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