If this fail,
The pillar'd firmament is rottenness,
And earth's base built on stubble.
Nam quamvis prope to, quamvis temone sub uno
Vertentem sese, frustra sectabere cantum
Cum rota posterior curras et in axe secundo.
Why, like the hindmost chariot wheels, art curst
Still to be near but ne'er to reach the first.
Quod si deficiant vires, audacia certe
Laus erit: in magnis et voluisse sat est.
Although strength should fail, the effort will deserve praise. In great enterprises the attempt is enough.
Allow me to offer my congratulations on the truly admirable skill you have shown in keeping clear of the mark. Not to have hit once in so many trials, argues the most splendid talents for missing.
[Il] battoit les buissons sans prendre les ozillons.
He beat the bushes without taking the birds.
How are the mighty fallen!
Here's to the men who lose!
What though their work be e'er so nobly plann'd
And watched with zealous care;
No glorious halo crowns their efforts grand—
Contempt is Failure's share!
And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.
We have scotch'd the snake, not killed it.
Not all who seem to fail have failed indeed,
Not all who fail have therefor worked in vain.
There is no failure for the good and brave.
For he that believeth, bearing in hand,
Plougheth in the water, and soweth in the sand.
FAIRIES
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together,
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl's feather!
Do you believe in fairies? If you believe clap your hands.
Don't let Tinker die.
When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies.
Whenever a child says "I don't believe in fairies" there's a little fairy somewhere that falls right down dead.
Bright Eyes, Light Eyes! Daughter of a Fay!
I had not been a married wife a twelvemonth and a day,
I had not nursed my little one a month upon my knee,
When down among the blue bell banks rose elfins three times three:
They griped me by the raven hair, I could not cry for fear,
They put a hempen rope around my waist and dragged me here;
They made me sit and give thee suck as mortal mothers can,
Bright Eyes, Light Eyes! strange and weak and wan!
Then take me on your knee, mother;
And listen, mother of mine.
A hundred fairies danced last night,
And the harpers they were nine.
Nothing can be truer than fairy wisdom. It is as true as sunbeams.
Nicht die Kinder bloss speist man mit Marchen ab.
It is not children only that one feeds with fairy tales.
* * * Or fairy elves,
Whose midnight revels by a forest side
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the Moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth
Wheels her pale course; they, on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.
