Frederick Philip Grove
THOUGHTS
(IM 1-14)

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e-Edition by Gaby Divay
© August 2007

University of Manitoba Libraries	FPG & FrL Collections	University of Manitoba Archives

AFTER THE BLOW[34] by Frederick Philip Grove Yet still the days go by, a long, long line [35] Of figures bent beneath their dreary load Of thus much time; and each ascends the road From rise to noon, thence nightward to decline. We try to bid them halt, implore in turn Each one that comes his final boon to yield. Each waves the staff which all the figures wield And which denies what we were told to earn. Thus go they by, grey, trailing greyer dust, Stirred by their garments cinder-grey and long. Mercy is nought to them; nought right and wrong; But on they go; they go because they must. We sit and stare as, grey and in grey gown, Each passes by beneath his load and sign. And others rise and rise, an endless line: We cannot stop them, can but live them down. In Memoriam 5