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MAN'S NATURAL RULERS
How few there are with natures whole and sound,
In harmony with themselves and fortune too,
Whose outlook no contracted limits bound,
And ever wisdom's forthright path pursue:
Such are the sans and stars of humankind,
The natural kings and rulers of the earth,
If men were not to truth and wisdom blind,
And could distinguish worthlessness from worth:
For it is part of life's strange tragedy
That men (who must some bolder spirits follow)
So seldom know who their true leaders be,
And choose instead some idol false and hollow:
So is it nations into ruin run,
By want of noble counsellors undone.
In harmony with themselves and fortune too,
Whose outlook no contracted limits bound,
And ever wisdom's forthright path pursue:
Such are the sans and stars of humankind,
The natural kings and rulers of the earth,
If men were not to truth and wisdom blind,
And could distinguish worthlessness from worth:
For it is part of life's strange tragedy
That men (who must some bolder spirits follow)
So seldom know who their true leaders be,
And choose instead some idol false and hollow:
So is it nations into ruin run,
By want of noble counsellors undone.
PERVERSITY
Ah how malignant was the fate that ruled
O'er the creation of poor humankind!
That sent him forth with passions fierce, unschooled,
Of warnings heedless and to danger blind.
Around him swarm a thousand enemies
Whom he with weapons all too weak must fight:
Once beaten down how seldom doth he rise!
How few escape the world's corroding blight!
Yet may he triumph over every foe
While yet he faithful to himself remains;
But 'tis his greatest, most peculiar woe
That in himself a traitor lives and reigns,
A spirit of Perverseness that misleads,
And ever with its mischief taints his deeds.
O'er the creation of poor humankind!
That sent him forth with passions fierce, unschooled,
Of warnings heedless and to danger blind.
Around him swarm a thousand enemies
Whom he with weapons all too weak must fight:
Once beaten down how seldom doth he rise!
How few escape the world's corroding blight!
Yet may he triumph over every foe
While yet he faithful to himself remains;
But 'tis his greatest, most peculiar woe
That in himself a traitor lives and reigns,
A spirit of Perverseness that misleads,
And ever with its mischief taints his deeds.
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