Walking along Rodney Street, in Liverpool last week, I spotted this rather beautiful plaque on the house where Arthur Hugh Clough and his sister Anne Clough were born.
I don't know much about Clough and his poetry, and I know even less about Anne Clough, so I started reading a bit about their lives, as well as reading some of Clough's poetry. I rather like Say Not the Struggle:
Say not the struggle nought availeth,
The labour 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 concealed,
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.
I've discovered some really interesting information about the Clough siblings, which I intend to explore over the next few weeks!