Paul Hamilton Hayne

The Soul-Conflict

DEFEATED! but never disheartened!
Repulsed! but unconquered in will,
Upon dreary discomfitures building
Her virtue's strong battlements still,
The soul, through the siege of temptations,
Yields not unto fraud, nor to might,
Unquelled by the rush of the passions,
Serene 'mid the tumults of fight.
She sees a grand prize in the distance,
She hears a glad sound of acclaims,
The crown wrought of blooms amaranthine,
The music far sweeter than Fame's.
And so, 'gainst the rush of the passions
She lifts the broad buckler of right,
And so, through the glooms of temptation,
She walks in a splendor of light.