| Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920. |
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| Padraic Colum. 1881– |
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| 119. The Plougher |
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| SUNSET and silence! A man: around him earth savage, earth broken; | |
| Beside him two horses—a plough! | |
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| Earth savage, earth broken, the brutes, the dawn man there in the sunset, | |
| And the Plough that is twin to the Sword, that is founder of cities! | |
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| "Brute-tamer, plough-maker, earth-breaker! Can'st hear? | 5 |
| There are ages between us. | |
| "Is it praying you are as you stand there alone in the sunset? | |
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| "Surely our sky-born gods can be naught to you, earth child and earth master? | |
| "Surely your thoughts are of Pan, or of Wotan, or Dana? | |
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| "Yet, why give thought to the gods? Has Pan led your brutes where they stumble? | 10 |
| "Has Dana numbed pain of the child-bed, or Wotan put hands to your plough? | |
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| "What matter your foolish reply! O, man, standing lone and bowed earthward, | |
| "Your task is a day near its close. Give thanks to the night-giving God." | |
. . . . . . .
Slowly the darkness falls, the broken lands blend with the savage; | |
| The brute-tamer stands by the brutes, a head's breadth only above them. | 15 |
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| A head's breadth? Ay, but therein is hell's depth, and the height up to heaven, | |
| And the thrones of the gods and their halls, their chariots, purples, and splendors. | |
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