at the commencement

at the commencement all the world was dared

for a small prize a kiss  and then a hope

so that the magic feeling would be shared

 

not by the ones whose  urgency was feared

as they came running down the morning slope

at the commencement all the world was dared

 

just so they could with justice be prepared

for honourable parting we elope

so that the magic feeling would be shared

 

in proper form and time by those who cared

more deeply and were happy they could cope

at the commencement all the world was dared

 

yet we survive while all the children stared

as new dawn seemed to offer yet more scope

so that the magic feeling would be shared

 

by all the folk who knew they had been spared

to hold with strength what they could barely grope

at the commencement all the world was dared

so that the magic feeling would be shared

no one regrets

emerging from the freighted dark no thought

but that the sky be clear and hands be filled

with all the needful that your warm hearts willed

when in good daylight the first words were caught

by eager listeners who had been taught

that not all prizes went to those best drilled

in the arcana of the freshly-killed

rather to ones who would account for naught

there is a victory that no one regrets

up in the hills when all the gifts are due

then hunters call and do not comprehend

the plainer meanings and the open sets

though when we have been silenced and review

our final forces we find there’s no end