A MEASURE OF HOURS.
247
As this; their equilibrium so just,
Their movement so serene, so still, small heed
The world pays to their presence till in need
It sudden finds itself. The darkness near,
The precious life returning dust for dust,
It recollects how noon and life were clear.
Their movement so serene, so still, small heed
The world pays to their presence till in need
It sudden finds itself. The darkness near,
The precious life returning dust for dust,
It recollects how noon and life were clear.
III.
How poor is all that fame can be or bring!
Although a generation feed the pyre,
How soon dies out the lifeless, loveless fire!
The king is dead. Hurrah! Long live the king!
The poet breathes his last. Who next will sing?
The great man falls. Who comes to mount still higher?
Oh, bitter emptiness of such desire!
Earth holds but one true good, but one true thing,
And this is it—to walk in honest ways
And patient, and with all one's heart belong
In love unto one's own! No death so strong
That life like this he ever conquers, slays;
The centuries do to it no hurt, no wrong:
They are eternal resurrection days.
Although a generation feed the pyre,
How soon dies out the lifeless, loveless fire!
The king is dead. Hurrah! Long live the king!
The poet breathes his last. Who next will sing?
The great man falls. Who comes to mount still higher?
Oh, bitter emptiness of such desire!
Earth holds but one true good, but one true thing,
And this is it—to walk in honest ways
And patient, and with all one's heart belong
In love unto one's own! No death so strong
That life like this he ever conquers, slays;
The centuries do to it no hurt, no wrong:
They are eternal resurrection days.
A MEASURE OF HOURS.
NTO those two I called who holdIn hands omnipotent all lives
Of men, and deal, like gods, such doled
Alms as they list, to him who strives
And him who waits alike:
