BEAUTIFUL symbol of a freer life, Knowing no purpose, and yet true to one; Would I could learn thy wisdom, I who run This way and that, striving against my strife. No fancy vague, no object half unknown, Diverts thee from thyself. By stops and starts I live the while by little broken parts A thousand lives, -- not one of all, my own. Thou sing'st thy full heart out, and low or high Flyest at pleasure; who of us can say He lives his inmost self e'en for a day, And does the thing he would? alas, not I. We hesitate, go backward, and return, And when the earth with living sunshine gleams, We make a darkness round us with our dreams, And wait for that which we ourselves should earn. For we shall work out answers to our needs If we have continuity of will To hold our shifting purposes until They germinate, and bring forth fruit in deeds. We ask and hope too much, -- too lightly press Toward the end sought, and haply learn, at length, That we have vainly dissipated strength Which, concentrated, would have brought success. But Truth is sure, and can afford to wait Our slow perception, (error ebbs and flows;) Her essence is eternal, and she knows The world must swing round to her, soon or late. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CHARGE OF THE BREAD BRIGADE by EZRA POUND CONCORD HYMN; SUNG AT COMPLETION OF CONCORD MONUMENT, 1836 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE SNOWING OF THE PINES' by THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON VERSES FOR A GUEST ROOM by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS MIANTOWONA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |