ONE lesson, Nature, let me learn of thee, One lesson that in every wind is blown, One lesson of two duties serv'd in one, Though the loud world proclaim their enmity-- Of Toil unsever'd from Tranquillity: Of Labour, that in still advance outgrows Far noisier schemes, accomplish'd in Repose, Too great for haste, too high for rivalry. Yes, while on earth a thousand discords ring, Man's senseless uproar mingling with his toil, Still do thy sleepless ministers move on, Their glorious tasks in silence perfecting: Still working, blaming still our vain turmoil; Labourers that shall not fail, when man is gone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DARKEST HOUR; OXFORD, 1917 by GEORGE SANTAYANA IKE WALTON'S PRAYER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY TOUJOURS AMOUR by EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN THE LAST INVOCATION by WALT WHITMAN ON THE BACKWARDNESS OF THE SPRING 1771 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD UNSOPHISTICATED WISHES, BY MISS JEMINA INGOLDSBY, AGED 15 by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |