What is to come we know not. But we know That what has been was good -- was good to show, Better to hide, and best of all to bear. We are the masters of the days that were: We have lived, we have loved, we have suffered . . . even so. Shall we not take the ebb who had the flow? Life was our friend. Now, if it be our foe -- Dear, though it spoil and break us! -- we not care What is to come? Let the great winds their worst and wildest blow, Or the gold weather round us mellow slow: We have fulfilled ourselves, and we can dare And we can conquer, though we may not share In the rich quiet of the afterglow What is to come. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPILOGUE TO DRAMATIS PERSONAE by ROBERT BROWNING COMMEMORATION ODE READ AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL TACT by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON FOR THE INAUGURATION OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL, CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY by WALT WHITMAN ON KEAN'S HAMLET by WASHINGTON ALLSTON LYNCHED by FRANK ANKENBRAND JR. FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: A LOFTY MIND by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |