SONNETS
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UIET WORK° One lesson,° Nature, let me learn of thee, °1One lesson which in every wind is blown,One lesson of two duties kept at oneThough the loud° world proclaim their enmity-- °4 Of toil unsever'd from tranquillity! 5Of labour, that in lasting fruit outgrowsFar noisier° schemes, accomplish'd in repose, °7Too great for haste, too high for rivalry! Yes, while on earth a thousand discords ring,Man's fitful uproar mingling with his toil, 10Still do thy sleepless ministers move on, Their glorious tasks in silence perfecting;Still working, blaming still our vain turmoil,Labourers that shall not fail, when man is gone. SHAKESPEARE° Others abide our question. Thou art free.We ask and ask--Thou smilest and art still,Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty, Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea, 5Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,Spares but the cloudy border of his baseTo the foil'd searching of mortality; And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams knowSelf-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure, 10Didst tread on earth unguess'd at.--Better so! All pains the immortal spirit must endure,All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bowFind their sole speech in that victorious brow. YOUTH'S AGITATIONS° When I shall be divorced, some ten years hence,From this poor present self which I am now;When youth has done its tedious vain expenseOf passions that for ever ebb and flow; Shall I not joy° youth's heats° are left behind, °5And breathe more happy in an even clime°?-- °6Ah no, for then I shall begin to findA thousand virtues in this hated time! Then I shall wish its agitations back,And all its thwarting currents of desire; 10Then I shall praise the heat which then I lack,And call this hurrying fever,° generous fire; °12
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