Life! Austere arbiter of each man's fate, By whom he learns that Nature's steadfast laws Are as decrees immutable; O pause Your even forward march! Not yet too late Teach me the needed lesson, when to wait Inactive as a ship when no wind draws To stretch the loosened cordage. One implores Thy clemency, whose wilfulness innate Has gone uncurbed and roughshod while the years Have lengthened into decades; now distressed He knows no rule by which to move or stay, And teased with restlessness and desperate fears He dares not watch in silence thy wise way Bringing about results none could have guessed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SAGA OF THE SMALL-BREASTED WOMAN by KAREN SWENSON THE LAWYER'S WAYS by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR LOVE TO THE CHURCH by TIMOTHY DWIGHT TERMINUS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON FABLES: 1ST SER. 5. THE WILD BOAR AND THE RAM by JOHN GAY A MODEST WIT by SELLECK OSBORNE |