Go!-but heed and understand This my last and best command: Turn thine Youth to such advantage As that no reverse shall daunt Age. Learn the serpent's wisdom early; And contemn what Time destroys; Also, wouldst thou creep or climb, Chuse thy rôle, and chuse in time, Since the scales of Fortune rarely Show a liberal equipoise. Thou must either soar or stoop, Fall or triumph, stand or droop; Thou must either serve or govern, Must be slave, or must be sovereign, Must in fine, be block or wedge, Must be anvil or be sledge. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO CARMEN SYLVA (QUEEN OF ROUMANIA) by EMMA LAZARUS THE WATER MILL by SARAH DOUDNEY TO A COMMON PROSTITUTE by WALT WHITMAN ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 7. TO REVEREND BENJAMIN, LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER by MARK AKENSIDE IN NOVEMBER by ANNE REEVE ALDRICH THE WELCOME by FARID OD-DIN MOHAMMAD EBN EBRAHIM ATTAR |