Poems (Angier)/Life's Duties
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LIFE'S DUTIES.
Life hath its duties—scorn who may,
The mandate comes, "Go, work to-day;
The field's the world, the labor great;
Time for the sluggard ne'er will wait:
Ready or not. Death's arrows fly,
Faithful or false is known on high:
The golden sheaves, they only bear,
They only crowns of victory wear,
Who patient toil through weary years;
Still buoyed with Hope, though bowed with fears:
Heaven's law of Love—when that shall We
Man's guiding star, the world will see
And feel this truth; to live to bless,
Is wisdom's way of pleasantness.
If thou would'st share an angel's bliss,
Then be thy earthly mission this—
The mandate heed, that voice obey,
Which says to all, "Go, work to-day."
The mandate comes, "Go, work to-day;
The field's the world, the labor great;
Time for the sluggard ne'er will wait:
Ready or not. Death's arrows fly,
Faithful or false is known on high:
The golden sheaves, they only bear,
They only crowns of victory wear,
Who patient toil through weary years;
Still buoyed with Hope, though bowed with fears:
Heaven's law of Love—when that shall We
Man's guiding star, the world will see
And feel this truth; to live to bless,
Is wisdom's way of pleasantness.
If thou would'st share an angel's bliss,
Then be thy earthly mission this—
The mandate heed, that voice obey,
Which says to all, "Go, work to-day."