To a Friend (Arnold)
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For works with similar titles, see To a Friend.
| ←Quiet Work | To a Friend by Sonnets (1849) |
Shakespeare→ |
| Second in a series of ten sonnets by Matthew Arnold. |
Who prop, thou ask'st in these bad days, my mind?--
He much, the old man, who, clearest-souled of men,
Saw The Wide Prospect, and the Asian Fen,
And Tmolus hill, and Smyrna bay, though blind.
Much he, whose friendship I not long since won,
That halting slave, who in Nicopolis
Taught Arrian, when Vespasian's brutal son
Cleared Rome of what most shamed him. But be his
My special thanks, whose even-balanced soul,
From first youth tested up to extreme old age,
Business could not make dull, nor passion wild;
Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole;
The mellow glory of the Attic stage,
Singer of sweet Colonus, and its child.
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This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago. |
