When you have lain for weeks together On such a noble river's breast, And learnt its face in every weather, And loved its motions and its rest, -- 'Tis hard at some appointed place To check your course and turn your prow, And objects for themselves retrace You past with added hope just now. The silent highway forward beckons, And all the bars that reason plants Now disappointed fancy reckons As foolish fears or selfish wants. The very rapids, rocks, and shoals Seem but temptations which the stream Holds out to energetic souls, That worthy of its love may seem. But life is full of limits; heed not One more or less -- the forward track May often give you what you need not, While wisdom waits on turning back. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PSALM 8. MAN'S PLACE IN CREATION by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER' by GEORGE GORDON BYRON FRAGMENT, ON THE BACK OF THE POET'S MS. OF CANTO I OF 'DON JUAN' by GEORGE GORDON BYRON TO LIZBIE BROWNE by THOMAS HARDY HARRY PLOUGHMAN by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS BRONZE TRUMPETS AND SEA WATER; ON TURNING LATIN VERSE INTO ENGLISH by ELINOR WYLIE AN ARMOURY by ALCAEUS OF MYTILENE |