Poems of James Clarence Mangan (Many hitherto uncollected): Centenary edition: Edited, with preface and notes by D. J. O'Donoghue: Introduction by John Mitchel |
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ANOTHER SONG FROM THE SAME COPTIC. |
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Poems of James Clarence Mangan | ||
264
ANOTHER SONG FROM THE SAME COPTIC.
Go!—but heed and understandThis my last and best command:
Turn thine Youth to such advantage
As that no reverse shall daunt Age.
Learn the serpent's wisdom early;
And contemn what Time destroys;
Also, wouldst thou creep or climb,
Chuse thy rôle, and chuse in time,
Since the scales of Fortune rarely
Show a liberal equipoise.
Thou must either soar or stoop,
Fall or triumph, stand or droop;
Thou must either serve or govern,
Must be slave, or must be sovereign,
Must in fine, be block or wedge,
Must be anvil or be sledge.
Poems of James Clarence Mangan | ||