Words

Words are deeds. The words we hear
May revolutionise or rear
A mighty state. The words we read
May orb a spiritual deed
Excelling any fleshly one,
As much as the celestial sun
Transcends a bonfire, made to throw
A light on some mere Raree-show.
A simple proverb tagged with rhyme,
May colour half the course of time;
The pregnant saying of a sage
May influence every coming age;
A song in its effects may be
More glorious than Thermopylae:
While a great book is in my view
A greater deed than Waterloo;
And many a lay that schoolboys scan,
A nobler feat than Inkerman.
By Charles Harpur