LIFE
XCVII
WE never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies.
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies.
The heroism we recite
Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the cubits warp
For fear to be a king.
Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the cubits warp
For fear to be a king.
XCVIII
WHILE I was fearing it, it came,
But came with less of fear,
Because that fearing it so long
Had almost made it dear.
There is a fitting a dismay,
A fitting a despair.
’T is harder knowing it is due,
Than knowing it is here.
The trying on the utmost,
The morning it is new,
Is terribler than wearing it
A whole existence through.
But came with less of fear,
Because that fearing it so long
Had almost made it dear.
There is a fitting a dismay,
A fitting a despair.
’T is harder knowing it is due,
Than knowing it is here.
The trying on the utmost,
The morning it is new,
Is terribler than wearing it
A whole existence through.
XCIX
THERE is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
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