Villanelle For Our Time

From bitter searching of the heart
Quickened with passion and with pain
We rise to play a greater part
This is the faith from which we start
Men shall know commonwealth again
From bitter searching of the heart
We loved the easy and the smart
But now, with keener hand and brain
We rise to play a greater part
The lesser loyalties depart
And neither race nor creed remain
From bitter searching of the heart
Not steering by the venal chart
That tricked the mass for private gain
We rise to play a greater part
Reshaping narrow law and art
Whose symbols are the millions slain
From bitter searching of the heart
We rise to play a greater part