step by step, the stair; </p><p class="line">And Beauty, dancing in the roadside flow'rs, </p><p class="line">Or resting in her mountain quietude, </p><p class="line">Tresses a-wander on the sunlit air, </p><p class="line">Shall meet thee everywhere. </p><p class="line">Then the fast-withered leaves of poor Caprice </p><p class="line">Shall live again; and she be happy yet. </p><p class="line">Freed from the tangle of her glittering net: </p><p class="line">And Poverty no longer want for alms, </p><p class="line">And everything be blessed, </p><p class="line">Save fevered Avarice, </p><p class="line">With his discoloured palms, </p><p class="line">And talons prisoned in his own gray breast.</p><p class="line">Above the path of death, </p><p class="line">Through field and wood, </p><p class="line">Mountain and flood, </p><p class="line">Upon the whirlwind's breath, </p><p class="line">My way be sped! </p><p class="line">If die thou must, </p><p class="line">With wine and crust, </p><p class="line">Through flow'rs to dust, </p><p class="line">Be thou so charioted!</p></div></body></html> · Great War