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TWILIGHT LIFE
I live a twilight life—not dark, but yet
Enjoying but a dim uncertain light;
Not glad nor sad, no victim of regret,
But ever not so near to day as night:
Pleasure's intoxication now no more
Can fill me with its rapture—for I know
Earthward we fall at last though high we soar,
And time shall soon all gladness overthrow:
Yet now I feel not sorrow's bitterness
Crashing me down as once with leaden weight,
For that same fate that makes our pleasures less,
The pressure too of misery doth abate:
So now I rest content, whate'er befall,
To live or die—"the readiness is all."
Enjoying but a dim uncertain light;
Not glad nor sad, no victim of regret,
But ever not so near to day as night:
Pleasure's intoxication now no more
Can fill me with its rapture—for I know
Earthward we fall at last though high we soar,
And time shall soon all gladness overthrow:
Yet now I feel not sorrow's bitterness
Crashing me down as once with leaden weight,
For that same fate that makes our pleasures less,
The pressure too of misery doth abate:
So now I rest content, whate'er befall,
To live or die—"the readiness is all."
RESIGNATION
To form vast projects which a dozen lives
To carry out would be by fer too short,
Though each were as a Cromwell's or a Clive's,
And fate disposed to favour, not to thwart:
To long for action yet feel impotent
To act were action offered to my hand;
To mourn for ever over time misspent,
While runneth out my life's fast-falling sand:
Could fate a sadder destiny devise
When most disposed to humble human pride?
And yet no longer now it mortifies,
And I in patient fortitude abide:
For yet I am myself and would not be
Another even for an empire's fee.
To carry out would be by fer too short,
Though each were as a Cromwell's or a Clive's,
And fate disposed to favour, not to thwart:
To long for action yet feel impotent
To act were action offered to my hand;
To mourn for ever over time misspent,
While runneth out my life's fast-falling sand:
Could fate a sadder destiny devise
When most disposed to humble human pride?
And yet no longer now it mortifies,
And I in patient fortitude abide:
For yet I am myself and would not be
Another even for an empire's fee.
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