 | Collected poems of Henry Thoreau |  |
191
NO EARNEST WORK THAT WILL EXPAND THE FRAME
No earnest work that will expand the frame,And give a soundness to the muscles to[o]?
How ye do waste your time!
Pray make it wor[th] the while to live,
Or worth the while to die.
Show us great actions piled on high,
Tasking our utmost strength touching the sky,
As if we lived in a mountainous country.
Hell were not quite so hard to bear
If one were honored with its hottest place.
And did ye fear ye should spoil Hell
By making it sublime?
| Collected poems of Henry Thoreau | |