I may not keep the heights I gain In those rare hours of ecstasy When, scorning ease, despising pain, Forgetting self, and winning free From all that most entangles me, I leave the low miasmic plain Of sloth and doubt and greed to be Companion of the heavenly train Who tread the loftier ways; who keep A tryst with stars, nor shrink nor cower In craven fear or sluggish sleep, Nor seek the ease of blossomed bower. My earth-bound soul lacks breath and power To hold a path so nobly steep, Yet God be praised that for an hour I gained the heights I could not keep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LAMENT FOR THE MAKARIS [WHEN HE WAS SEIK] by WILLIAM DUNBAR PICCIOLA by ROBERT HENRY NEWELL WHEN THE SULTAN GOES TO ISPAHAN by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE TIMES by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD BILL SWEENY OF THE BLACK GANG by JAMES BARNES SONNET TO W-- P-- by BERNARD BARTON VERSES TO -- --, ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR MARRIAGE by BERNARD BARTON |