In any large or prolonged enterprise we are likely to take too limited a
view of the progress we are making. The obstacles do not yield at some
given point; we therefore imagine we have made no headway. The poet here
uses three comparisons to show the folly of accepting this hasty and
partial evidence. A soldier may think, from the little part of the
battle he can see, that the day is going against him; but by holding his
ground stoutly he may help his comrades in another quarter to win the
victory. Successive waves may seem to rise no higher on the land, but
far back in swollen creek and inlet is proof that the tide is coming in.
As we look toward the east, we are discouraged at the slowness of
daybreak; but by looking westward we see the whole landscape illumined.
Say not the struggle nought availeth,
The labor and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke conceal'd,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front, the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright.
_Arthur Hugh Clough._