COLLECTED POEMS
"That I have paid for being calm
Is what you see, if you have eyes;
For let a man be calm too long,
He pays for much before he dies.
Is what you see, if you have eyes;
For let a man be calm too long,
He pays for much before he dies.
"Be calm when you are growing old
And you have nothing else to do;
Pour not the wine of life too thin
If water means the death of you.
And you have nothing else to do;
Pour not the wine of life too thin
If water means the death of you.
"You say I might have learned at home
The truth in season to be strong?
Not so; I took the wine of life
Too thin, and I was calm too long.
The truth in season to be strong?
Not so; I took the wine of life
Too thin, and I was calm too long.
"Like others who are strong too late,
For me there was no going back;
For I had found another speed,
And I was on the other track.
For me there was no going back;
For I had found another speed,
And I was on the other track.
"God knows how far I might have gone
Or what there might have been to see;
But my speed had a sudden end,
And here you have the end of me."
Or what there might have been to see;
But my speed had a sudden end,
And here you have the end of me."
The end or not, it may be now
But little farther from the truth
To say those worn satiric eyes
Had something of immortal youth.
But little farther from the truth
To say those worn satiric eyes
Had something of immortal youth.
He may among the millions here
Be one; or he may, quite as well,
Be gone to find again the Tree
Of Knowledge, out of which he fell.
Be one; or he may, quite as well,
Be gone to find again the Tree
Of Knowledge, out of which he fell.
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